For whatever doesn't fit anywhere else. A general discussion topic for everyone.
Starting gold is 9k. Just for reference.
Okay, since all of you look to be characters with codes of conduct, I'll be talking to each of you about it soon.
- Cor, I'll talk to you about yours on Monday or so. You should have a pretty good idea by now anyway, all considered.
- Eb, I'll talk you tomorrow, since it'll involve a bit with how the fey work.
- Neph, I'll wait on your basic sheet to be posted.
Oh, and let me know when your sheets are up for sheet audits, all. Neph asked for his so I'll do that today.
Neph's sheet audit.
QuoteInit: +2 (+1 due to armor)
Good news. From the SRD:
QuoteThis number is the maximum Dexterity bonus to AC that this type of armor allows. Heavier armors limit mobility, reducing the wearer's ability to dodge blows. This restriction doesn't affect any other Dexterity-related abilities.
Which means you don't lower your initiative for maximum dex in your armor. So your init should be +2.
QuoteArmor Class: 22 (10 + 2 (DEX) + 2 (Natural) - 1 (Size) +1 Shield (Knight) (+8 Armor)) (+2 against dragons), 20 flat-footed, 12 touch
Okay, first of all. If your armor's maximum dexterity bonus is 1, that means the boost from your dex to AC is only 1. Second of all, I don't see a shield on your sheet. Shield block's bonus is a flat bonus to your shield bonus to AC. However, it is still contingent on using a shield. Can't block things with a shield if you aren't using one.
QuoteBase Attack: +5
So you're using your knight side for saves/BAB? Noted.
QuoteFull Attack: 1d8+7 Slashing
Okay, so where's your attack modifier and your full attack routine. The damage is only part of it.
QuoteSaves: Fort +4 (+5), Ref +1 (+2), Will +4 (+2) (+4 to All on top of this)(+1) (+2 more against evil descriptor and evil supernatural abilities)
I'd recommend factoring in divine grace into your saves, as it is active at all times. No need to sidebar it, the only way it doesn't apply is an antimagic field or if you fall. By the way, what are the numbers in parenthesis about? I'm not sure which is the actual save.
QuoteAbilities: STR 22 (+6) DEX 14 (+2) CON 20 (+5) INT 13 (+1) WIS 14 (+2+) CHA 19 (+2 more from cloak for 21 from Cloak) (+5)
Extra + in your Wisdom modifier.
QuoteHealing Belt (750) (+2 Heal checks, 1/charge for 2d8 Healing, 3d8 or 4d8)
I think this is your first game with seriously buying magical items, so lemme bring up this houserule.
Quote-Magic Item Compendium-
The Magic Item Compendium uses a different pricing scheme for magic items than the SRD standard. As such many items are under priced, I may impose price increases depending on the item. Ask me about MIC items before you buy them. Most markups are about 150% to 200% of the MIC price.
I'd mark the belt up to 1,500. By the SRD, a command-word healing item like that runs in the ballpark of 5-10k, depending on how you want to price a few aspects of it.
1. Fixed Init
2. I forgot to even factor in my shield from what I bought. So it should be on there now and corrected.
3. Yes, Knight side for Saves/BAB
4. I believe I corrected the Full Attack
5. Saves updated. The extra numbers were from ability modifiers.
6. Could I buy a Cloak of Charisma that only gives +1 to Charisma instead of 2 for less so I can still afford the belt? Otherwise I can just forego the belt.
Quote4. I believe I corrected the Full Attack
You forgot the +1 bonus from your masterwork scimitar. That only applies to hit and not damage, and doesn't stack with a magical enhancement bonus. So it should be +11.
Quote5. Saves updated. The extra numbers were from ability modifiers.
4/1/4 base, 9/6/9 base+divine grace, 14/8/11 total. Yep, it checks out. Oh, and you forgot a + in front of your Fort save.
Quote6. Could I buy a Cloak of Charisma that only gives +1 to Charisma instead of 2 for less so I can still afford the belt? Otherwise I can just forego the belt.
Those sort of things exist but they're rare. Generally, ability score boosts (barring ones that aren't enhancement, which are super-rare and tend to be unique) come in multiples of 2. +2, +4, +6 and so on. That's because ability boosting spells usually work at +4 or similar even numbers. So I'd rather not.
Fixed the attack roll.
No problem on the cloak. I'll sort out whether the cloak or the belt is ultimately a better investment for early on.
Sure, just post when you've made up your mind.
Eb's up next.
QuoteAC: 23 (+4 dex, +8 cha, +1 armour), touch 21, flat footed 11
Shouldn't touch AC be 22, since you only lose the +1 armor bonus?
Quotechannel energy (11/day 2d6 DC 12)
Your DC is off. It's 10+2+8, so it should be 20 for you.
Everything else looks alright.
Fixed.
Excellent. Let me know if there's any changes.
Question: 3.5's skill list doesn't include Spellcraft for Paladins, but it does on Pathfinder's. Am I allowed to have spellcraft as a skill?
Quote from: Nephrite on April 13, 2015, 10:11:59 PM
Question: 3.5's skill list doesn't include Spellcraft for Paladins, but it does on Pathfinder's. Am I allowed to have spellcraft as a skill?
I'll say yes.
Hooray.
Cor's up for a sheet audit now. Enjoy.
QuoteAge: 21
Do you mean merely physical age or total age?
QuoteHit Dice: 45
You mean hit points, I think.
QuoteArmor Class: 20 touch, 29 normal. [-6 armor, -3 shield, -4 flat-footed, -6 deflection]
Nothing wrong with this, though it's odd you use -s instead of +s for the values. Oh, and the +4 is dex and not flat-footed, right?
QuoteFull Attack (Freezing Touch): +7/+7 touch, 1d6+3/1d6+3, +1d8 Dragonfire Wrath
Could you run me through your hit/damage calculations? I think something's off, but I'm not sure which end it is until I see the math.
QuoteAncient Knowledge
Note this requires a 100 gp focus, which eschew materials doesn't cover.
QuoteLesser Shivering Touch
I don't have any problem with lesser shivering touch - your golden ice addon to touches is essentially the same thing so that boat's sailed - though I'll probably not allow shivering touch. Just a heads up there if you were thinking about that next level.
Everything else looks fine. Good luck!
Dune, I'm just foregoing the belt for now and I'll try and buy one later in the campaign if we run across one.
Quote from: Nephrite on April 14, 2015, 12:00:02 AM
Dune, I'm just foregoing the belt for now and I'll try and buy one later in the campaign if we run across one.
Sure thing, noted.
Quote from: Anastasia on April 13, 2015, 11:46:11 PM
Cor's up for a sheet audit now. Enjoy.
Age: 21
Do you mean merely physical age or total age?
I meant appearance/physical age, and intended to make that clear after I finalized my background with you so I could list both. I'll fix it.
QuoteHit Dice: 45
You mean hit points, I think.
Yeah, it's the usual copy-paste of the block I do. I'll fix that, too.
QuoteArmor Class: 20 touch, 29 normal. [-6 armor, -3 shield, -4 flat-footed, -6 deflection]
Nothing wrong with this, though it's odd you use -s instead of +s for the values. Oh, and the +4 is dex and not flat-footed, right?
QuoteFull Attack (Freezing Touch): +7/+7 touch, 1d6+3/1d6+3, +1d8 Dragonfire Wrath
Could you run me through your hit/damage calculations? I think something's off, but I'm not sure which end it is until I see the math.
The 'math' section of the sheet covers both of those. If something is still unclear after reading it, prod me in irc?
AC-wise, I just like to list what I need to subtract from the total if X becomes unavailable due to reasons. I don't think I lose deflection while flat-footed? So it'd just be dex.
QuoteAncient Knowledge
Note this requires a 100 gp focus, which eschew materials doesn't cover.
I have some money, it'll go towards that. Got it.
QuoteLesser Shivering Touch
I don't have any problem with lesser shivering touch - your golden ice addon to touches is essentially the same thing so that boat's sailed - though I'll probably not allow shivering touch. Just a heads up there if you were thinking about that next level.
Everything else looks fine. Good luck!
Cool!
Good news, everyone!
It's code of conduct time! As all of you have classes with codes of conduct, I'd like each of you to write your own. These should do the following.
1. Define what behavior isn't acceptable, barring obvious things.
2. When needed, define what behavior is acceptable.
3. The code of conduct should cover all your classes that have one. Consider it a personal definition of what you are and what you're trying to be.
4. Generally, your code of conduct should make sense for the deity you follow.
5. Restricting some behaviors is okay and can provide good material to work with. At the same time, don't paralyze yourself by being overly broad.
6. Be careful of exceptions to banned behaviors. It might make sense to say 'do not kill except for servants of Shar', but too many exceptions can make a ban meaningless.
7. As you have a deity to draw on and aren't being general like base classes need to be, I'd like a little more detail and flavor than the normal codes of conduct.
Here's an example one for Selune. I have Balyss from B3 in mind with this.
A cleric of Selune must be of chaotic good, chaotic neutral or neutral good alignment. She must strive to oppose evil, especially the schemes of Shar. She will keep the nights as a holy time of quiet reflection, joyous celebration or valiant deeds in the name of Selune. Each full moon is to be celebrated, as this is when Selune is at her brightest. Women are to be protected and guided in the Moonmaiden's name, and those that abuse women must be punished.
A cleric of Selune that becomes of any alignment but chaotic good, chaotic neutral or neutral good loses all class features and spellcasting.
That's a basic one that hits the points without too much clutter or detail. There's more than one way to do it. Here's what Sylvie from B3 would have for Oghma. She doesn't technically need one since she's a chameleon, but she does have some guidelines.
- To serve Oghma is to serve knowledge. They are one in the same. To spread knowledge is to spread Oghma.
- Protect knowledge and ensure it is not lost. Document even the smallest tidbit, write of all you find and then write of what you can learn from it.
- The collection of knowledge for its own sake is a worthy undertaking. It is worthier yet to spread it and to teach it.
- Never destroy knowledge by your own hand, save for cursed knowledge (such as books) that brings harm and madness. Even then, only destroy it if no other options avails you.
- Each year, a collection of knowledge learned should be recorded and passed to a temple of Oghma for safekeeping. Likewise, tithing of 5% of your income each year is to be done at the same time, so that this money can advance knowledge.
That's another take on it. Oghma is LN and doesn't care much about good and evil, only knowledge. So that focuses on that instead.
Go ahead and whip one up and post it here for review, and so that the other party members have an idea of what it is. Ideally we can design these so that there are no snags between each of your codes.
A Knight and Paladin of Bahamut must be of lawful good or better alignment. He must strive to oppose evil, but take special steps to place the evil of Tiamat, evil dragons, or those that specifically aid those groups at a higher priority. As a Dragonborn as well, this requires that while there can be times for reflection and relaxation, one must never dawdle for too long or else lose sight of the goals laid out by Bahamut. Above this, as a Knight of Bahamut, one must never violate the Knight's Code knowingly.
There is one caveat to this -- Bahamut makes exceptions for acts such as lying to protect good individuals. If atonement is necessary, Bahamut or his agents will make this known.
Specifically banned behavior: Any evil or worse acts. Anything that violates the Knight's code. Knowingly aiding or abetting evil creatures or even neutral creatures that aid Tiamat.
Quick note: Holding parts off or revision when more world information is available is fine.
That looks okay, Neph. More on that later.
Okay, so check this out. I could use a few days where I focus on worldbuilding here. Having three long PMs open all day is nice and all, but constantly answering questions hurts my workflow a lot. If y'all could avoid PMing me about game stuff the next couple of days, it would be aces.
Inari must be of any good alignment. She must strive to oppose evil, particularly those who corrupt nature. The exploitation of nature should be opposed but allowances can be made for survival's sake. Corrupting or warping nature is the worst blasphemy. Shelter and succour must be given to those who have need and come in good faith. A good trick or deception is to be lauded, but not if it is made for cruelty's sake - the best trick is one that teaches a valuable lesson.
If Inari becomes any non-good alignment she will no longer be considered a living goddess and may become a trickster spirit or a monster.
(Either of those would necessitate a radical change to her build and probably NPC her)
Quote from: Ebiris on April 14, 2015, 02:24:15 PM
Inari must be of any good alignment. She must strive to oppose evil, particularly those who corrupt nature. The exploitation of nature should be opposed but allowances can be made for survival's sake. Corrupting or warping nature is the worst blasphemy. Shelter and succour must be given to those who have need and come in good faith. A good trick or deception is to be lauded, but not if it is made for cruelty's sake - the best trick is one that teaches a valuable lesson.
If Inari becomes any non-good alignment she will no longer be considered a living goddess and may become a trickster spirit or a monster.
(Either of those would necessitate a radical change to her build and probably NPC her)
Seems solid. More on this later.
Annerose must be of any good alignment. In any situation where a choice exists between the right and the easy thing to do, she is expected to choose correctly. The goal she is to aspire to is to help the common man; if that requires direct confrontation with evil, then so be it. But she is to seek out people to help rather than enemies to fight.
The Golden Flame has many messages, paramount amongst which are propagating the concept of unity and the importance of proper mastery of one's talents. Annerose is not expected to convert the people to the Golden Flame's worship. It is enough that its message is spread to benefit others in their daily lives.
Of particular interest to Annerose are the following capital offenses, which she must eradicate to the best of her ability:
-slavery of self-aware beings
-sacrifice of self-aware beings
-torture of self-aware beings in all its forms
No god should demand such sacrifices, and no mortal law should infringe upon a person's freedom or visit cruelty upon them. Annerose must not abide such things when she comes across them, and has to make a serious attempt to stop them.
Quote from: Corwin on April 14, 2015, 04:33:05 PM
Annerose must be of any good alignment. In any situation where a choice exists between the right and the easy thing to do, she is expected to choose correctly. The goal she is to aspire to is to help the common man; if that requires direct confrontation with evil, then so be it. But she is to seek out people to help rather than enemies to fight.
The Golden Flame has many messages, paramount amongst which are propagating the concept of unity and the importance of proper mastery of one's talents. Annerose is not expected to convert the people to the Golden Flame's worship. It is enough that its message is spread to benefit others in their daily lives.
Of particular interest to Annerose are the following capital offenses, which she must eradicate to the best of her ability:
-slavery of self-aware beings
-sacrifice of self-aware beings
-torture of self-aware beings in all its forms
No god should demand such sacrifices, and no mortal law should infringe upon a person's freedom or visit cruelty upon them. Annerose must not abide such things when she comes across them, and has to make a serious attempt to stop them.
That sounds pretty good, Cor. More on this later like the other two.
There's a new fluff post over on the rules and setting board. This isn't terribly important to any of you. It touches on a few theories of the Prime Material and why there are countless Prime Material worlds. It might impact as trivia if any of you take a lot of K:P ranks, but it's otherwise not IC knowledge for any of you. Anyway, this came about from working on some fluff for this game. I wrote out the digression and made it a post.
(Refresher/quick summary for Neph: The Prime Material is not just one world. There are countless worlds of the Prime, each separated from the others and only accessible with magic. The world with Balmuria and the United Baronies is one, Lifasa of B3 is another and the world of this game is a third.)
PS: One or more of the theories may well be subtle propaganda. As always, consider the source for flavor books.
I've been updating and polishing houserules lately. These are over on the rules and setting board, and most of the changes aren't important. I'll mention the noteworthy ones here.
- Houseruled a lot of domains to work around a couple of banned spells. This is mostly polymorph (and related spells) and discern location.
- Gems and minerals can now be identified by K:D. The exact price can't be, that requires appraise.
- Exalted turning is houseruled to work with channel energy. Since this is an exalted campaign, it's worth mentioning.
- Axani and cansin are now LA+0 races. This matches tieflings and aasimar.
- Auril, Umberlee and Red Knight now have resurrection chance roll modifiers. This is mostly useful for me, but heads up.
- Added a gestalt tab that summarizes how I run gestalt.
If all goes well, I hope to have a map up this weekend.
Is anyone decent out there? As a local guru, or in a regional position of power? Someone who might be a good person despite the state of things, or even just 'tough but fair'?
Quote from: Corwin on April 18, 2015, 01:15:52 PM
Is anyone decent out there? As a local guru, or in a regional position of power? Someone who might be a good person despite the state of things, or even just 'tough but fair'?
Not a whole lot, hence the world needing heroes and inspiration. Part of the game, especially the early game, will be finding such people and creating them when needed.
Okay, so the question of how we all want to start has come up. I see two possibilities.
1. You all start apart and something at game start brings you together. Maybe you all come on something, fight together, whatever.
2. All of you are united before/at gamestart by outside factors. This boils down to me giving all of you a push and a motive.
Up to you guys to which you prefer.
I'd prefer the first option. Can we hear a bit on the plot hook that will get us there, though?
I don't have a strong preference. If we did two, we'd need to chat a bit about how long ago we met up though.
I think 1 would work well, we're all on the same page motives/goals wise so it's just a case of putting us in a situation where we can work together and see that there's at least two other people trying to fix things.
Quote from: Corwin on April 19, 2015, 01:36:32 PM
I'd prefer the first option. Can we hear a bit on the plot hook that will get us there, though?
It'll be a surprise, but this leads to the next point. Y'all are going to be starting in Warmfolk.
QuoteWarmfolk
A port town south of Misty Harbor. Once prosperous, pirate raids have crippled the town. Many sailors have left, families have moved and only the resilient remain. Despite all the losses, the pirates continues to attack.
How you get there is up to you, so long as it isn't too torturous or otherwise impedes gameplay.
[16:43] <Nephrite> Could we say Athear had a dream or some sort of vision about something related to Tiamat in Warmfolk?
[16:43] <Kotono> Possibly, sure. Lemme finish getting myd ucks in a row, bt that should be a problem.
[16:43] <Kotono> Shouldn't.
[16:47] <Nephrite> OK
[16:51] <Kotono> In fact, post this so I don't forget.
(http://oi61.tinypic.com/2ugpd2f.jpg)
We have our map. Thanks to Merc for making it.
If you ever come up with names for those unnamed towns or forts, I can update those into the map as well.
Quote from: Merc on April 20, 2015, 12:10:32 AM
If you ever come up with names for those unnamed towns or forts, I can update those into the map as well.
It'll be touched on in time. You're the one that added them, but I'll deal with 'em tomorrow or Tuesday.
Yeah. I hate huge spaces of empty space, so I filled in a few more towns where it looked like it'd make sense. I'm sure there's still many more small towns in there, but as far as major places went, still felt empty with just five places and six forts.
Quote from: Merc on April 20, 2015, 12:31:05 AM
Yeah. I hate huge spaces of empty space, so I filled in a few more towns where it looked like it'd make sense. I'm sure there's still many more small towns in there, but as far as major places went, still felt empty with just five places and six forts.
That's fine, the town rundown was meant to get the big, important ones while leaving space to work with beyond them. I would've said something if it was a serious problem.
I don't do many spoilers, if any, but here's a few tiny ones.
- I may use healer again in some fashion. Jetina performed quite well in Lost Realm.
- As always, a good supply of hit points is important. Expect any NPCs to feature decent Con scores + toughness, unless it goes against type for them. Push come to shove, I prefer to focus on endurance for NPCs, since they don't do anything dead.
- Good aligned magic items will be tricky to buy unless you do something about that. They're just not that common in Malana right now. Likewise, price constraints for items will be a thing. Allies could help with that.
- It's worth remembering that healing isn't automatically a good act, and that bad guys have access to it as well. Of course, what the less kind will demand for healing could be prohibitive, so some of your own healing resources wouldn't hurt.
Okay, so quick character discussion.
Eb, you're looking at branching into witch slayer. Anything past that?
Neph, are you still counting on hellreaver? I know you were considering a few other options or dips.
Cor, I presume you're still going cold PrCs?
It will pretty much be stick to Paladin until 5 (which is CL 7) and then Hellreaver for a while. Merc actually made a Paragon Class for Dragonborn that I wouldn't mind running by you for later. Let me send it to you now, actually.
Looks okay, will go over it after work or tomorrow.
I don't really have any other PrCs firmly in mind. On the non-casting side I'm throwing rogue and paladin in as well. Maybe a nature-themed PrC somewhere if I can fit it in but nothing set in stone.
Quote from: Anastasia on April 20, 2015, 03:58:41 PM
Okay, so quick character discussion.
Cor, I presume you're still going cold PrCs?
Yes.
Quote from: Ebiris on April 20, 2015, 05:38:56 PM
I don't really have any other PrCs firmly in mind. On the non-casting side I'm throwing rogue and paladin in as well. Maybe a nature-themed PrC somewhere if I can fit it in but nothing set in stone.
Right. As you said, you're planning on high saves+AC+mettle+evasion to survive. Sounds pretty viable. Out of curiosity, what sort of favored soul spells do you aim for?
Okay Neph, that dragonborn paragon thing.
- Okay, so dragonborn mind's aspect gives you immunity to paralysis and boosted senses. How does a +1 CL boost tie into that?
- As far as wings go, it's more fitting to gain a speed increase rather than a maneuverability increase. Dragons are fast but clumsy fliers, they gain speed and lose maneuverability as they get older.
Rest of it looks fine.
Mostly buffs with a bit of utility and damage where I can find it.
Quote from: Ebiris on April 21, 2015, 12:58:10 PM
Mostly buffs with a bit of utility and damage where I can find it.
Sounds solid. I know how Cor (cold damage) and Neph (smashing) are going to primarily deal damage. How do you plan to?
Quote from: Anastasia on April 21, 2015, 12:51:37 PM
Okay Neph, that dragonborn paragon thing.
- Okay, so dragonborn mind's aspect gives you immunity to paralysis and boosted senses. How does a +1 CL boost tie into that?
- As far as wings go, it's more fitting to gain a speed increase rather than a maneuverability increase. Dragons are fast but clumsy fliers, they gain speed and lose maneuverability as they get older.
Rest of it looks fine.
That's fine. I'm not sure what Merc intended (he's the one who made it up for me) but I think it'd be more fair to just increase the length of the sight on the Mind aspect by 10 and then maybe increase the speed for the wings by 10 or 20 for those improved aspects.
That's fine. Which aspect are you using?
I've mostly settled on the Heart aspect since I think we have plenty of sources of light and some of the immunity stuff overlaps with other things I've got.
It's not great, but it means I can be in melee with someone and still do something at ranged if I need to.
Fair. It never hurts to get a viable ranged option.
Quote from: Anastasia on April 21, 2015, 01:01:06 PM
Sounds solid. I know how Cor (cold damage) and Neph (smashing) are going to primarily deal damage. How do you plan to?
Also smashing.
Quote from: Ebiris on April 21, 2015, 01:22:04 PM
Quote from: Anastasia on April 21, 2015, 01:01:06 PM
Sounds solid. I know how Cor (cold damage) and Neph (smashing) are going to primarily deal damage. How do you plan to?
Also smashing.
A tried and true option. G'luck.
Eb and Cor, there's one oversight I've been meaning to talk to you two about. Namely, the Seelie and Unseelie Courts.
Short version: Unseelie Court is waxing in the world right now. I figure from your bios neither of you would be involved with the courts much, so just throwing this out there. Feel free to speak up here.
That sounds about right. Any implications for me?
Nothing immediately relevant. With two fey PCs, we'll likely touch on fey business IC.
Yeah, I'm independent.
Homebrew over on the rules and setting board has a new ranger ACF. It's based around Eldath, a lesser power of springs, peace and pacifism. I don't think it's useful to any of you, though it skews good aligned, so it's worth mentioning.
Deep code commentary time. Neph's first since he posted first. Isn't he lucky?
Quote from: Nephrite on April 14, 2015, 01:03:31 PM
A Knight and Paladin of Bahamut must be of lawful good or better alignment.
You can probably just say your character's name instead of knight and paladin of Bahamut. It's meant to be individualized.
Also, lawful good or better alignment is redundant, as the alignment extremes are meant to be inclusive already. You can be an LG paladin or any extreme variant without penalty.
Neither of these is terribly important.
QuoteHe must strive to oppose evil, but take special steps to place the evil of Tiamat, evil dragons, or those that specifically aid those groups at a higher priority.
Okay, so this defines your priorities. Evil in general so you're a crusader, but Tiamat and her spawn get bumped to the front of the line. What happens if you don't do that? Say you choose to run after some of Umberlee's troublemakers instead of stopping a priest of Tiamat from ransacking a town. What then? Is not doing this meant to be a code violation (and I presume so if it's part of your code), and what scale of this would constitute that, if so?
QuoteAs a Dragonborn as well, this requires that while there can be times for reflection and relaxation, one must never dawdle for too long or else lose sight of the goals laid out by Bahamut.
So basically you're meant to be focused. Rest and reflection is okay, but you shouldn't be overly idle. In other words, resist the sin of sloth in favor of industry.
QuoteAbove this, as a Knight of Bahamut, one must never violate the Knight's Code knowingly.
You mean the canon knight's code? Does anything above and beyond the penalties in the knight's code occur if you do?
QuoteThere is one caveat to this -- Bahamut makes exceptions for acts such as lying to protect good individuals. If atonement is necessary, Bahamut or his agents will make this known.
Okay. Is this meant to be a last resort or more of a standard operating procedure sort of deal?
QuoteSpecifically banned behavior: Any evil or worse acts. Anything that violates the Knight's code. Knowingly aiding or abetting evil creatures or even neutral creatures that aid Tiamat.
Okay, straightforward enough there.
Quote from: Ebiris on April 14, 2015, 02:24:15 PM
Inari must be of any good alignment.
Okay, straightforward enough.
QuoteShe must strive to oppose evil, particularly those who corrupt nature.
What do you mean by corrupt nature? Do you mean like pollution, forestry and all the stuff that comes from civilization? Or do you mean more magical things, such as literally corrupting nature and how nature works? Something else?
It's not a gigantic deal here, but it's the sort of thing that I'd like clarified, so we're on the same page.
QuoteThe exploitation of nature should be opposed but allowances can be made for survival's sake.
Okay, straightforward there.
QuoteCorrupting or warping nature is the worst blasphemy.
Okay, that's fine (pending clarification above) and sets your priorities.
QuoteShelter and succour must be given to those who have need and come in good faith. A good trick or deception is to be lauded, but not if it is made for cruelty's sake - the best trick is one that teaches a valuable lesson.
So those sound like typical fey traits, something Afina might say. Makes sense.
QuoteIf Inari becomes any non-good alignment she will no longer be considered a living goddess and may become a trickster spirit or a monster.
(Either of those would necessitate a radical change to her build and probably NPC her)
Straightforward again.
Quote from: Corwin on April 14, 2015, 04:33:05 PM
Annerose must be of any good alignment. In any situation where a choice exists between the right and the easy thing to do, she is expected to choose correctly.
Now I'm pretty sure you mean that by choosing correctly, that she chooses the right thing to do over the easy thing to do. Still, clarification of that would be good.
QuoteThe goal she is to aspire to is to help the common man; if that requires direct confrontation with evil, then so be it. But she is to seek out people to help rather than enemies to fight.
Okay, so this sets your priorities. Fighting evil is all well and good, but your real mission is to get through to the common people and get them to step up. She's less focused on war and more focused on nurturing, you'd say?
QuoteThe Golden Flame has many messages, paramount amongst which are propagating the concept of unity and the importance of proper mastery of one's talents.
So self improvement is another virtue, as well as unity?
QuoteAnnerose is not expected to convert the people to the Golden Flame's worship.
Why is that? Both from an IC and OOC standpoint, I'm curious. Is it more of a message stands on its own merits sort of thing, like the next line suggests?
QuoteIt is enough that its message is spread to benefit others in their daily lives.
Again, more focus on self improvement and spreading the message.
QuoteOf particular interest to Annerose are the following capital offenses, which she must eradicate to the best of her ability:
-slavery of self-aware beings
-sacrifice of self-aware beings
-torture of self-aware beings in all its forms
This is good and sets your priorities directly. I like it.
QuoteNo god should demand such sacrifices, and no mortal law should infringe upon a person's freedom or visit cruelty upon them. Annerose must not abide such things when she comes across them, and has to make a serious attempt to stop them.
The main thing I'd like to add to the end of this is what constitutes a code violation. You talk about what she should do, which is good, but it should also cover what precisely goes over the line into a violation. I have a decent sense of this (all of you did good on this point), but a bit of codification would help.
One extra post on religion and PCs.
Athear follows Bahamut.
Annerose follows the Golden Flame/Seira.
Inari follows herself*.
I find the potential connections interesting. Annerose doesn't focus on any of the draconic aspects of the Golden Flame, though there's a natural synergy with Athear.It's up to them if that comes up at all, since it's Cor's call on how he chooses to manifest the draconic part (which is the obvious possible connection). Inari follows herself, which possibly connects to Annerose and her chaotic, freedom loving nature.
The one I don't see a lot of connections to are Inari and Athear. There's not a lot to connect Bahamut and the fey, so that particular interaction should be the most unpredictable. I'm curious to how it'll work out.
* Which is technically following the Seelie Court and the rulers of it, but that's a lot of background setting information that isn't really important. Basically independent fey rarely follow a deity or power, with Crystal in B3 being a notable exception and the one exception noted to happen with any regularity. Long story short, fey tend to worship nature/take that roll, which eventually winds back to the rulers of the fey, be it the Seelie or Unseelie Corut. This has been your random and probably unneeded worldbuilding for the day.
Oh yes, one more thing. We've done this in previous games and I think it would be neat in this one. If y'all wanna change your forum avatars to something appropriate to your characters, that would be really neat. It's not mandatory or anything, just a suggestion. If you don't want to do it, no big deal.
The pit fiend I use is my generic DM avatar. I might change it to something more suitable to this campaign in due time. Devils aren't going to play much of a role short of the PCs dragging them into things,
(Cor, do you have the one you used for Jaela? Likewise, do you have the one you used for Veseyra, Eb?)
Quote from: Anastasia on April 22, 2015, 10:45:21 PM
QuoteHe must strive to oppose evil, but take special steps to place the evil of Tiamat, evil dragons, or those that specifically aid those groups at a higher priority.
Okay, so this defines your priorities. Evil in general so you're a crusader, but Tiamat and her spawn get bumped to the front of the line. What happens if you don't do that? Say you choose to run after some of Umberlee's troublemakers instead of stopping a priest of Tiamat from ransacking a town. What then? Is not doing this meant to be a code violation (and I presume so if it's part of your code), and what scale of this would constitute that, if so?
I would probably add something like 'If there is a choice between pursuing a creature of Tiamat and another evil creature, the creature of Tiamat should take precedent according to this code. However, if the Dragonborn chooses to pursue the other evil, he must do so with the understanding that atonement will be necessary. Bahamut will determine what punishment is appropriate for failing to prioritize Tiamat.
I'm not really sure if there's something Bahamut specifically says anywhere about that sort of behavior though.
Quote
QuoteAbove this, as a Knight of Bahamut, one must never violate the Knight's Code knowingly.
You mean the canon knight's code? Does anything above and beyond the penalties in the knight's code occur if you do?
I wouldn't think so. If you want I can think of something.
Quote
QuoteThere is one caveat to this -- Bahamut makes exceptions for acts such as lying to protect good individuals. If atonement is necessary, Bahamut or his agents will make this known.
Okay. Is this meant to be a last resort or more of a standard operating procedure sort of deal?
I'd say it's more of a last resort. It's something that, in theory, shouldn't come up that often. I want him to have to make difficult choices about staying Exalted and if that means spending time atoning or praying for it then that's okay.
Quote from: Anastasia on April 22, 2015, 11:02:47 PM
Annerose must be of any good alignment. In any situation where a choice exists between the right and the easy thing to do, she is expected to choose correctly.
Now I'm pretty sure you mean that by choosing correctly, that she chooses the right thing to do over the easy thing to do. Still, clarification of that would be good.
Yeah, it's pretty clear. Right over easy.
QuoteThe goal she is to aspire to is to help the common man; if that requires direct confrontation with evil, then so be it. But she is to seek out people to help rather than enemies to fight.
Okay, so this sets your priorities. Fighting evil is all well and good, but your real mission is to get through to the common people and get them to step up. She's less focused on war and more focused on nurturing, you'd say?
Such is the intent. Naturally, this being D&D, she'll be very good at fighting.
QuoteThe Golden Flame has many messages, paramount amongst which are propagating the concept of unity and the importance of proper mastery of one's talents.
So self improvement is another virtue, as well as unity?
Annerose is picking two components of the Golden Flame's message she considers the most important, and decides to focus on them even if it means neglecting others.
QuoteAnnerose is not expected to convert the people to the Golden Flame's worship.
Why is that? Both from an IC and OOC standpoint, I'm curious. Is it more of a message stands on its own merits sort of thing, like the next line suggests?
Some of that. Some of it is prioritizing. By being inclusive you reach more people, and by believing the message is very needed to help save people it's your best choice of helping the most people.
QuoteNo god should demand such sacrifices, and no mortal law should infringe upon a person's freedom or visit cruelty upon them. Annerose must not abide such things when she comes across them, and has to make a serious attempt to stop them.
The main thing I'd like to add to the end of this is what constitutes a code violation. You talk about what she should do, which is good, but it should also cover what precisely goes over the line into a violation. I have a decent sense of this (all of you did good on this point), but a bit of codification would help.
A direct violation would be not trying. An indirect one could be trying so badly she should've known better.
Say a man is about be be lashed in the town square. If she comes across it, or hears about it in advance and has reasonable expectations of getting there, she should try and stop it.
It could be by force of arms, by guile, by bribery, by offering to take his place, by appealing to a sense of decency, by starting a riot... any means that aren't evil like taking the mayor's daughter hostage, for example.
Failing to actually rescue the man wouldn't be a code violation, if an earnest attempt to prevent it had been made.
Quote from: Nephrite on April 22, 2015, 11:28:26 PMI would probably add something like 'If there is a choice between pursuing a creature of Tiamat and another evil creature, the creature of Tiamat should take precedent according to this code. However, if the Dragonborn chooses to pursue the other evil, he must do so with the understanding that atonement will be necessary. Bahamut will determine what punishment is appropriate for failing to prioritize Tiamat.
Okay.
QuoteI'm not really sure if there's something Bahamut specifically says anywhere about that sort of behavior though.
Page 151 of Races of the Dragon has more information on Bahamut.
QuoteI wouldn't think so. If you want I can think of something.
No, that's fine, the knight's code is sufficient there. Though ideally this is meant to replace existing codes.
QuoteI'd say it's more of a last resort. It's something that, in theory, shouldn't come up that often. I want him to have to make difficult choices about staying Exalted and if that means spending time atoning or praying for it then that's okay.
Okay then.
Quote from: Corwin on April 23, 2015, 03:51:11 AMSuch is the intent. Naturally, this being D&D, she'll be very good at fighting.
Naturally. It's tough not being able to throw some strength around in D&D.
QuoteAnnerose is picking two components of the Golden Flame's message she considers the most important, and decides to focus on them even if it means neglecting others.
Okay, that's more than fair enough. Not every worshiper embodies all or even most of the aspects of a deity.
QuoteSome of that. Some of it is prioritizing. By being inclusive you reach more people, and by believing the message is very needed to help save people it's your best choice of helping the most people.
QuoteA direct violation would be not trying. An indirect one could be trying so badly she should've known better.
Say a man is about be be lashed in the town square. If she comes across it, or hears about it in advance and has reasonable expectations of getting there, she should try and stop it.
It could be by force of arms, by guile, by bribery, by offering to take his place, by appealing to a sense of decency, by starting a riot... any means that aren't evil like taking the mayor's daughter hostage, for example.
Failing to actually rescue the man wouldn't be a code violation, if an earnest attempt to prevent it had been made.
Okay, that makes sense.
I reworded some of it and used a passage from Races of the Dragon since I think that clarifies things.
Athear must be of lawful good alignment. He must strive to oppose evil, but take special steps to place the evil of Tiamat, evil dragons, or those that specifically aid those groups at a higher priority. Whenever they have a reasonable opportunity to do so, followers of Bahamut act to thwart Tiamat or her minions. If Athear chooses to pursue another form of evil and this results in the escape or otherwise pushing off of following the minion of Tiamat, atonement is necessary; Bahamut is the final arbiter of whether this action requires punishment.
As a Dragonborn as well, this requires that while there can be times for reflection and relaxation, one must never dawdle for too long or else lose sight of the goals laid out by Bahamut. Above this, as a Knight of Bahamut, Athear must never violate the Knight's Code knowingly.
There is one caveat to this -- Bahamut makes exceptions for acts such as lying to protect good individuals. If atonement is necessary, Bahamut or his agents will make this known.
Specifically banned behavior: Any evil or worse acts. Anything that violates the Knight's code. Knowingly aiding or abetting evil creatures or even neutral creatures that aid Tiamat.
Quote from: Anastasia on April 22, 2015, 10:56:59 PM
What do you mean by corrupt nature? Do you mean like pollution, forestry and all the stuff that comes from civilization? Or do you mean more magical things, such as literally corrupting nature and how nature works? Something else?
It's not a gigantic deal here, but it's the sort of thing that I'd like clarified, so we're on the same page.
QuoteThe exploitation of nature should be opposed but allowances can be made for survival's sake.
Okay, straightforward there.
QuoteCorrupting or warping nature is the worst blasphemy.
Okay, that's fine (pending clarification above) and sets your priorities.
The idea is that making mutants and shit is corrupting. Splicing animals together, turning a herbivore into a carnivore (and vice versa), adding evil (corruption implies a negative tone) templates to animals/plants or using say natural sites of great magical potential for evil rituals. All that falls under the general heading of corruption.
Exploitation is shit like farming/lumber/mining. If a city needs wood for construction/heat, needs arable or grazing land to eat, that's cool with Inari. People gotta live. But logging a whole forest to build some fuckoff fortress? Damming a river to assist in a siege? That's right out.
Quote from: Nephrite on April 23, 2015, 12:58:45 PM
I reworded some of it and used a passage from Races of the Dragon since I think that clarifies things.
Athear must be of lawful good alignment. He must strive to oppose evil, but take special steps to place the evil of Tiamat, evil dragons, or those that specifically aid those groups at a higher priority. Whenever they have a reasonable opportunity to do so, followers of Bahamut act to thwart Tiamat or her minions. If Athear chooses to pursue another form of evil and this results in the escape or otherwise pushing off of following the minion of Tiamat, atonement is necessary; Bahamut is the final arbiter of whether this action requires punishment.
As a Dragonborn as well, this requires that while there can be times for reflection and relaxation, one must never dawdle for too long or else lose sight of the goals laid out by Bahamut. Above this, as a Knight of Bahamut, Athear must never violate the Knight's Code knowingly.
There is one caveat to this -- Bahamut makes exceptions for acts such as lying to protect good individuals. If atonement is necessary, Bahamut or his agents will make this known.
Specifically banned behavior: Any evil or worse acts. Anything that violates the Knight's code. Knowingly aiding or abetting evil creatures or even neutral creatures that aid Tiamat.
That sounds fine overall.
QuoteThe idea is that making mutants and shit is corrupting. Splicing animals together, turning a herbivore into a carnivore (and vice versa), adding evil (corruption implies a negative tone) templates to animals/plants or using say natural sites of great magical potential for evil rituals. All that falls under the general heading of corruption.
Exploitation is shit like farming/lumber/mining. If a city needs wood for construction/heat, needs arable or grazing land to eat, that's cool with Inari. People gotta live. But logging a whole forest to build some fuckoff fortress? Damming a river to assist in a siege? That's right out.
Okay, that all sounds good.
http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103088.msg1056943.html#msg1056943
A refresher on basic fey organization. This is cribbed from something I gave to Afina back in the day as well as a couple of other sources. Note that this is a library post and the following applies.
QuoteThe library is a collection of book summaries from many sources across the planes. These are bite-sized bits of information about the setting, as well as legends, myths and other tidbits. Be aware that not every book is accurate - take them for what they are and use your own judgment to the validity of them.
That being said, this is a brush up on IC knowledge rather than an exhaustive explanation of the fey. Note that you should be able to pin down a few of the inaccuracies in the article OOC, that's fine.
http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103088.msg1056972.html#msg1056972
A post that explains how death, the afterlife and resurrection works in Balmuria. It's been cleaned up greatly from its B2 incarnation, so it's worth a reread if you haven't read it in awhile. In particular, the fey section was cleaned up and streamlined, as B3 and beyond did a lot more to flesh them out.
We game in under two days. Last call for any pre-game questions, changes or related things.
Today's blooper: Annerose, you shouldn't have been able to run. Being fatigued prevents that. You were fatigued at the end of the last session and it slipped my mind. Next time, add a note in topic HP so it's easier to remember.
I thought Annerose wasn't fatigued because she passed the Con check?
Quote from: Nephrite on May 13, 2015, 09:21:00 AM
I thought Annerose wasn't fatigued because she passed the Con check?
So you're right, it was Inari instead. Whoops. (Can you tell I wrote this as the sick was setting in?)
See, it all works out in the end! Now puke in this bowl.
Probably no post tonight, just not coherent enough. I'll try to do a flavor post over the weekend.
I'm posting all sorts of various things this weekend, since we missed Wednesday. Here's a fragment from a project that didn't go anywhere.
Inner Faith [General]
Prerequisite: Outsider type
Benefit: You are an exemplar of the faith you follow, ethos crafted into a material form. You count as your own divine focus for the sake of casting divine spells. You need not provide one when casting such spells.
Outer Faith [General]
Prerequisite: Outsider type with the good, evil, lawful or chaotic subtype
Benefit: Choose an alignment subtype you possess (good, evil, lawful or chaotic). Any spells you cast gains the matching alignment descriptor. For example, if you select the lawful subtype, all your spells have the lawful descriptor.
As you might guess, this project was meant to make feats suited for outsiders. Ultimately, I felt they weren't needed and mostly uninteresting. Incidentally, inner faith comes from a rule I use for deities - they count as a holy symbol for divine casting, they don't need to provide one. Since they're the actual source of divinity their faith relies on, it's silly they'd need to use one.
Here's a few fragments from spiritual wounds. This is a long term project I've never quite gotten done, so I've put effort into it lately. If you aren't familiar with them or could use a refresher, it's provided below. They've featured in previous Balmuria games. For example, Abigor killing all the plants in Lifasa comes to mind. Granted, this one had some extra prep and oomph behind it, but it illustrates what can happen.
Anyway, these aren't terrifically relevant to B5. You might deal with a few without knowing what they are - a magical location could well owe its origins to a spiritual wound. But they're interesting and a way to make outsiders seem more overwhelming, alien and inhuman to mortals. Even the nicest and holiest outsider is something a typical mortal isn't entirely prepared to deal with.
This also includes a few ways to work around spiritual wounds. It's not impossible, but it requires a support structure and/or feat investment. Generally, these are geared for outsiders who don't have divine rank (or count as DvR0). DvR0s are in a crummy position, as full deities are designed to have avatars to bypass the problem of spiritual wounds. It's being caught in the middle. It wouldn't be such a big deal if Ao wasn't Ao, as there's a lot of DvR0s who would be better suited as demigods. The B1 crew was lucky to bypass that awkward stage.
Incidentally, outsiders via elemental-blood templates (Afina, Muirfinn) count as elementals for this. It just hasn't been written out yet. So they don't cause spiritual wounds unless they get themselves more directly tied to an alignment.
---
Spiritual Wounds
Spiritual wounds are the result of the presence of epic outsiders on the prime material plane. The mortal world is unable to withstand this purity of spirit, and such encounters leave permanent marks on the world. These spiritual wounds cause varying effects, ranging from beneficial to baneful. No matter the type of the effect, the wound frays at the fabric of the prime.
---
Outsiders of all types can cause spiritual wounds. A celestial is no less alien to the Prime Material Plane than a demon. While the wounds they cause are likely to be less onerous than the ones fiends cause, they still weaken the world and bombard it with things mortals are not prepared to handle. Other creatures do not cause spiritual wounds, including elementals. Elementals with an alignment template, such as celestial creature (or the other equivalents) or the half-celestial (or again the other equivalents) may be able to cause spiritual wounds at the DM's discretion. If the elemental is able to, count it as one hit dice category lower than it actually is. Thus, an eligible elemental would need to have at least 26 hit dice to cause a spiritual wound and can never qualify for 40+ hit dice effects.
---
Freezing Wound
Type: Elemental
Prerequisite: 21+ hit dice, cold subtype
Area: A number of feet equal to the outsider's hit dice times its Charisma modifier.
Means of healing: A dispel cold spell.
This spiritual wound results in a sharp drop in the temperature within the wound. The temperature within the area falls by two temperature bands (minimum cold). Water within the area freezes within 10 minutes. Small sources of water such as a stream or ponds are frozen solid. Larger sources of water are also frozen, but only for the parts that are within the area of the wound. Due to the temperature instability between the wounded area and the surrounding, violent, unpredictable and unnatural weather within and around the wound is common.
Glory
Type: Alignment
Prerequisite: 26+ hit dice, good subtype
Area: A number of feet equal to the outsider's hit dice times its Charisma modifier.
Means of healing: A dispel good spell. A caster level check equal to the hit dice of the outsider that caused it is required.
The area of this spiritual wound is suffused with the eternal glory of the Heavens. The area is bright and full of beauty. Life seems better here and pain, discomfort and misery are far away. Peace reigns within this wound. Plants become full and animals that stay within the area gain the celestial creature template. However, this glory does not come without effects. Any mortal creature that spends an hour within this wound must make a Will save. Failure results in the creature becoming unwilling to leave the area of the wound. They will resist leaving by any and all means, and if removed, attempt to return with all their power. This effect can be dispelled by dispel good, greater dispel magic or remove enchantment. Creatures that stay within the wound age one year per day they spend there. They feel drawn to what lies beyond, less and less attached to the mortal realm as they age and pass on.
Rainstorm
Type: Elemental
Prerequisite: 21+ hit dice, water subtype
Area: A number of feet equal to the outsider's hit dice times its Charisma modifier.
Means of healing: A dispel water spell.
This wound results in constant rainfall within the wound. Treat this as downpour conditions, soon flooding the wound and the area around it. This changes to blizzard conditions in colder climates and seasons, but otherwise functions identically. If this wound occurs underwater or the wound becomes underwater (such as being due to flooding), water simply flows from the wound at an equivalent rate as the downpour.
---
Specific Outsider Effects
Opal Glow
Type: Alignment
Prerequisite: 26+ hit dice, lawful subtype, good subtype, cha 21
Area: A number of feet equal to Antenora's hit dice times her Charisma modifier; 375ft.
Means of healing: A wish or miracle spell. A caster level check equal to Antenora's hit dice is required; DC 29. Chaotic evil creatures gain a +4 bonus to this roll.
This wound has the same effect as the glory and perfected life wounds. In addition, the area is suffused with open deposits of Sylican opal. These deposits of Sylican opal shed light like a torch and cast an opal blue-green light over the entire area. The total value of the opal within the wound is equal to the number of feet of the radius times fourteen; 5250 gold.
---
Spiritual Wound Accessories
Destructive Presence [Epic]
Prerequisite: Able to cause spiritual wounds
Benefit: Your presence is more straining on the prime material than normal. You raise the severity of the spiritual wounds you cause by one category. If you already cause the maximum level of spiritual wound available, this feat has no effect.
Planar Child [General]
Prerequisite: Humanoid type, born within the area of a spiritual wound
Benefit: Your type becomes outsider with the native subtype. This grants your darkvision 60ft and immunity to effects that work on humanoids but not outsiders, such as charm person. You gain a +4 bonus to saving throws against the effects of spiritual wounds.
Special: This feat can only be taken at first level.
Soothing Presence [Epic]
Prerequisite: Able to cause spiritual wounds
Benefit: Your presence is less straining on the prime material than normal. You lower the severity of the spiritual wounds you cause by one category, to a minimum of no wound caused.
Special: If you are an elemental that causes spiritual wounds, the benefits of this feat stack with the less severe wound you cause.
Wound Healer [General]
Prerequisite: Able to cast spells, do not have the elemental or outsider type
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to any caster level checks to heal a spiritual wound.
Wound Magic [General]
Prerequisite: Able to cast spells
Benefit: You are able to draw on the power of a spiritual wound to enhance your spells, at the price of making the spiritual wound worse. This offers several options. These options may only be used when you are within the area of a spiritual wound.
Empower Aligned Magic: You may draw on the power of a wound to enhance spells with the good, evil, lawful or chaotic descriptor. To do so, the descriptor of the spell must match the prerequisite to create the wound. For example, to empower a holy smite spell, the wound must have the prerequisite of being caused by an outsider with the good subtype. Doing so automatically empowers the spell (as by the metamagic) and grants the spell a +2 bonus to its caster level.
Empower Elemental Magic: You may draw on the power of a wound to bolster spells with matching elemental descriptors. To do so, the descriptor of the spell must match the prerequisite to create the wound. For example, to empower a fireball spell, the wound must have the prerequisite of being caused by an outsider with the fire subtype. Doing so automatically empowers the spell (as by the metamagic) and grants the spell a +2 bonus to its caster level.
Multiply Summonings: You may draw on the power of a wound to greatly increase the creatures summoned by your summoning spells. When you cast a spell of the conjuration (summoning) subschool, you double the number of creatures summoned. The creatures summoned must be native to the plane connected to the spiritual wound.
Using any of these abilities expands a spiritual wound. Each use expands the area of the wound by 5ft. For each 100ft you expand a wound by, there is a cumulative 15% chance the wound collapses into a planar rift spiritual wound. If the wound uses another measurement to express its area, such as yards or miles, use those instead of feet to determine how the wound grows.
Wound Sense [General]
Prerequisite: Planar Child or int 13 and wis 13
Benefit: You are unusually sensitive to spiritual wounds. You automatically sense when you enter the area of one. In addition, if you succeed on a DC 16 Intelligence check when you first enter a spiritual wound, you identify the effects of it. If you do, you gain a +5 circumstance bonus to the Knowledge (Planes) check to discover how to heal the wound.
Circle of Spiritual Protection
Abjuration
Level: Clr 10, Sor/Wiz 10
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Area: 30ft radius emanation from touched point
Duration: 1 day/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell creates a magic circle that protects the prime material from injury due to the presence of powerful outsiders. An outsider of 30 or less hit dice called into this circle does not cause spiritual wounds so long as it stays within the circle. If the outsider leaves the circle, the circle is dispelled while the outsider is still in it or the outsider is still in the circle when the duration expires, a spiritual wound is immediately created.
This spell can be combined with other spells that call powerful outsiders. The spell's casting time is added to the casting time of the calling spell and the duration begins when the calling spell is cast.
This spell is ineffective if a creature has divine rank.
Material Component
A mix of ground up cold iron, silver and diamond dust worth 2,500 gold.
Greater Circle of Spiritual Protection
Abjuration
Level: Clr 14, Sor/Wiz 14
Components: V, S, M
This spell is identical to circle of spiritual calm, except that it affects outsiders of up to 39 hit dice.
Material Component
A mix of ground up cold iron, silver and diamond dust worth 7,500 gold.
A little more relevant to B5: leShay. I've been working on them for awhile, but I find it slow going. The mess that is fey hit dice encourages hit dice bloat, which I dislike. It tends to sap my enthusiasm.
It's interesting how the seemingly random abilities of the ELH leShay hook into the backstory I made for them. Blade of the leShay matches how greater eladrin manifest personal weapons, while charming gaze ties back to Queen Morwel. It's nice to tie these together and use random powers productively.
Finally, leShay choose a season to represent or study. This influences them and is one of the problems that lead to the Seelie/Unseelie split. Winter is a cruel mistress and Auril got up to no good.
Anyway, this isn't anything immediately relevant. It's possible Annerose or Inari might know the title leShay, but probably not much else besides a fragment or two of distorted legend.
Finally, see how charming gaze bypasses immunity? Those sort of immunity bypasses are generally the domain of epic or divine abilities. You rarely see them in non-epic gameplay. The reasoning for this is two fold - earlier on, an immunity can mean life or death. Often it requires a decent investment or spells, so it's best to respect those. By epic, creatures have lots of versatility and can often shut down entire categories of effect easily. Prodding at this in epic makes more sense, this combines with the fact that epic characters are more durable anyway.
Blade of the leShay (Su)
At will as a free action, leShay can manifest a white sword. This blade is a part of their life force as well as what study of nature they deal with. This functions as a +7 bastard sword. If the leShay dies or loses his grip on the blade, it vanishes instantly.
A leShay's blade changes depending on the season they study. See Seasonal Choice below for more information.
Charming Gaze (Su)
A creature that comes to within 70ft of a leShay is charmed, as if by a charm monster spell, with a Will save (DC 46) to negate. This charm can affect those that are immune to it, but they gain a +10 bonus to the saving throw. This ability is a remnant of Queen Morwel's power transforming ancient eladrins into the leShay.
The save DC is Charisma based and includes a +2 racial bonus.
Seasonal Choice
The leShay are based around the four seasons. Each leShay studies or represents some aspect of the natural world, tied to or represented by a season. Each leShay gains additional powers and modifications based on what season they fall under.
Blade of the leShay (Su)
Depending on choice of season, the leShay weapon changes to match.
Knowledge check: Elementals and fey.
The relationship between elementals and fey came up in the past week's sessions. I'll touch on this here and give a quick rundown of how they interact. As elementals represent the building blocks of the mortal world and the fey are the incarnations and protectors of it, there's going to be some overlap.
1. How much do elementals and fey know about each other?
Not a whole lot. While they work in related fields, they aren't directly connected. More experienced and knowledgeable fey and elementals will have a basic grasp of the other through simple osmosis. They deal with enough similar things to have some crossover. It's akin to hanging out in the pen and paper scene and only playing D&D. While your main field of knowledge is D&D, you've probably picked up a few tidbits about other systems and games.
For a fey, a K:N check can identify an elemental, though it provides no more information than that it is an elemental and what type it is. An elemental does not enjoy the same benefit, as few of them have the intelligence or inclination to take knowledge skills. Those that do are exceptional and likely know this information anyway.
2. Do fey and elemental politics cross over at all? What about culture?
Not really. They're separate as far as that goes. The upper echelons, such as the archomentals and fey courts, do have some dealings and connections. However, this seldom extends to typical fey and elementals. A typical fey finds a normal elemental's focus too limiting, unless that focus lines up with the fey's own preferences. Likewise, an elemental finds a fey's mischievous nature and focus on nature in general, rather than a single element, to be as incomprehensible as most other creatures are to it.
Para-elementals get along somewhat better with fey, as a split elemental focus allows them to better understand Titania's children. Likewise, fey find it easier to deal with an elemental who isn't focused on only one element. Quasi elementals that are tied to the positive energy plane get along better with Seelie fey, while ones bound to the negative energy plane find more harmony with Unseelie fey.
This stat block's flavor section touches on the different mindsets. (http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103072.msg1055170.html#msg1055170) It's worth a read to see how it works out in practice.
3. So what about those upper echelon politics?
I won't go into this too much, but the Seelie and Unseelie keep diplomatic ties with their respective counterparts (Princes of Elemental Good and Evil, respectively) in the elemental planes. The closeness of those ties varies from archomental to archomental. Most are loose and informal, comprising of a few ambassadors and personal relationships between powerful servants.
Imagine less formal alliances and more of backdoor channels.
4. How much do fey and elementals cross-breed or blend with each other?
It happens, but it's not common. The link to Grinning Zephyr is an example of an elemental impacted by fey power, while Afina and Simmer from B3 are examples of fey changed by elemental blood. Practical reasons limit this on both sides. Elementals don't really get fey, so gaining fey blood or power rarely occurs to them, let alone happens. It's usually an accident or special circumstances that lead to it. An elemental so changed has difficulty fitting in with other elementals. The courts of the Elemental Princes of Good or Evil are more palatable to them, as they have likewise been touched by something unrelated to the elements. They understand each other in a way normal elementals never will.
As far as fey goes, the fey cycle stops them from accruing elemental power. The transformation into an elemental (or outsider in the case of many templates) removes a fey from the cycle. As B3 showed, this is culturally unacceptable to fey. It's usually an accident or a particular fey going off the rails. The most common cause is one who grows to value their sense of self over the cycle and reincarnation. Accidents like Afina and Simmer's transformations into pyrofey likewise occur. Most fey who change find new homes elsewhere, as they rarely find acceptance in a fey court after that. Afina and Simmer were lucky in that regard, but B3's court was anything but normal.
5. Does B5's world offer an unique twist on this?
No, it's fairly standard as far as elementals and fey go. This should be obvious but it's worth mentioning. B5's world isn't like Alere from B3 or a few other worlds mentioned - there's nothing changing names and obscuring matters from mortals. It's a standard Prime Material as far as that goes.
So we have an abandoned goblin village, a bunch of human refugees, the shaman's treasure and questions. So what's your plan here, all? Let me know what your plan is, as well as anything each of you is going to do on an individual basis.
Escort the humans back to their ruined village, see if it's savagable or if they want escorted to the city? Also feed them.
I intend to regroup with Sigfried and Anisa. Hopefully, the villagers are there as well, after running in the indicated direction and grouping with them. If not, I'll just wait by Sigfried for the others.
Eventually, we'll help them return to their village, give them moneys, ask them how we can help and inquire about that guy's family and Anisa's parents.
1. Athear is going to look around the camp for any weapons or armor that look especially unique or in good condition.
2. He will ask Annerose or Inari to check them over for magic.
2a. If they are not magical but of good quality he will carry them.
3. Athear will add some of the food into his pack to carry. Probably 5 or 10 lbs worth.
4. They'll pile all the gold into the cart to carry. If it all fits, great.
5. Athear will (he will inform Inari and Annerose he is doing this) take the gems to hold onto to sort out once they get back.
Oh, the sack with the money/dagger/amulet? I figure we should drop it in the woods somewhere.
Some nice fey left that as a gift for a mortal after all, which none of us qualify as.
Hey, I'm mortal!
Sort of!
I think you're some sort of undead, actually. I mean, you died, and then had your flesh reanimated into a draconic golem of sorts in some kinda crazy necromantic egg.
Bahamut's kind of a dick, so wouldn't surprise me if he told people he was bringing them back to life, but they're actually undead. *nods nods*
Quote from: Nephrite on May 18, 2015, 11:10:20 PM
Hey, I'm mortal!
Sort of!
You're an outsider. Technically you should have the native subtype, as aasimar are native outsiders. If I recall right, dragonborn stripes away subtypes and replaces it with dragonblooded. As it wasn't ever designed for an outsider, this is less of a feature and more of an oversight.
You're a planesblooded mortal that's been reborn as a dragonborn. You're sort of mortal. More or less.
I don't mind dropping the sack off, although I think it would be more fun if we held on to it 'as is' until we came across unseelie fey bugging mortals and happened to accidentally lose it around some cool mortal. It feels more proactive.
that works too
Okay then, hold onto the bag for now.
Quote from: Nephrite on May 18, 2015, 04:18:06 PM
1. Athear is going to look around the camp for any weapons or armor that look especially unique or in good condition.
Make a Perception check and post the result.
Quote3. Athear will add some of the food into his pack to carry. Probably 5 or 10 lbs worth.
Goes without incident.
Quote4. They'll pile all the gold into the cart to carry. If it all fits, great.
There's more than mere gold as treasure - other coins, jewels, art, precious metals and so on. Do you mean just gold or loot in general?
I've held off on posting it since it'll depend how you plan to hash it out with the villagers.
If the gold and other things will go in the cart then yes, but Athear was going to carry the jewels and metals by himself to keep them hidden to avoid any complications.
Perception for the Camp
[12:46] <Athear> roll 1d20+2
[12:46] <Serith> Athear roll for Serith < 14 > [d20=12]
Quote from: Nephrite on May 19, 2015, 01:46:44 PM
If the gold and other things will go in the cart then yes, but Athear was going to carry the jewels and metals by himself to keep them hidden to avoid any complications.
Okay.
QuotePerception for the Camp
[12:46] <Athear> roll 1d20+2
[12:46] <Serith> Athear roll for Serith < 14 > [d20=12]
There's a fair few goblin morning stars, javelins and minor bladed weapons about. None of them are worth much, but any of you can loot some if you want a small-sized backup weapon.
Athear finds a small dagger that looks fairly well made and kept.
Athear finds a medium ranseur that looks nice.
Athear finds a small set of nunchucks. They don't look terribly remarkable, but they're notable for being a rare weapon to find. Usually only monks bother with them, and even then only seldomly.
Oh yes. If you're taking anything, cross-post what you're taking in loot.
I may write a flavor piece this weekend. I'm open to interesting suggestions, so if you have any, post them.
How about something about our neck of the woods?
That was the aim, yes.
To clarify, I'm looking for things relatively local to the party (Malana, though Krygur and Kabath are also fair game). This can be whatever, so long as it might be interesting to me and not spoiler laden.
Something about a noteworthy independent evil group on the sub-national scale? Like adventuring or mercenary companies or thieves guilds?
Not a bad suggestion at all. I've touched on that with the pirate groups already, but some more filling in could work well.
I'd be curious if there are any other major religion groups in the area. I know Auril and Umberlee are mentioned already but we've apparently uncovered some followers of Tiamat.
From the flavor and information post, as this is relevant.
QuoteThose that turn to religion find a harder path yet. The old churches are all in decline, having lost the favor of most. The Shining Light Cathedral of Lathander has lost the support of the nobility and has fallen on hard times. The Order of the Whirling Fury was wiped out a generation ago by an unknown disaster and has yet to reform, an entire order of crusaders against the dark gone. The Technos of Gond survive, but recent years have seem them lost in their own work, caring less and less of the common man. Other smaller churches have likewise suffered setbacks.
The Church of the Bitch Queen is a wealthy church and rising, for the priests claim to be able to shield ships from the wrath of the sea and pirates - for the right offerings, of course. The Church is more interested in sating their own interests and the wrath of Umberlee, having no interest in aiding those without gold.
The Order of the Senses likewise has a fair deal of patronage these days, but it is an open secret that they engage in demon worship. Yet the women of the cult are beautiful and they have gold enough, so the authorities allow this to run unchecked. It is whispered that those that oppose the cult have their souls sucked out by women so beautiful that a man can do nothing but allow it to happen.
The Frozen are a cult that is established in the southern mountains. They serve Auril and offer protection from winter's ravages. On the surface they seem beneficial, and indeed have a few benefits. Yet the areas under their stewardship become cold and unfeeling, as do the people. Neighbors become uncaring of other neighbors and the snowy streets run red when the wrath of the faithful is stirred.
Beyond that, you'll find the occasional lone agent(s). They may be from other parts of the world or even other planes. While the ones in the quote are the dominant ones, it must be understood that it isn't a comprehensive listing. Deities constantly jockey for worshipers and to spread influence in the mortal world, and any deity can send a suitable mortal a revelation.
So the quote covers the major religious forces in Malana. You've come on two examples of smaller faiths. The first was the half dragon you recently slew, while the other was Ailan with Eldath's grove. For that matter, the party exemplifies lone agents. None of you worship the main faiths of Malana, after all.
[13:06] <Athear> Does Tiamat have any ties to Umberlee or Auril besides them all being totally evil?
[13:08] <Athear> roll 1d20+6
[13:08] <Serith> Athear roll for Serith < 13 > [d20=7]
Quote from: Nephrite on June 04, 2015, 02:09:26 PM
[13:06] <Athear> Does Tiamat have any ties to Umberlee or Auril besides them all being totally evil?
[13:08] <Athear> roll 1d20+6
[13:08] <Serith> Athear roll for Serith < 13 > [d20=7]
Athear isn't sure, but he does know they aren't related. Tiamat is allied with Hell, while Umberlee and Auril are part of Fury's Heart. As Fury's Heart lingers close to the Abyss, there's little odds they're allied.
A flavor post may not happen this weekend. Birthday stuff's slowed down the works a bunch. I'll try and do a two-fer next weekend to compensate if it doesn't get done.
Quick note: I'm not indexing T's (or other NPCs) knowledge checks. If any of you want to, feel free.
Are we dealing with augment crystals at all in this?
Quick housekeeping announcement: Faith in the frost, a feat from frostburn, has been houseruled. See houserules for more information. Considering this campaign features Auril, it shouldn't be any surprise this has been addressed.
Quote from: Nephrite on June 08, 2015, 05:40:32 PM
Are we dealing with augment crystals at all in this?
No. (I know we talked about this on IRC, but putting a reply here for posterity.)
[14:04] <Serith> 4, 3, 2, 4, 6 = 14
[14:04] <Serith> 4, 5, 6, 2, 1 = 15
[14:04] <Serith> 4, 1, 1, 4, 5 = 13
[14:04] <Serith> 1, 5, 1, 3, 1 = 9
[14:04] <Serith> 3, 6, 2, 6, 5 = 17
[14:04] <Serith> 5, 3, 4, 5, 3 = 14
[14:04] <Serith> Nephrite's Scores: 17, 15, 14, 14, 13, 9
[14:04] <Nephrite> !rollchar
[14:04] <Serith> 2, 6, 4, 4, 4 = 14
[14:04] <Serith> 2, 1, 3, 4, 3 = 10
[14:04] <Serith> 2, 5, 5, 2, 4 = 14
[14:04] <Serith> 6, 1, 5, 6, 4 = 17
[14:04] <Serith> 2, 4, 3, 5, 3 = 12
[14:04] <Serith> 3, 2, 4, 3, 3 = 10
[14:04] <Serith> Nephrite's Scores: 17, 14, 14, 12, 10, 10
[14:04] <Kotono> I wonder if /tg/ will ever post a demure elf.
[14:04] <Kotono> Hm.
[14:04] <Kotono> Set one seems pretty superior.
[14:05] <Nephrite> Superior but not very good. Oh well.
[14:05] <Iddy> The first word that comes to mind for that picture is 'flexible.'
[14:05] <Nephrite> I guess I'll go with one.
17, 15, 14, 14, 13, 9
Minor houserules update: The serenity feat now changes a paladin's spellcasting back to Wisdom. It's meant to make paladins fully Wisdom based, but the houserule that turns paladin casting to Charisma based doesn't mesh with that. Hence a new houserule.
Sheet audit ahead.
- CMD is wrong. Any non armor, shield or natural bonuses to AC apply. So that means a monk's AC bonuses apply. So you should add +6 more to that for a total of 24.
- Prayerful meditation replaces still mind, so remove the latter from your sheet.
- Note how far slow fall extends.
- You can't take improved natural attack at level 1. It requires BAB+4, so you can't take it at level 1.
- True believer isn't on the list of bonus feats for holy warrior. That being said, the feat is so paladin that it hurts, so I'd allow it.
- Run me through your skill points and how you have all of that sorted out real quick.
I'd suggest considering keeping paladin casting,b ut we discussed that and it's your call. I'd also suggest keeping turn undead, since serenity keys it to Wisdom. This includes daily uses for you, so it's not crippled thanks to your Charisma. Your call, though.
16 (4x4) skill points + 36 (9 (4 class, +1 int, +4 more from the house rule) x4) Skill points for a total of 52. I have 5 in 10 skills with 2 left over for Profession.
I believe I have fixed everything else and set my damage back correctly.
I'll talk to you tomorrow about my options for Turn Undead, since I'm not 100% sold on that ACF at all.
Pathfinder skills don't get x4 at first level, so the math overall would be (class +int mod +4houserule) x5levels. Max cap is the level, which is 5.
Oh, I see, so then I have 45, so let me fix that.
EDIT: Removed K:N and Profession so I have 9 skills at +5
Okay, sounds good then.
Changed Bracers of Armor +2 for Caduceus Bracers from MIC for 4k
Quote from: Nephrite on June 18, 2015, 12:33:55 PM
Changed Bracers of Armor +2 for Caduceus Bracers from MIC for 4k
Duly noted.
Okay, this is in the event you recruit Helena. If you don't, this is irrelevant. Anyway, she focuses on using a single shield as a weapon and as a defense, so this is how I'm running it.
- Despite what shield bash says, using a single shield is a normal weapon and not an off-hand weapon.
- She'll be using a spiked shield. For the sake of enchantments, the shield counts as a shield and the spike counts as a separate weapon to enchant. In other words, the offensive and defensive enchantments don't mix and are maintained separately. Seems simplest.
[21:49] <Annerose> Could the NPCs on the team be our level rather than a level behind?
[21:50] <Kotono> I guess. It doesn't matter much to me, I just do -1 to keep them a little weaker than y'all. Feel free to post about it in nagging and get a conversation going. If it floats for all of you, I'll catch them up at level up.
I think we're cool enough without an artificial handicap like that, and they'd feel more like teammates than followers. Thoughts?
Makes little difference to me, I'm good either way.
I'm fine with them being our level as well, unless there's some IC reason that they're still developing.
It's purely an OOC preference, not an IC one.
So one vote yay, one vote of no opinion and one vote more or less in favor. Okay then, they'll catch up at level up. Remind me then in case I forget.
This came up in PM, so I'll answer it here.
Q: How can you compare and determine who is more skilled with a weapon? Do you just compare to hit numbers and higher wins?
A: No, not quite. It's more complicated than this. Some numbers are counted and others aren't. This is how I determine it, should I need to determine it.
BAB + competence modifier to attack rolls + any bonuses to to-hit from weapon focus and related feats, assuming a relevant weapon is being used. BAB is your base skill in fighting. The higher this is, the more skill you have to work with. Competence bonus are exactly that, bonuses for being highly competent. Finally, weapon focus and the like are direct reflections of extra training and skill with a particular weapon.
It's possible to be more skilled than another and still have a lower to-hit number. That's fine - the other person might be blessed by supernatural luck, morale bolstered to the sky by a bard's performance or seem to fight with an almost precognitive understanding of combat. With D&D combat, skill isn't the only factor.
Some IRC discussion from last night, crossposted here for reference. Some editing of unrelated chatter in the middle of it has been excised.
The afterlife of dragonborn and true dragons who serve Bahamut
* Merc has a moment of silence for poor Andrea.
* Kotono lights a candle.
> I like to imagine Andrea is a happy little lantern archon now.
<Merc> probably.
<Merc> Actually, no, she was chaotic good.
<Merc> So she wouldn't be an archon
> Courre eladrin then.
> It's not a bad fate - live a happy childhood as long as you want and promote when you're ready to grow up.
> Conversely, Athear will probably end up as a lantern archon for a little while. Unless a particular spirit is strongly called elsewhere, Bahamut prefers for his non true dragon worshipers to have a short reverie as a lantern archon. A chance to cleanse the palate of life, so to speak. But it's usually a short time, anywhere from 7 months to 7 years. In the case of a dragonborn, most are promoted into an outsider-like dragonborn form. There's no real mechanical differences beyond the outsider stuff (good and lawful subtype, outsider traits, ect) and they serve Bahamut as an honored army. Dragonborn are very much Bahamut's thing and he's fond of them.
> Dead true dragons incarnate as their previous form, but they can't grow or advance in any way. They generally spend their afterlife pondering the perfection all dragons claim and chase. They generally don't become outsiders or deal with anything else, nor do they usually promote.
> Though a fair few metallic dragons who go to Bahamut's realm or Mount Celestia do end up rising to Chronias. Not all of them - draconic greed is a thing and many never overcome it - but a sizable minority do and leave everything else behind for that final mystery. Convesely, Athear's position would be more flexible, assuming he was never resurrected. He could serve with Bahamut forever doing this and that, but like any resident of Celestia, he'd be free to explore the mountain and possibly ascend to Chronias as well. If that would happen is really beyond the scope of this, as Mount Celestia is all about improvement and purification. An Athear who's been there for centuries would be different than the Athear of today.
Aurora, Bahamut and related matters
<Merc> An epic level Athear could join up with Ithea, Muirfinn and Lief!
> As amusing as the image is - and it does make me smile - outsiders just don't advance fast barring unusual situations. It takes time for that to happen.
> He'd fit in well at Aurora, though.
> Though all the chaos there would try his patience. Badly.
> Or at least the idea of Athear Disapproves gimmicks regarding the chaos there amuse me. Like all serious and frowning Athear vs this particular chaotic thing of the hour.
<Merc> And we'd drive him to drink if he was that lawful.
<Merc> That said, he probably wouldn't join us since Bahamut has beef with Ithea.
> Yes.
> The whole Baleruk thing.
> I like that Neph's playing dragonborn in B5. Bahamut got a crappy hand in B3.
> It's nice to see his better side showing.
> Bahamut's nice but he and Aurora were on each other's shitlists in B3. Which really made him get dumped on more than he deserved. It was just an unfortunate situation for all concerned. Except Baleruk, he got what he wanted.
<Merc> Ithea wasn't altogether certain about the whole Baleruk thing, but she convinced herself that it was right because Bahamut was a dick about it and hit Kascha with his whammy too. That was also the time when she was kinda more on a 'fuck the gods, they never helped with Lifasa' mentality.
> Plus you helped make a divine ranked creature without Ao going all hunefer on him, which earns points.
* Kotono nods.
> Yeah.
> (There's be a whole lot more DvR0 and 1-5s around in Balmuria if Ao wasn't Ao. Also a few of the dempowers would probably rise to lesser power status to compensate.)
> The entire situation worked out poorly for everyone. You at least did get Baleruk, who is a legitimately poewrful ally.
Auril growing stronger?
<Nephrite> It seems like B5 might also be a small turning point against Auril? If I remember right in a lot of your writings Auril has mostly been on an increase lately?
> Yes.
> Back in B1, it was revealed Torm fell (long story there) and eventually Talos rose, possibly as some sort of cosmic counterbalance. Talos used to head the House of Fury, but now is in Limbo doing his own thing. As a result, there's a power vacuum there and conflicts to try and fill it.
> Auril's winning those internal battles and growing stronger.
> That's come up a few times here and there in various games.
> B5's the first game to really feature Auril as anything more than background. She actually showed up on camera in B3, as she was the benefactor Abigor fled to once things went wrong in Hell. But her role in that game was extremely minimal, plus she wrung concessions from Aurora for Lifasa in exchange for letting them take a shot at Abigor.
> She's been there beforehand, she's been a thing and a threat, but never a big one or shown too much.
> So that background bit may well be coming to the fore in this world.
> And also yes, various flavor blocks in stat blocks as well as flavor posts have mentioned Auril's getting stronger. Her statblock in particular touches on it.
> Mechanically she's a Barbarian 50//Wizard 10/Frost Mage 40. She's right at the very top of lesser power status.
<Nephrite> She won't be happy if a bunch of upstarts ruin all of her plans by being meddlesome do-gooders.
> Indeed.
> I can't comment much there for obvious reasons, but spoiling her plans is usually a good idea. Unless you really like winter. Forever.
T reaches level 5!
- Fighter 5 and Factotum 5
- 6 on a d10 for a total of 8 hp and a grand total of 43 hp.
- +1 BAB for a total of +5.
- +1d6 sneak attack to +3d6. This is where it starts really having a good impact on his damage.
- AD's max spell level rises to 2. I'll adjust his spells there later.
- +1 inspiration. That's always worthwhile.
- Gains opportunistic piety. More healing is good.
- Saves don't change.
- 14 skill points to spend. He raises appraise, bluff, diplo, disguise, perception, ride, sense motive, sleight of hand, stealth, swim, use magic device by 1 each. 11. He'll invest the last three in perform (act).
Solid level with useful gains all over. Level 6 in a bit, since I need to consider PrCs.
Inari reaches level 6. Favoured Soul 6, Rogue 1.
+7hp, +1 bab, +1 all saves, +1 all skills, +1d6 sneak attack, divine might feat, +1 0th level spell (resistance), +1 2nd level spell (make whole), +3 3rd level spells (mass resist energy, mass lesser vigor, heart's ease).
T reaches level 6!
- Fighter 6 and Factotum 6
- 2 on a d10 for a total of 4 hp and a grand total of 47 hp.
- +1 BAB for a total of +6. T can now make full attacks.
- All saves rise by +1.
- 14 skill points to spend. He raises acrobatics, bluff, diplo, disguise, perception, ride, sense motive, stealth, swim by one rank each. He also invests skill points in K:A, K:L, K:N and K:R, one rank each. His last skill point goes into appraise, I guess.
- T selects toughness as his level 6 feat. This is valid but also a placeholder, in case I find a better choice. If you have suggestions, I'm all ears.
Crummy level since both classes are dead levels. Rough.
There was another cryo prc and you never got around to posting it, Dune.
Quote from: Corwin on June 22, 2015, 04:50:12 PM
There was another cryo prc and you never got around to posting it, Dune.
So I did. I'll get that out in a day or two.
Level 6:
Feat taken: Weapon Focus, (Claw)
8 on a d10, total of 11 HP for a total of 68
Pious Templar Side:
*Mettle
*0 1st level spells (actually 2 because of Wisdom)
Monk Side:
+1 BAB
+1 Saves
Slow Fall 30 ft, Bonus Feat (undecided)
For now I'll just take the feat for Claw and not get benefits from it, but if you make a ruling on the matter I'll include the bonus. I'm making a post after this to include things.
I'd like to propose a houserule, either simply by existing or by a feat, that Dragonborn unarmed attacks count as either unarmed or claw attacks. It would look like the following:
Dragonborn who have the ability to use natural attacks or unarmed attacks (such as Monks) may use feats and abilities related to unarmed attacks or claws interchangeably, but may only benefit from them once. For example, a Monk may take Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) or Weapon Focus (Claw) and receive the same benefit to their attacks, but may only benefit from this one time.
It makes absolutely no sense to me from an OOC standpoint that someone who turns into a Dragonborn can't use claws.
A feat would probably look something like this:
Dragonborn Fists
As a chosen of Bahamut, you are able to weave your fists and claws together in one graceful series of strikes.
Prerequisite: Dragonborn, Improved Unarmed Strike
Benefit: You may use any feat or class ability that improves claws instead of a feat or class ability that improves unarmed damage, but you may only benefit from this once. Someone may not take both Improved Natural Attack (Unarmed) and Improved Natural Attack (Claw), but may pick one or the other and receive the bonus. In addition, you may not gain other natural attacks using your arms with this feat.
Normal: Unarmed Attacks and Claws are considered separate entities.
Fluff to Support this, or something similar:
http://www.wizards.com/files/365_ecologyotdragonborn.pdf (I realize it's 4e, but whatever) mentions Dragonborn as "Also distinctive from human counterparts is a dragonborn's
dragonlike head, scales, fangs, and claws."
The Player's guide to Dragonborn (also 4e) states "You strive to be a living incarnation of his will in the world, an extension of his mighty claws." Which while it doesn't really say anything about YOUR claws, well...
Fluff to further back this up is the standard statement in Monk: "A monk's unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons (such as the magic fang and magic weapon spells)."
Helena reaches level 5!
- Scout 5 and Fighter 5
- 3 on a d10 for a total of 5 and a grand total of 37 hp.
- +1 BAB to total of 5.
- Gains evasion. This is always a welcome addition.
- Skirmish damage rises to 2d6. This is obviously nice.
- No change to saves.
- Skills go up as normal. In addition, those ranks in craft(blacksmithing) are traded for K:P ranks due to prerequisite issues.
- Dodge is retrained for endurance. Prereq issues again.
Okay level. Setup for the next one and going into horizon walker.
Helena reaches level 6!
- Horizon Walker 1 and Fighter 6.
- 10 on a d10 for a total of 12 and a grand total of 49 hp.
- BAB+1 to a total of 6. Helena can now make full attacks.
- Gains a terrain bonus of +1 and selects plains as her first terrain mastery. It makes sense with the local terrain. It increases her land speed by 10ft.
- All saves rise by 1.
- Skills go up as normal. K:P is now a class skill and increases by an additional +3.
- She gains two feats. She'll take Shield Slam as her level 6 fighter feat. She rejuggles her feats and takes up the normal feat with a previous feat, all to fit in hidden talent at level 1. Blame this on her not quite being done when I posted her. Anyway, she takes adrenaline boost as her power.
Pretty good level. She set up her prestige class choice and generally has herself sorted out. I worked out her build - she'll run horizon walker and fighter.
Re: 4e fluff. I don't really care about it for a few reasons. The first is that I'm not familiar with it. The second is that 4e largely did its own thing, I'm not interesting in trying to detangle 4e things and try to integrate them into 3.5. That way lies madness and DM headaches.
The feat's fine, though, if you want to do that. I'd write it differently but the gist of it seems okay to me.
Okay, well however you want to word it is fine with me. I can take the feat and replace Improved Initiative with it.
Okay. I'll write it out in a sec.
Just to have it documented, I'm taking the Draconic Fist ACF in place of my level 6 bonus feat for monk and choosing acid as the energy type.
Quote from: Nephrite on June 23, 2015, 01:44:42 PM
Just to have it documented, I'm taking the Draconic Fist ACF in place of my level 6 bonus feat for monk and choosing acid as the energy type.
Uh, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's a level 1 ACF for the level 1 feat. You can't take it for your level 6 feat.
Hah, I see that now. I'll figure something out.
Duly noted.
No rush on these, but I figured I'd put pen to paper:
What are we going to do with regards to the Weapon Focus requirement for Pious Templar? We went back and forth on it and I don't know if you had settled on the feat idea or what. If we just want to handwave it and say I can still use Weapon Focus Claw without technically having Claws it's fine. It's a wasted feat but I really don't care.
Improved Natural Attack provides a different progression for damage than Monk does. Which do I use? Monk is 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 2d6, whereas INA lists two: 1d6, 1d8, 2d6, 3d6 vs. 1d10, 2d8, 3d8,
Re: 6th Level feat. Is Stand Still good or would you prefer I stick with Improved Disarm? It's not a big deal either way, but I know we were discussing it.
Interesting IRC discussion, preserved here for reference.
<Nephrite> So those two seem to have been like 70% Aurilites based on what was posted!
> That's a pretty interesting observation. You're right - one can surmise they weren't perfectly faithful to the doctrine based on what you've seen and read.
> They were monsters who used the dead to curse the living, but the also were human. Part of that is being imperfect, by mistake, pride or simple human nature.
> Necromancy isn't a part of standard beliefs for Auril's flock. There's nothing -wrong- about it as far as they're concerned, but it's just not connected to the main tenets of the faith.
> (This is a fairly quick and easy way to tell the difference between Aurilites and Unseelie Fey worshipers and fey who deal with winter. The latter tend to dislike the undead while Aurilites don't.)
> A fairly traditional and strict Aurilite would range from disapproval to HERESY if they spent some time studying them.
> Auril herself would not be amused, but hell, that's her problem now. They'll spend a long time being frozen, miserable spirits haunting Auril's blizzards. No warmth and no mercy there. They won't remember their mortal lives, but they'll both know they're missing something - something important. Another person. Every time they think about it or try and search, the winds will become that much colder for them. Eventually they'll forsake even that and become closer to what Auril wants. They might one day be promoted into a more noteworthy form, but it's not gonna be in this millenium or probably the next.
Quote from: Nephrite on June 26, 2015, 12:26:29 PM
No rush on these, but I figured I'd put pen to paper:
What are we going to do with regards to the Weapon Focus requirement for Pious Templar? We went back and forth on it and I don't know if you had settled on the feat idea or what. If we just want to handwave it and say I can still use Weapon Focus Claw without technically having Claws it's fine. It's a wasted feat but I really don't care.
Just use weapon focus for unarmed strike. It's marginal enough that I don't care (and I gave Cor a pass on Snowcasting yesterday too, so fair's fair, and both aren't anywhere near to breaking anything).
QuoteImproved Natural Attack provides a different progression for damage than Monk does. Which do I use? Monk is 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 2d6, whereas INA lists two: 1d6, 1d8, 2d6, 3d6 vs. 1d10, 2d8, 3d8,
I use this as the relevant text: The damage for this natural weapon increases by one step, as if the creature's size had increased by one category.
So you're on the large-sized monk track if you take it as a medium-sized creature. So on and so forth.
QuoteRe: 6th Level feat. Is Stand Still good or would you prefer I stick with Improved Disarm? It's not a big deal either way, but I know we were discussing it.
Yeah, that's fine. It's really similar to improved trip and disarm in both effect and spirit, so I have no problem with that. I'll write up an official ACF for it later.
Okay.
In that case, I will take INA as my level 6 feat and Weapon Focus as a replacement for Improved Initiative and update everything accordingly and then I think I'm done with the minutia.
Okay.
Levels up ran a little over this time. It's not a big deal since we leveled up mid week. In the future let's try to have them together quicker, okay?
I think there'll be way less weirdness from me for levels from now on since a lot of it was housekeeping and finalizing things. Sorry for the trouble.
It's no big deal, just a heads up for it to hopefully be smoother next time.
This is more of a heads-up for the future, but I'll probably start advancing with Kensai at 7 or 8. I understand there's a bit of fluff that goes along with it, so I wanted to make sure I put that out there way ahead of time.
Quote from: Nephrite on June 28, 2015, 01:32:15 PM
This is more of a heads-up for the future, but I'll probably start advancing with Kensai at 7 or 8. I understand there's a bit of fluff that goes along with it, so I wanted to make sure I put that out there way ahead of time.
Which fluff is that?
Special: Must complete an oath of service (see sidebar) to either an overlord or an ideal.
OATH OF SERVICE
A kensai's oath of service must be sworn in front of witnesses
and must be upheld for the kensai to continue advancing in
levels. Typical oaths include swearing service to a powerful lord
of the kensai's alignment, to an organization with the same
alignment and goals of the kensai, to the kensai's deity, or even
to an ideal or principle the kensai upholds.
There's more in there but I guess Erad could just do it for Bahamut with Inari and Annerose there as witnesses.
Quote from: Nephrite on June 28, 2015, 05:55:02 PM
Special: Must complete an oath of service (see sidebar) to either an overlord or an ideal.
OATH OF SERVICE
A kensai's oath of service must be sworn in front of witnesses
and must be upheld for the kensai to continue advancing in
levels. Typical oaths include swearing service to a powerful lord
of the kensai's alignment, to an organization with the same
alignment and goals of the kensai, to the kensai's deity, or even
to an ideal or principle the kensai upholds.
There's more in there but I guess Erad could just do it for Bahamut with Inari and Annerose there as witnesses.
Bahamut's fine, yeah. That's something we can easily enough work out.
[15:26] <Erad> "Huh." Erad shrugs. He does think, are there any deities that they might be following to just be throwing out maps like this?
[15:26] <Kotono> OOC: K:R.
[15:26] <Erad> roll 1d20+7
[15:26] <Rei-chan> Erad rolled : 1d20+7 --> [ 1d20=19 ]{26}
[15:26] <Kotono> OOC:That's a pretty good result, I'll fill you in tomorrow. Legit need to do stuff before work. Remind me.
This houserules update came from B4, so cross-posting it here. In case any of you were considering archivist down the road.
Archivist: Archivist spellcasting is now completely Intelligence based, rather than Intelligence/Wisdom split.
Standard houserule I make for split ability score casters.
A few miscellaneous things from IRC today.
1. Auril's dogma re: facing winter and clothes.
(I'd like to note the opening line wasn't out of the blue, but came from some IC wondering over how parts of Auril's dogma could be interpreted.)
> For what it's worth, I imagine Auril practices what she preaches and is technically naked underneath the blizzard she wears. When you get to the point of oh, say, wearing the weather like clothing, it's irrelevant anyway.
<Annerose> Naked Auril is fine by me I guess
<Annerose> As for Auril, she might not be hypocritical but her way is in no way self-sustaining either
<Annerose> So she's still wrong~
<Inari> Well, she's static. Better than Shar who's the opposite of self-sustaining.
<Annerose> Shar is shit
<Annerose> Hot but shit
> Blizzard's Raiment in her stat block implies that's what she wears. It's sort of a reference to skyclad witches and the like, but subtle. She's a nature deity but it's not a big deal or much of a reference.
> Just one of those little things you could extrapolate based on things you've heard over various games.
> (Today's extra tidbit: There are those sort of clerics/witches who go that way in worshiping Auril, but it's an extreme minority view. Practical considerations of all kinds tend to nip it in the bud. Among them is that it's not the image she wants her faithful to present.)
<Annerose> Hmm
<Annerose> So wait
> (The most common and mainstream interpretation is just to wear normal clothes and bear winter.)
<Annerose> I convince budding Aurilites they should dance naked in a blizzard
<Annerose> They all die
<Annerose> Profit?
> Depends if they've picked up an anti-cold power yet. >_> But could hilariously work.
<Annerose> I'll be sure to put it in the second edition of the Auril Heresy
Enchanting Annerose's freezing touch
<Annerose> A related question, from me
<Annerose> Dune, does my freezing touch fall under magic weapon or magic fang purview?
> Paste the ability description in here?
<Annerose> A yuki-onna has a freezing touch as a melee touch attack. If the base creature can use weapons, the yuki-onna retains this ability. A yuki-onna fighting without weapons uses a touch attack when making an attack action. When she has a weapon, she usually uses whichever is more beneficial. A creature that already has a slam attack or similar natural attack may use whichever is better.
> I'd just call it magic fang, I guess?
<Annerose> k
> It's essentially a natural weapon.
> Well no, that's bad phrasing, but you get what I mean.
<Annerose> Hmm
<Annerose> I see
<Annerose> But Frozen Hand from the cryo prc turns unarmed touch attacks into armed
<Annerose> So that would be eligible for magic weapon, I think?
<Annerose> Since the writeup for the spell mentions monks and stuff
> Yeah, that's fine.
This isn't quite a flavor post, but it may be refined into one at a later date. Cor and I had an interesting discussion in PM.
<Annerose> How do you think the golden flame would have roots in the world?
<Annerose> Obviously it wasn't like time travel and what not
> That's an interesting one.
> Seira's coming was predicted, that came up in B1 once or twice and has been alluded to elsewhere.
> Prophecy's a funny thing like that. It's not always accurate in Balmuria due to the nature of the future, but it does exist. That provides a reasonable enough premise right there, though one could certainly get more exotic.
<Annerose> So Waukeen sent dudes over to stealthily seed relics and knowledge?
> Entirely possible, yes.
> Prophecy in Balmuria is is about influencing the future. It's saying things are going to happen in a certain way. It's not certain, but it provides a logical framework and support for the idea. The extreme of this is what Taelfagn abused with Lifasa.
> Waukeen seeding Seira's possible rise? Entirely plausible and makes sense based on those examples.
<Annerose> Cool
<Annerose> It'd be neat to come across someone
<Annerose> Or something
* Kotono nods.
> I've mostly stayed away from support networks for y'all so far. Mostly to emphasize the odds and the situation of the world. That sort of thing is more down the line.
* Annerose nods
> Yeah, that sort of long game is what a lot of powers play. I've always figured a fair few ruins and lost magical items are seeded for some future plan or plot by someone or another. Doesn't always work out as they want, but it makes background planning more interesting for me.
---
To understand prophecy in Balmuria, one has to understand how time works. First of all, time travel is possible, but only backwards relative to the point you time traveled or to return whence you came. The Temporal Compact prevents time travel from happening in practice, though it was common enough before for the mechanics of it to be known. In other words, the only way to reach the future is the hard way.
You see, the future is in flux until it happens. While it's possible to make likely predictions about the future, the future isn't said and done until it is in the past. Prophecy is a tool to predict the future, to guide the future down a path the source of the prophecy desires. The phrase self fulfilling prophecy is extremely apt for Balmuria. This is one of the reasons that the prophecy of Primus is so dangerous and unsettling - it adds a great deal of legitimacy to the idea that Shar will win.
A properly prepared prophecy is a thing of power, something able to influence the future. Taelfagn's use of it in B3 resulted in Lifasa's fall to Hell, as he managed to make this event inevitable. Selune's use of prophecy set up Athux's fall in B3's Coda. Seira's coming was foretold and she lived up to the potential. So did Alicia, both in Mystra's tasked and becoming the one to finally overcome Triel's Furnace.
But not every prophecy works. For example, 27 issued prophecies that were defied. Jaela did not die against Abigor and Afina did not die against Gathgorian. A particularly subversive use of the concept is to make a prophecy that will angle a situation towards not fulfilling it. With the fact that prophecy is primarily a tool of law, the fact that 27 took this tack should surprise no one.
As much as law would like it, destiny and prophecy are not iron-clad. As much as chaos would like it, destiny and prophecy are not impotent. As law and chaos have not yet found settlement in Creation, it is only natural for the concept to rest in an uneasy middle ground. Free will is the ultimate determination.
Another IRC conversation I want to save. Right now I find it easier to go on in chat than write up official flavor posts.
<Nephrite> Random Balmuria deity question: Is there any one singular entity that has a higher divine rank than others?
> Of the regular deities, no.
> Some cap at 20 but none go higher.
> However.
> It's known that Three Incarnations - the Incarnation of Law, Balance and Chaos, respectively - created the multiverse and likely the majority of the deities.
> In D&D parlance, they're probably DvR 21+, which puts you at overdeity status.
> What little is known suggests they come from beyond the multiverse (logical, as they created it) and are the source law vs chaos. Good and evil, notably, is something that came from Creation.
> It's known the Incarnation of Chaos is Ao, who is noted as being a tremendous dick.
> The other two Incarnations are MIA.
> Anyway, the Incarnations are as close to pantheon leaders as anything in Balmuria.
> In full honesty, from what's been seen, they probably aren't deities in a mechanical sense as much as entities beyond even that. As they can create infinite things, they're likely infinite in some sense as well or otherwise transcendent.
<Nephrite> Gotcha.
<Nephrite> Or they may even just be parts of the same incomprehensible thing.
> Anything's possible. They're something from outside of Creation, and anything outside of Creation is incomprehensible to mortals unless the Incarnations take action to integrate and shape it (such as the Guardian of 21).
<Nephrite> There does seem to be a numbers theme going on in certain places, is 77+7 from something specific?
> Well, that's from the 77+7 archangels. Numerologically in Balmuria, 7 is associated with the heavens. 3 is also a number of great power - in B3, the fact that it recurs and has power was explained by the Guardian of 21. It's a simple echo of the fact of the Three Incarnations. In this case 3 7s.
> 7*3 is 21, which is also the name of the Incarnation's tool to explore and destroy evil.
> Generally, taking a base number from 1-9 (excluding 3) and adding 3 to it somehow can signify power.
> Usually as multiplication, some sort of symbological word play or other such.
<Nephrite> I take it 6 is associated with Hell, then?
<ZombieGate> Abyss.
> 9 is with Hell. The Nine Hell of Baator. The Abyss uses 6.
<ZombieGate> 9 is Hell.
> A 9 and a 6 are interchangable if you merely flip them upside down, which is also telling.
<Nephrite> Ahh.
> Which is a direct statement on the Blood War and ultimately the relative futility of the entire law vs chaos struggle in evil. Conversely, the heavens share 7, which says a lot about how they operate.
> 8 is loosely associated with chaos and Limbo, but chaos is too inconsistent for serious numerology.
> 8's also an infinity symbol if you flip it 90 degrees, which is a direct commentary on how chaos tends to be portrayed as infinite and teeming. Especially in the Abyss.
<Nephrite> Let's never go to the Abyss.
> A wise idea.
> http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103074.msg1050645.html#msg1050645 You can get some ideas here, as this PrC deals with it directly.
> It's not really required to understand anything that's going on, but tends to be subtly referenced and occurs naturally in the game world.
<Nephrite> That makes sense.
<Nephrite> Well, insofar as cosmic and planar stuff makes sense.
> Yes.
> http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103088.msg1052383.html#msg1052383 - Said discussion with the Guardian of 21. Touches on a lot of fascinating things about this and related concepts.
<Nephrite> That was enjoyable if just because it's obvious that the Guardian has had a long time to develop a sense of humor.
This week's been ultra-stressful for a variety of reasons, so there hasn't been any posts to make up for the lack of sessions. I'll try and remedy it over the coming week, though I still have some RL problems going on.
First thing up is a new prestige class (as well as an epic progression for it). This was in the works for awhile, as I'm working on Glasya's stat block. No class quite fit her, so I ended up making something from scratch. She probably won't be ready anytime soon, as I've struggled with her.
Next up should be something flavor-y. Hopefully it'll be done today or tonight, but it might stretch to tomorrow.
Flavor post over on the rules and setting board. It's something from B3, a reason to consolidate information scattered across several sources.
Assuming Eb gets a tablet this weekend (let us know how that's going, by the way), I'm hoping to game starting on Monday or Tuesday. Eb mentioned an MRI on Monday, so that might scuttle that day even if he has a tablet by then.
Today's agenda:
1. Finish that item set Cor sent me. I'll be PMing this to you in a bit so you can take a look at any edits I made.
2. Work on dragon horde(s). This is a side project I do since they're a lot of prep to make. Having some prepared makes my life easier, especially with a dragonborn in the party.
3. A flavor post. May be for R&S, may be for here. Depends on where my muse is.
Tonight's agenda:
1. Finish anything not finished during the afternoon.
2. A flavor post, hopefully whichever one I didn't cover in the afternoon.
3. If everything goes really well, a special surprise. May not get to this.
Okay, since it looks like Eb is going to be awhile longer, do you two want to do some side things? Like little RP scenes that could have happened over the past few days, a way to keep rust away and our heads in the game.
That would be fine.
This happened and was a nice little chat. Logs should be up in a day or two.
We gamed again today. Mostly just little odds and ends, keeping things going.
---
On another note? Neph, are you going to use dragonborn paragon for Erad? I think it was for Athear, if I recall right?
It was originally for Athear, yes. I don't know if I'll fit it in or not.
Fair enough, was just curious.
Posted a new class + epic progression. Compare and contrast it to celestial mystic from BoED. This class is really meant for paladin/sorcerer crossbreeds, hence the 10/10 casting progression. It's a class that presumes you'll have lost a CL or 2 going in, as well as being on the slower sorcerer casting progression.
More fluff on the class will happen when I work out a character who uses this prestige class. The basics are only touched on briefly for now.
Today's material is a material from B3, death's metal. (http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103074.msg1058394.html#msg1058394) It was found deep in Castle Crumbling and is a rare, powerful material to forge equipment with. Undead in particular benefit from material made of it.
Now that Eb's back and normality has resumed, I hope to post more material of all sorts. This entire month has been a mess between Eb and my eye, so I'm hoping that August is better. Fingers crossed.
The bulette today had a variant special ability. Normally, a bulette can leap up and make four claw attacks at the expense of its bite attack. It's not a bad option when it needs quantity over quality, but I felt it lacked a bit of zip. So I upgraded it to this:
Leap (Ex)
One round after making an ambush attack from below, a bulette may leap up from its hole and make claw attacks at anyone within reach. Treat this as a single attack against all targets with a +15 to hit modifier and damage equal to two successful claw attacks. As it is making this attack with its claws as a primary natural weapon, it adds its full Strength bonus to damage instead of half.
I felt this was a better way to make the bulette dynamic and interesting. In this case, it was boosted by a crit and the party swarming the bulette. I gave y'all a hint at this with Annerose's K:A result, but the party swarmed it anyway. Do y'all feel it worked? Feel free and post to let me know.
This isn't really worth a bestiary post, since it would be the bulette with its single special attack changed.
So we've been using Pathfinder skills for awhile. As I've mention before, I'm fairly neutral on them and use 3.5 skills for monsters behind the scenes, since I'm more comfortable with them. I've only identified a few points of interest with them. This isn't any grand reasoning to change things, I don't intend to unless y'all want me to here, since these are your preference, but just my two cents.
1. Acrobatics is good. I like how it combines several athletic skills into one whole, as experience has shown they're a tad too fragmented in 3.5. You can buy this and be good at most athletic things (barring climbing and swimming). I think this works better and is an improvement.
2. Perception is too good. Spot and Listen were already important skills in 3.5, but combining them and throwing Search in for free? Yeah, it feels like it's just about mandatory. While one can argue that Spot and Listen being separate skills is daft (I'm neutral on that one), I feel Perception needs to be toned down somehow. It's just too useful and too good to pass up, even if it isn't a class skill.
3. Concentration isn't bad, but it is a missed opportunity. I have no real quibble with the Pathfinder concentration rules, as I feel 3.5 Concentration is a no duh skill for casters. May as well tone it down a bit and take it off the skill track. That's fine. But I do think making it a skill that is rolled against the threatening creature's CMD would be better, ala acrobatics/tumble. Would it be more breakable? Sure. I also think it would benefit from making concentration more dynamic and a question of enemy skill. Plus when you factor in skill boosters, ways to raise CMD and so on, it becomes an interesting little sub system to work with.
But all that being said, Pathfinder's Concentration isn't bad at all. It scales better until high/epic levels and is fairly simple. I'm not knocking it, I just think doing it that way would've been better.
4. I'm glad we didn't use Fly. I've yet to come across a situation (with one exception) that a Fly skill would have been useful. I do see the logic of it, since swim and climb are skills, but I feel it's a situation where its own rules already serve admirably.
5. +4 skill points combined with Pathfinder skills results in a skill glut. It's not a big deal, but it's probably a bit imbalanced. Oh well, no big deal.
I wouldn't mind seeing Perception changed in some fashion, perhaps splitting it into Spot/Listen (Perception) and then a separate one for Searching? I don't know. I can understand it being too good, but I do think the idea that being "Good at spotting" and "Good at listening" is kind of lame.
On the other hand, it also makes sense, because some people are better at listening than seeing... I really don't know how you could approach that one. I definitely see the merit in making a skill for actually searching things different from one from just 'paying attention to your surroundings,' or what have you.
Ko was here. Quote this edit and you'll win a special prize!
I'd do that as Perception staying for Spot/Listen and just bringing back Search as a skill. It's a reasonably close call either way and one can certainly logically justify combining them into one skill. I just feel it's not well balanced that way.
Edit to match Neph's edit: Yeah. Spot and Listen makes more sense (to me) being separate, but there's a good counter-argument that it's an unfair drain on the skill points of a perceptive character. I have no problem with them being combined since it makes gaming and balance easier, since previously spot/listen intensive characters were hit with double skill point spending to cover the bases.
Maybe change Search into 'Treasure Finding' or something like that. Clearly, that's its primary use anyway.
Quote from: Nephrite on August 11, 2015, 11:23:24 PM
Maybe change Search into 'Treasure Finding' or something like that. Clearly, that's its primary use anyway.
That and trapfinding. Don't forget trapfinding.
Honestly, I think the real issue is if you say someone is good at seeing things (Spot), then why aren't they also good at seeing things (search)?
I suppose the most logical thing if you were wanting to split them would be to put Search and Spot in one skill and Listen in something else? I'd say make the Listen checks relatively easier so you don't feel like you have to fill it with a bunch of points, but then it begs the question of why even bother to split them in the first place?
I can see a lot of different avenues for handling it, I think I generally agree with moving away from everyone wanting it and everyone needing a bunch of ranks in it because it's so important.
Let's not. Anyway, just about any edition has 'must have' skills, and people still don't take them. Like perception and me.
Quote from: Corwin on August 12, 2015, 02:34:57 PM
Let's not. Anyway, just about any edition has 'must have' skills, and people still don't take them. Like perception and me.
No argument with the latter part, and that's a large part of why I shrug and go along with Perception anyway. Do I think it's too good? Yeah. Is it worth the trouble of changing? Not really, unless there's a serious outcry to do so. Same reason that why I loathe the six second combat round, I don't go to the massive trouble to alter it.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spiritualWeapon.htm
"It uses your base attack bonus (possibly allowing it multiple attacks per round in subsequent rounds) plus your Wisdom modifier as its attack bonus."
As a cleric spell using wis makes sense, but should it use cha for a favoured soul casting it?
Quote from: Ebiris on August 17, 2015, 04:22:46 PM
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spiritualWeapon.htm
"It uses your base attack bonus (possibly allowing it multiple attacks per round in subsequent rounds) plus your Wisdom modifier as its attack bonus."
As a cleric spell using wis makes sense, but should it use cha for a favoured soul casting it?
Yeah, that's fine. Most spells like that specify since they can be accessed by more than one class.
Can Erad do a K checks?
What kind of conscription took place in the previous wars?
If there's any religious exempt rules to this?
If not, is there perhaps any city or anything he would recall that might help the party avoid getting involved?
Were there any notable people that were against the last war? (If this is K:Nobility then forget it)
Make an K:H check and post the results.
[22:10] <Nephrite> roll 1d20+6+2 K:H and using True Believer
[22:10] <Serith> Nephrite roll for Serith < 19 > [d20=11]
Conscription varies depending on the Dynast and the type of war. Big peasant armies are of middling effectiveness at best, and often times they're needed to grow food anyway. The more powerful you are, the more likely you're going to be convinced to lend aid. Of course, this usually comes with military rank.
There's no religious exemptions, but it's rare to have clergies drafted as anything but healers. Exceptions exist. Usually it's not worth the political scuffling it would entail for things beyond healing and support.
No, the Dynast generally comes down hard on any cities in Malana that play hardball. This may still work if the situation is right, but it'll be remembered. The best way to avoid being drafted is to simply not be in Malana or keep your head down. History is rife with examples.
This is more into nobility, but you'll get some. There's not a lot of opposition to the last war. Wars between Kabath and Malana are often cited as inevitable in history and most of the nobility accepts that. This one didn't go so hot. Anyway, nobility comes with an expectation of supporting the Dynast. So if there's war, you're expected to do your part.
I'm talking generalities here, since you got ideas but not specific examples with that check total.
For the record, Erad will share this with Inari and Annerose, since they weren't really around for the last war. He'll also encourage T and Helena to add anything he might've missed.
Quote from: Nephrite on August 19, 2015, 11:44:55 PM
For the record, Erad will share this with Inari and Annerose, since they weren't really around for the last war. He'll also encourage T and Helena to add anything he might've missed.
Okay.
> roll 1d20+7 K:H
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 18 > [d20=11]
> roll 1d20+8 K:L
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 15 > [d20=7]
T can add a few assorted things.
- If you have serve to and can heal, demonstrate so and you'll get a position doing that. Unless you're a combat healer, this is out of immediate danger.
- T's opinion that conscription of the common folk isn't terribly likely due to the problems with the harvest. At least not until springtime, anyway. Of course, if there's a food shortage over the winter, the situation may render it moot by then. In simple words: This is bad.
- Based on the guard's reaction, while no official religious exemptions exist, pretending to be Aurilites will probably keep the heat off you. Nothing that the party didn't already know.
- Not many opposed the last war, and those that did? They did so on the grounds that Malana wasn't ready this time. History proves them right, but it didn't help much at the time. Lord Jason Wentworth was a big figure here, but he died in the war.
Posting much of anything hasn't happened lately. I have a few things brewing, but circumstances haven't cooperated. There's no real story here, sometimes things don't line up.
Quick question: Are y'all serious about trying to recruit Rock?
That's a hard one -- if Rock's alignment is evil, then Erad wouldn't want anything to do with him. So far, of course, he hasn't really proven himself to be much of anything besides hungry.
I don't know how to answer that question in character when it matters out of character what his alignment is, if that makes sense.
Quote from: Nephrite on August 23, 2015, 12:00:30 AM
That's a hard one -- if Rock's alignment is evil, then Erad wouldn't want anything to do with him. So far, of course, he hasn't really proven himself to be much of anything besides hungry.
I don't know how to answer that question in character when it matters out of character what his alignment is, if that makes sense.
Fair enough. For what it's worth, you could detect evil with the paladin ability of the same name.
I suppose I certainly could do that, couldn't I?
I suppose I'll have to remember to do that on Monday.
Quote from: Nephrite on August 23, 2015, 12:41:57 AM
I suppose I certainly could do that, couldn't I?
I suppose I'll have to remember to do that on Monday.
Yes, that might help.
Rock + any other trolls that can prove reasonable.
They're gonna need minders to help them get settled up here without fucking shit up so it needn't be permanent, but I don't feel like just cutting them loose.
Duly noted. Seems reasonable enough.
Seconding Eb. Seems like it could be cool.
Alrighty then, we'll see how it goes this session.
Small houserules update, added how I handle mirror image and cleave. Short version: You can cleave images.
This is mostly for Neph's benefit, since MI hasn't come up much since he joined.
I'm crossposting these from the B3 thread (since they're generating these right now), in case none of you keep up with this. If all of you do, say so and I won't bother with the crosspoting.
Minor houserule update that Canderella provoked: The Marshal's art of war aura now grants its bonus to CMB instead of a the four listed maneuvers. I feel this best captures the intent of the ability four our game.
Since he might be sticking around for awhile, Rock's build is as follows.
Troll 6//Half Earth Elemental 3/Barbarian 3
I've been running him off notes. I'll do a full sheet this weekend if it looks needed. Note: Technically the half earth elemental template makes him an outsider, but in this case it's simply given him the earth subtype instead. This is a case of no template being perfect for the situation and not having the desire to make a new one for it.
Rock should be going up tomorrow. He got pushed back since I ran a session today.
Rock's up. It's not 100% done, but all the important parts are there. I'll polish it sometime during the week.
Some stuff from chat tonight. Cross-posted on B3.
1. Savras
<Nephrite> Dune, this may be a spoiler and I understand if you'd rather not say, but OOC have you ever posted any info on Savras? I think it's the first I'd heard of it, even perusing the Balmuria fluff stuff.
> Very little.
> He's a servant deity to Mystra and hasn't come up much.
> Alicia met him in person at the very end of B1, when she had already become a deity. I believe he's a demipower or a lesser power, but I'd have to look.
> Just one of those that hasn't come up a lot.
> As a servant of Mystra, he'd have at least polite ties to Sylica and the other powers of Dweomerheart.
> Generally, he deals with scrying, prophecy and that sort of thing. I'd have to look up more since I don't use him much.
<Nephrite> Okay. So the higher-tier Celestia folks would probably at least be on cordial terms since he doesn't sound like an evil power.
> He's not evil. N or NG, if I recall. In fact, let me look it up.
> LN, actually.
<Nephrite> I'm just always curious about these things, but I suppose I can always find out IC anyway.
> He'd be on reasonably decent terms with them.
> OOCwise, he'd at least have a working rleationship with Erathaol of Celestia. They touch on some of each other's pursuits.
> Generally, Dweomerheart's authority is this: Mystra at the top, Azuth below her and Velsharoon and Savras beneath him.
> She's pretty good at delegating and they deal with Azuth as much if not more than Mystra.
> Alicia would be theoretically equal to Velsharoon and Savras, but she has mor eindependence due to her unusual situation. But in any serious accounting of the divine, she would be considered part of that group, even if she has her own place.
> (Alicia and Seira both went divine realm and then divinity, which is the opposite way of doing it. Hence both are very independent.)
<Nephrite> Gotcha.
2. Lathander and Misty Harbor
<Nephrite> Well, hopefully we can meet some Lathander...ites? Lathanderians.
> Lathanderites is usually what I use.
> Names vary a bit. Dawnbringer's a common title too, both an exact clerical rank and someone used more casually.
> There's a fair bit of nobility tied up in a particular church, so egos tend to be a thing.
<Gatewalker> sunbros
> This sometimes leads to silliness like someone claling themselves a High Dawnbringer or adding some other descriptor.
> Pretty much, Gate.
> Lathander only bothers sending an omen to knock it off if it gets silly, like Super Supreme Dawnbringer or the like.
> Some boisterousness from his flock's expected.
> A good group for undead bashing, parties, fun, getting full body tans and so forth.
> Granted, the ones in Misty Harbor are likely to be a bit more subdued since the church is having a bad time of it, but they're also optimists.
I will be running things tomorrow and possibly Sunday. Solo things mostly, maybe a bit of paired stuff. We'll see how I'm holding up.
T's shenanigans.
> T stuff. Rolling this now so Annerose and Neph can see for verification purposes.
> roll 1d20+11 diplo for gather information
> Argh. One moment.
* Kobot (~dunefar@ip68-10-229-242.hr.hr.cox.net) has joined #dunes
> roll 1d20+11 diplo for gather information
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+11 diplo for gather information --> [ 1d20=5 ]{16}
> roll 1d100 vs ??? for odds of being noticed
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d100 vs ??? for odds of being noticed --> [ 1d100=50 ]{50}
> roll 1d20+11 diplo for gather information
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+11 diplo for gather information --> [ 1d20=13 ]{24}
> roll 1d100 vs ??? for odds of being noticed
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d100 vs ??? for odds of being noticed --> [ 1d100=83 ]{83}
> roll 1d20+11 diplomacy not gather info
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+11 diplomacy not gather info --> [ 1d20=9 ]{20}
> roll 1d20+7 ???'s bluff
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+7 ???'s bluff --> [ 1d20=12 ]{19}
> roll 1d20+10 T sense motive
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+10 T sense motive --> [ 1d20=19 ]{29}
> roll 1d20+11 T counter bluff
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+11 T counter bluff --> [ 1d20=15 ]{26}
> roll 1d20+8 ??? sense motive
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+8 ??? sense motive --> [ 1d20=19 ]{27}
> http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103554.msg1058934.html#msg1058934 Relevant loot post.
> roll 1d20+11 diplo meeting someone and sweet talking
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+11 diplo meeting someone and sweet talking --> [ 1d20=9 ]{20}
> roll 1d20+6 ???'s sense motive against T's sweet talking
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+6 ???'s sense motive against T's sweet talking --> [ 1d20=19 ]{25}
> roll 1d20+9 counter diploing for bullshittery by ???
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+9 counter diploing for bullshittery by ??? --> [ 1d20=4 ]{13}
> roll 1d20+10 T's sense motive
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+10 T's sense motive --> [ 1d20=11 ]{21}
> roll 1d20+8 K:L for relevant info here, DC 16
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+8 K:L for relevant info here, DC 16 --> [ 1d20=10 ]{18}
> roll 1d20+8 K:R followup T again
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+8 K:R followup T again --> [ 1d20=15 ]{23}
> roll 1d20+16 T bluff (+5 circumstance)
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+16 T bluff (+5 circumstance) --> [ 1d20=3 ]{19}
> roll 1d20+6 ???s sense motive
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+6 ???s sense motive --> [ 1d20=11 ]{17}
> roll 1d20+11 diplo T trying to finish 'em.
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+11 diplo T trying to finish 'em. --> [ 1d20=1 ]{12}
> roll 1d20-9 not the time for a natural 1
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20-9 not the time for a natural 1 --> [ 1d20=9 ]{0}
> roll 1d20+5 intimidate his target is not amused
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+5 intimidate his target is not amused --> [ 1d20=4 ]{9}
> roll 1d20+7 T
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+7 T --> [ 1d20=13 ]{20}
> roll 1d20+11 trying to salvage with pure bribery
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+11 trying to salvage with pure bribery --> [ 1d20=16 ]{27}
> http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103554.msg1058935.html#msg1058935 Relevant post.
> roll 1d20+21 diplo, +10 bonus due to sheer bribery
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+21 diplo, +10 bonus due to sheer bribery --> [ 1d20=11 ]{32}
> roll 1d20+18 stealth to make a smooth getaway without being unneededly noticed after the fact
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+18 stealth to make a smooth getaway without being unneededly noticed after the fact --> [ 1d20=7 ]{25}
> roll 1d20+11 he'll do some more gather infoing, see if he can parley what he got into more discreetly
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+11 he'll do some more gather infoing, see if he can parley what he got into more discreetly --> [ 1d20=15 ]{26}
> roll 1d100 vs ??? to be noticed
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d100 vs ??? to be noticed --> [ 1d100=97 ]{97}
> Oh my.
> Dragon.
> One moment.
> roll 1d20+4 ??? stealth
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+4 ??? stealth --> [ 1d20=17 ]{21}
> roll 1d20+10 perception
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+10 perception --> [ 1d20=4 ]{14}
> OOC: Perception is T.
> roll 1d20+15 ??? intimidate
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+15 ??? intimidate --> [ 1d20=1 ]{16}
> roll 1d20-5 it's only fair
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20-5 it's only fair --> [ 1d20=5 ]{0}
> roll 1d20+7 intimidate failed T's roll
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+7 intimidate failed T's roll --> [ 1d20=20 ]{27}
> roll 1d20+6 counter intimidate T due to the failure, +4 circumstance
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+6 counter intimidate T due to the failure, +4 circumstance --> [ 1d20=3 ]{9}
> roll 1d20+12 autopass
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+12 autopass --> [ 1d20=9 ]{21}
> roll 1d20+16 bluff T 5/6 inspiration, +6 bluff
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+16 bluff T 5/6 inspiration, +6 bluff --> [ 1d20=2 ]{18}
> roll 1d20+10
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+10 --> [ 1d20=4 ]{14}
> roll 1d20+18 stealth T
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+18 stealth T --> [ 1d20=14 ]{32}
> roll 1d20+13 perception ???
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+13 perception ??? --> [ 1d20=19 ]{32}
> roll 1d20+18 stealth T reroll, don't want a tie here
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+18 stealth T reroll, don't want a tie here --> [ 1d20=11 ]{29}
> roll 1d20+13 perception ???
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+13 perception ??? --> [ 1d20=16 ]{29}
> roll 1d20+18 stealth T reroll, don't want a tie here round 3
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+18 stealth T reroll, don't want a tie here round 3 --> [ 1d20=16 ]{34}
> roll 1d20+13 perception ???
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+13 perception ??? --> [ 1d20=20 ]{33}
> roll 1d20+13 +3 inspiration T, ??? is flatfooted
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+13 +3 inspiration T, ??? is flatfooted --> [ 1d20=8 ]{21}
> roll 1d4-1+3d6 stab
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d4-1+3d6 stab --> [ 1d4=2 3d6=9 ]{10}
> roll 1d20+6 init T
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+6 init T --> [ 1d20=15 ]{21}
> roll 1d20+3 ???
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+3 ??? --> [ 1d20=12 ]{15}
> roll 1d20+13 +3 inspiration, 4/6, 3 points spent for +3d6 cunning strike SA 1/6 left
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+13 +3 inspiration, 4/6, 3 points spent for +3d6 cunning strike SA 1/6 left --> [ 1d20=11 ]{24}
> roll 1d20+8 +3 inspiration, 0/6 left
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+8 +3 inspiration, 0/6 left --> [ 1d20=18 ]{26}
> roll 1d4-1+6d6
> roll 1d4-1+6d6
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d4-1+6d6 --> [ 1d4=2 6d6=19 ]{20}
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d4-1+6d6 --> [ 1d4=4 6d6=19 ]{22}
> roll 1d20+18 stealth escape?
<Kobot> Kowork rolled 1d20+18 stealth escape? --> [ 1d20=10 ]{28}
> Well, T is going to have one hell of a story.
Today's tidbit: Emmia's death was randomized, with slowly growing odds each day. She died early by bad luck, but odds are she wouldn't last more than a few more weeks. She really was at the end of her journey, 103 is a fantastically long time to live.
From a PM discussion with Neph:
1. Emmia's final fate + a few bits on Savras
<Nephrite> Well, maybe the Balmuria 3s will meet Emmia at some point if she becomes a servant of Savras! I think they had some ties to Mystra?
> A few.
> Savras isn't so cold as not to reward someone who he dumped on hard like that.
> She'll end up as some sort of minor but favored servant for the crap she got put through.
<Nephrite> I'm sure the prayers of some good folks will help her on her journey.
> Savras employs a lot of seers as part of what he does and she'd join them - albeit with her sight restored.
> She basically did what he wanted and kept at it, so he has no complaints with her performance.
> They wouldn't hurt, no.
<Nephrite> Well, I imagine her role may change from direct to more subtle with the heroes.
<Nephrite> Savras pretty clearly has been planning the arrival of them for some time, or at least has been planning with her.
> Well, she likely wouldn't impact much with y'all. Without spoilers, you usually don't go back to doing in the afterlife what you were doing in life (unless you became an outsider under your own power or are a special case). Even after the week's travel time in the Well of Souls, it's usually about recovering, changing and adapting from mortal life. (Assuming you keep your memories, which Emmia might.) If Savras chose to influence or direct the party further, he'd be more likely to use another source or method than Emmia. She did her time.
<Nephrite> Ahh, gotcha.
> She's free of her past life, free of her pain, misery and lonliness. For most, this includes being born anew with no memories of mortal life. Even those who retain their memories usually go through this in some manner - a new start, a chance to grow and understand further. To move past the problems of mortality.
> It's not impossible to meet her again (It happened in B1 and B3, though it took forcing it in each case), but there's usually a fairly stark divide between mortal life and what lies beyond.
I'm working on things. Here's a few previews.
1.
Quote
Selune, the Moonmaiden
Domains: Chaos, Chastity, Dream, Good, Insight, Moon, Night, Protection, Sky, Transformation, Travel
Divine Rank: 16
Her domains aren't final yet. Anyway, the main point is that she's a greater deity instead of an intermediate one. She's really straddled that line in Balmuria, to the point where she feels like a low end greater deity instead of a top tier intermediate. With how some of her powers work, greater deity fits better as well. Plus it makes certain pairings and synergies with Lathander work better.
2.
Quote
Balmuria takes the concept of avatars and expands them, as they are important for more reasons that merely being a shadow of a deity. The main purpose of an avatar and the intended use of one is to allow a deity to interact with the Prime Material Plane. A deity's true form would cause unthinkable spiritual wounds to the Prime and altogether devastate it, as the Prime Material is unable to withstand the purity and intensity of spirit a deity represents. An avatar does not threaten the Prime Material in this way, as it does not create spiritual wounds at all. This is all designed, as the Three Incarnations created the concept of avatars for precisely this reason.
That being said, avatars are used for far more. They are useful tools to attend to divine business across the planes. An avatar can fulfill virtually any role the deity desires: a diplomat, a warrior, a zealot of the faith, a wanderer or countless other tasks. They provide more power than all but the greatest servants or proxies as well as a personal touch. When a deity commits an avatar to an event, she is committing to it wholly.
A write up for how avatars work in Balmuria and the rules behind them, as well as how deities can make unique avatars.
3.
QuoteBREAKING ENTERTAINMENT: HEROES DISTRIBUTE FOOD TO THE NEEDY IN LEMMEN!
By Cryssa, Pixie Reporter.
Be afraid. That is all.
http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103074.msg1059048.html#msg1059048
New bard class option is available. Not really worthwhile for 99% of PCs, but I find it useful to have. Sometimes I want a bard but not all the spellcasting that comes with it. Especially if you're just dipping bard for bardic music.
Alignment update
Helena has shifted from N with CN tendencies to N with NG tendencies.
This is half OOC info and half flavor post. I'm putting it here since it doesn't fit anywhere else. Neph was fairly curious about it and it's interesting to peel back the curtain behind the afterlife a little bit. D&D's good for that.
Emmia's Final Fate
Once Emmia died, her spirit lingered over her body for a several seconds. She then departed for the Well of Souls, where she currently is engaged in a week's travel to the bottom. As of now, she sees once more, yet her vision is lost in memories of the past. She relives her life in deep trance, all she did made manifest to her. Once this week passes, she will find a portal to Dweomerheart, where she will find herself there and in full command of her memories, rather than reborn as a minor outsider.
Emmia will be greeted by a servant of Savras (a trumpet archon named Clarity's Call), who will answer her questions and train her to see the paths without losing her sight. As fitting of a favored of Savras, she will also be trained as a wizard specialized in divinations. This is joined by a period of adjustment and acceptance, where she will come to accept her final fate. Unlike most, her suffering and sacrifice gives her the option of retaining her mortal memories. This is not common, but Savras considers it fair compensation for the burden he placed on her. Over time, Emmia will choose to keep her memories.
It will take several years for her to finish her training with Clarity's Call, mostly likely 7 to 10 years. Once that is done, she will be directed to join a group of seers. Savras oversees divination, many of his servants focus on aspects of the past or future. In this case, Emmia will join The Tenth Eye, a small group focused on the Prime Material. They inspire and direct visions to mortal seers, as well as occasionally using magic to send omens to accomplish the same. They primarily work at the direction of Savras and his servants, though they sometimes accept freelance work.
Emmia will end up a unique outsider on one side of the gestalt and a wizard (diviner) on the other. She'll probably end up stabilizing around 5 to 10 hit dice and end up lawful good, thus becoming an archon servant of Savras. She'll end up with a job and purpose she was trained for and likes, without the crippling drawback that marred her mortal life. Her teammates in The Tenth Eye will become dear friends, as they all understand the burdens they work under. In the fullness of time, her mortal life will become a faded memory, much like childhood is to an adult. Yet she'll remember a few remarkable friends she met at the end of that time, ones who may yet change the future of Malana.
Doubt it matters, but minor correction:
<Erad> OOC: Sure. Erad will try praying again over the course of the trip
<Kotono> OOC: Make a wis check to cover that in the meantime?
<Erad> roll 1d20+2
<Serith> Erad roll for Serith < 13 > [d20=11]
I rolled Int and not Wis here, so the roll should have been a 16. I doubt that actually makes any difference, but wanted to post anyway.
It doesn't in this case, but thanks for letting me know.
Inari levels up!
+4hp, +1 bab, evasion, +1d6 foxfire damage, +1 spell resistance, mirage arcana sla, +1 1st level spell known (protection from evil), skills.
Evasion is nice at least.
T reaches level 7!
- Swashbuckler 1 and Factotum 7.
- 10 on a d10 for a total of 13 hit points and a grand total of 66 hit points.
- +1 BAB for a total of +7.
- Gains a 3rd spell with AD. He'll select magic missile so he has a ranged option.
- Fort save rises by 2.
- Skills go up as normal.
- Gains Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat from Swashbuckler. He'll retrain his human feat into Subduing Strike.
Okay level up. Swashbuckler is to free up a feat so he can grab subduing strike, though going to level 3 would make sense sooner or later. He almost went martial factotum as well, but it didn't really work out.
Monk 7 and Kensai 1
3 on a d10 (bleh) for a total of 6, up to 74 HP.
Retraining Swim into Ride, putting 5 points into Diplomacy and the rest into Knowledges and Perception.
Saves don't go up, BAB goes up by 1, gain Wholeness of Body, damage goes up to 3d6 due to Monk's Belt.
Dune, side question, does the +5 levels from Monk's Belt affect Draconic Fist? I don't know if the belt was created with ACFs in mind and I ask because the ACF replaces Stunning Fist, so it's really the same "tier".
I'll need to talk to you over the weekend about what Kensai actually does for my damage, if anything.
Quote from: Nephrite on September 24, 2015, 02:28:44 PMDune, side question, does the +5 levels from Monk's Belt affect Draconic Fist? I don't know if the belt was created with ACFs in mind and I ask because the ACF replaces Stunning Fist, so it's really the same "tier".
I'll need to talk to you over the weekend about what Kensai actually does for my damage, if anything.
RAW no, since it's not the same thing. Getting something adapted for it isn't unreasonable, though. You could get your belt changed, but it would take a bit of money and time.
Okay, I'll look into doing that the next time we have either or those things in abundance.
I became scarier, got a few more spells for utility and can freeze the things I punch better.
Quick note: On doing this level up, I found out the aquatic terrain mastery was in error. That was supposed to be one half of land speed, not 10ft. Whoops.
Helena reaches level 7!
- Horizon Walker 2 and Fighter 7.
- 6 on a d10 for a total of 8 hit points and a grand total of 57 hit points.
- +1 BAB for a total of +7.
- Gains terrain mastery (aquatic). This gives her a swim speed of 25ft and a +8 bonus to swim checks, and can take 10 on them even if distressed or in danger.
- No change to saves.
- Skills go up as normal.
Unremarkable level, but aquatic helps her the next time y'all go swimming.
Rock reaches level 7!
- Troll 7 and barbarian 4.
- 9 on a d12 for 17 hit points and a grand total of 101 hit points.
- +1 BAB for a total of +5.
- A second daily use of rage. Yay.
- No change to saves.
- Skills go up as normal.
- Gains great fortitude as a bonus feat. This is from racial hit dice. If nothing else, earth trolls are tough.
Not the best level, but not terrible. That second daily rage helps.
Posting as requested
[12:29] <Kotono> Okay, lookts like it alternated. At odd levels it was 20% of sale price and at even levels it required an exotic metal or material. I don't recall those ever being terribly eventful (B1 had more than enough going on already). So call it 25% of price then and we'll just go with that.
[12:30] <Kotono> So to upgrade to a +1 weapon would be 2000*.25, or 500 gold.
[12:31] <Nephrite> Should I include the 20% extra cost that Kensai says for fists?
[12:32] <Kotono> Nah. You'dbe using that necklace of natural attacks anyway, and that's normal priced.
[12:32] <Nephrite> Okay.
[12:33] <Kotono> Note how this works on your sheet somewhere, so it's easy to reference. Also, post this in nagging for easy reference as well.
[12:33] <Nephrite> Okay.
[12:34] <Nephrite> So basically, if I wanted to add, uhh...
[12:35] <Nephrite> Let's pick something out of a hat here, Sizing.
[12:36] <Nephrite> I'd pay 1250 at next level and my fists would be +1 with Sizing? I'm not sure if kensai was ever really intended to work with most of the MIC weapon stuff...
[12:36] <Ebiris> Wouldn't you take penalties for using an oversized weapon if you made your fists huge though?
[12:38] <Kotono> There's a few enchantments that are a bit odd if you use them with this (hi throwing and returning). Judgment call on how they work on a case by case basis.
[12:38] <Kotono> You'd pay the cost of a +2 weapon*.25, then subtract the cost for the +1 enchantment you already put on your fists.
[12:38] <Kotono> 25% of 8k is 2000, so 2000-500, so 1500 gold.
[12:41] <Nephrite> Would you allow spell storing? It's irrelevant for right now since I'm just going to take the +1 bonus anyway (I think I have to, I don't think you can really magic up something that isn't +1?)
[12:42] <Kotono> The +x gold ones don't really work with kensai as written. If there's something you really love, talk to me and w'ell work something out.
[12:42] <Kotono> Yeah, that would be fine. Spell storing's straight forward enough.
New houserule update in misc rulings. Long story short, kensai and ancestral weapons don't mix, okay?
I want to make sure I'm doing the math on Flurry of Blows correctly -- the default Monk's BAB is such that Flurry of Blows eventually catches up to it in terms of BAB, but with the houserule for Monks having good BAB this doesn't happen.
Am I right to just follow what the monk's guide actually says (So at level 5 the penalty is -1 and then when I get to level 9 there is no penalty) despite the original intention being that it catch up to a worse BAB originally?
Yes.
Flurry starts at a -2 penalty to attack. This is expressed in that chart using default monk BAB. With monks having full BAB, that chart's inaccurate. So a level 5 monk only suffers a -1 penalty to attack with flurry and this penalty vanishes at level 9.
Okay, whew. Thanks.
http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103072.msg1059146.html#msg1059146
New monster up. Mostly noteworthy 'cause I'm finally breaking my slump. I hope.
Dune: Kensai question time.
Can a signature weapon be imbued multiple times? For example, if I want to add a +2 bonus to my weapon next time when we get to level 8, can I replace my current +1 bonus with the +2 bonus? And, again, whenever we level past that, could I replace the +2 with a +3? Or 3 +1 bonuses?
The wording on the class doesn't actually mention anything about overwriting a current bonus.
Quote from: Nephrite on September 26, 2015, 10:25:15 PM
Dune: Kensai question time.
Can a signature weapon be imbued multiple times? For example, if I want to add a +2 bonus to my weapon next time when we get to level 8, can I replace my current +1 bonus with the +2 bonus? And, again, whenever we level past that, could I replace the +2 with a +3? Or 3 +1 bonuses?
The wording on the class doesn't actually mention anything about overwriting a current bonus.
Okay, this strikes me as two questions. You can improve the weapon normally - such as turning it into a +2 weapon next level, if you'd rather boost the enchantment bonus again. That's like improving any other weapon.
If you mean changing things you've set to a new configuration, RAW no. I don't mind the occasional bit of retraining, though.
Yeah, that's what I was asking. If, say at level 5 kensai, I could change the +1 enhancement bonus and the (probably) other bonuses to +1 enhancement and +4 (for something else)
That works for me.
Cool, cool.
Today's assorted grab-bag of comments and thoughts.
1. I have an unofficial list of PrCs that I soft-ban. Things that aren't in houserules, but are extremely unlikely to be allowed. These are usually classes used before and found ill suited to gestalt or a bit too optimized for me to want to deal with. Would it help y'all to list the ones I have somewhere?
2. The NPCs you've collected are an interesting bunch. T's a social warrior who can do various things in combat, Helena's a shield charger and Rock lives up to his name. There's a lack of serious spellcasting NPCs so far. This is largely on purpose, as I've tried to use spellcasters more sparingly this game. It's mostly a stylistic choice than anything else. This is foremost in your opposition, though it reflects in the NPCs you're recruited.
3. T being the most self centered of the party (besides arguably Rock, though not really in the same sense T is) and yet being the one most opposed to killing amuses me. It's a nice bit of character work that highlights some differences. Helps him feel more alive to me. T's a talker, a manipulator, a con man. He's not a killer, not really.
4. Cor asked about the war mage PrC, the one Simmer used in B3. It's on my soft-ban list (see above) so I said no for now, with a proviso that I might allow it in a few levels, should Annerose fall behind the others. This probably won't happen for two reasons. The damage booster, even with weaker con, is really really really good. The other thing is that throwing around that big AC boost (Annerose's Cha mod to a number of allies) is a bit more than I want to handle. To be honest, it's more the AC booster in this case.
I'd like to see the list of PrCs myself, as it would save myself time if I ever go hunting for some (for all that I'm pretty set on Erad's progression for the next 9 levels).
As for T being self-centered, I think the entire party is working on that with him.
Quote from: Nephrite on September 28, 2015, 10:22:38 AM
I'd like to see the list of PrCs myself, as it would save myself time if I ever go hunting for some (for all that I'm pretty set on Erad's progression for the next 9 levels).
Chameleon. Sylvie used it in B2/3 and I found it doesn't work well in gestalt. The sheer versatility + gestalt gets out of hand and I'd rather not deal with it. Sylvie got grandfathered into it and I use it on very rare occasions.
War Mage (PrC). Just really freaking good. See above.
Incantarix: Too good at what it does.
Planar Shepard: If you know this class, you know why.
Since builds came up in chat today, let me post what I'm doing with the NPCs.
T:
Level 10: Fighter (Dirty Fighter) 7/Swashbuckler 3//Factotum 10
It's possible he may PrC to martial factotum, but I'm hesitant to pull the trigger on that. Anyway, he'll nab int to damage to fix his damage woes and otherwise keep doing what he's been doing. He can burn some inspiration to make up for his sneak attack loss.
Level 15: Fighter (Dirty Fighter) 7/Swashbuckler 3/? 5/Factotum 15
If I don't do martial factotum, I may do a custom PrC for Tear. He wants two things in a PrC: Some sneak attack and full BAB. Unfortunately, that's not a common combination and the easiest one he doesn't qualify for. At this point, inspiration should help him get by, but he'll start using most of it in every battle.
Helena:
Level 10: Scout 5/Horizon Walker 5//Fighter 10
Straight forward. She wants terrain masteries for the various goodies and to cover more terrains with her terrain bonus (must remember to add that to her hit/damage rolls, forgot) and more feats. She'll probably start running the weapon focus line of feats and maybe a custom shield feat or two. She wouldn't mind picking up turn undead somewhere for divine shield, but none of the normal sources of it fit her.
Level 15: Scout 5/Horizon Walker 10//Fighter 15
Same as above. The planar terrain masteries are good and she'll get to shine with them. Assuming she visits a few planes to learn them.
Rock:
Level 10: Troll 10//Half Earth Elemental 3/Barbarian 7
What you'd expect. He might PrC, this is still to be determined and won't be until level 8-9 at the earliest.
Level 15: Troll 15//Half Earth Elemental 3/Barbarian 12
Same as above, barring a possible PrC.
A paste from chat I want to keep handy, as it's interesting.
<Nephrite> Idle question: Are there good demons?
> Do risen fiends exist? Yes, it can happen. An evil outsider who turns good isn't really a devil, demon or whatever else. They undergo a spiritual metamorphosis (that may be damaging, painful or even fatal, depending on the circumstances) and shift powers and form.
> It's really rare.
<Gatewalker> likewise, "fallen angels" aren't really still angels
> A demon who became CG instead of CE would likely become more and more like an eladrin.
> Yeah, fallen angels lose the angel subtype (and ditto for other fallen celestials and their subtype).
> I use a fallen subtype for fallen celestials, though there isn't a matching one for risen fiends. Risen fiends are rarer for a variety of reasons, and to fall means to lose something. The fallen subtype covers that. To rise is to gain and put behind evil. You don't gain any drawbacks from it, not like that.
<Nephrite> Gotcha.
> For example: Belial.
> Size/Type: Large Outsider (Evil, Fallen, Lawful)
> Fallen Solar 49//Monk 49
> Constrast: Antenora.
> Size/Type: Medium Outsider (Angel, Good, Lawful)
> She gained a subtype that fits her - in this case, she ended up an angel. Fiends don't integrate fallen celestials in - it's a point of conflict and misery.
> Those who manage to change from the fiends are welcomed in once they prove themselves. It's a statement on the nature of good and evil.
<Gatewalker> also because fiends like to point at fallen celestials and use them as examples still
> Yes.
<Gatewalker> "loot at what happened to your holy champion~ good is so pointless~"
> Further making them stand out, isolate them and generally make them unhappy.
> To pare it down to the simplest: A risen fiend finds happiness and acceptance in time. A fallen celestial finds misery, isolation, manipulation, hate and unacceptance.
<Gatewalker> look even. Though "loot your holy champion" is also a funny statement
> It is.
<Nephrite> Then I guess is there something in between? Is it even possible to be a neutral outsider?
> It's not impossible, but it is uncommon.
<Nephrite> Ahh, that makes sense.
> Canderella from B3 is a CN succubus, but that was due to choosing to stay with Talos and in his service when he changed. That sort of change is exceedingly rare and exceptional.
<Gatewalker> and that's about the only reason it happens. A tie to a neutral god that winds up stronger than the tie to the plane
> She got pulled along for the ride, as did all the demons and CEers who served him.
* Kowork nods.
> If a deity shifts like that (and it's exceedingly, exceedingly rare and usually has a counter balance), it might drag along servants.
<Nephrite> So clearly we just need to teach Auril to be more nice and all of her followers will be nicer too.
<Nephrite> Easy peasy.
> If you can talk the Himalayas into becoming a canyon, you're on the right level of diplomacy.
<Nephrite> Hey, with enough natural 20s, anything is possible.
<Annerose> Not with skills >_>
> Interestingly, magical effects on outsiders with alignment subtypes tend not to last. For example, a helm of opposite alignment on a demon will eventually break down due to the demon's inner nature. An artifact that does the same might be able to stick, though.
> I do allow exploding crits occasionally, usually when thematically suiting and worthwhile.
> If I absolutely had to do it, I'd make the DC Auril's hit dice + Wis modifier + divine rank to even get her to do anything but smite you out of hand, and the DC to succeed woudl be way higher and require a lot more checks to get remotely anywhere. I wouldn't since there are some things words just can't do, but if I had to.
> So 50+10+14 for 74.
<Nephrite> A good thing to shoot for.
> Yes.
> To take a metaphor, imagine a typical demon is a small piece of chaos and evil. How big depends on how strong they are, but it's not that big a piece. A pebble, maybe. A CE deity is akin to a mountain of chaos and evil instead and proportinally harder to deal with.
Can I retrain the spell I got this levelup, True Casting, for Expeditious Retreat or Swift Expeditious Retreat?
Quote from: Corwin on October 05, 2015, 02:53:30 PM
Can I retrain the spell I got this levelup, True Casting, for Expeditious Retreat or Swift Expeditious Retreat?
Sure, once you have a bit of downtime.
Actually, just do it now. You haven't used it yet and you're barely past level up.
Also, T will be using his donkey for storage instead of riding now. Not a big deal with the party's wagon, but I do track storage space.
Done
Bonus Material: Chronomancy
In Balmuria, time travel and related magic is banned by the Temporal Compact. This forbidden magic is lost to all deities (who refrain from using it as they are bound by the Compact) and the Keepers of the Compact. The various spells of it haven't been released for the simple reason that they're not relevant. No PC is ever going to use them nor is any enemy barring an enemy that defeats you before you even realize they are an enemy.
Nonetheless, a few of the spells are presented here. They're a curiosity. Chronomancy is rather strong to say the least. While banning it was mainly to stop time travel, it overall lowered the power level of the cosmos. Time manipulation magic had become wide spread just before the Temporal Compact, so imagine it more like a timeline with a sharp spike up in power level. Until about 5000 years before the Compact, it was not well known and almost no mortals knew any of it. That rapidly changed. I'm aware these spells are extremely strong and can probably be abused by witty characters.
Chronomancy is a spell school like divination or necromancy. It covers spells relating to time. It should be obvious in context.
---
Time Ripple
Chronomancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: M
Casting Time: 1 swift action; see text
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
Time ripple allows you to replace a previous course of action with another. You may only cast this spell at the end of your turn. Time rewinds to the beginning of your turn, allowing you to act again with knowledge of what happened before. The conditions reset to that at the beginning of your turn, with any damage done, resources used or things affected reversed, with the sole exception of this spell, which is expended.
There is a limitation to this spell. You cannot take the same actions as previously. If you attacked a creature, you cannot attack that creature again. If you cast a spell, you cannot cast that spell again. If you ran away, you cannot run away again. Generally, your action must be different than the action you took previously.
You can only benefit from this spell once per round.
Material Component
A small gold carving of the Ouroboros worth 100 gold.
Body Swap
Chronomancy
Level: Clr 6, Sor/Wiz 8
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Willing creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
When you cast this spell, you replace the creature's current body with the creature's body form the past. This may be from up to one hour per caster level. The creature's condition becomes exactly as it was previously, including that of any possessions on the creature's person. Possessions carried over cause copies of it to vanish, even if they were not in the creature's possession when this spell was cast. For example, if a paladin dropped his holy avenger before this spell was cast and the body brought forward had that holy avenger in possession, the dropped holy avenger would vanish.
The creature's memories and soul remain intact and they do not suffer any loss of memories. Note that this spell only affects the body, effects that deal with the soul only are not affected. Artifacts are also unaffected by this spell, as are the actions, effects and injuries from deities.
Material Component
A phoenix feather.
Lesser Time Leap
Chronomancy
Level: Clr 5, Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Personal and touch
Target: You and touched willing creatures
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell allows the caster and the creatures touched to travel back in time. This allows you to go back up to one day per caster level and you can affect up to 1 creature per three caster levels. You appear in the same spot as you cast the spell, only in the desired time.
It is possible to appear in a place that is dangerous or even lethal should that place be different from the present time. See the dangers of time travel, above.
Material Component
A silver pocket watch worth 250 gold.
Time Leap
Chronomancy
Level: Clr 7, Sor/Wiz 7
This spell is identical to lesser time leap, except that you can travel back 1 year per caster level.
Greater Time Leap
Chronomancy
Level: Clr 9, Sor/Wiz 9
This spell is identical to lesser time leap, except that you can travel back 100 years per caster level.
We are officially on a 3 week hiatus for Cor and Eb's respective vacations. I'll try and post a few things here as the weeks go by, we'll see. We should resume on Monday, November 9th. Ideally, anyway.
Because eye stuff makes IRC easier than writing sometimes. I'm working on a stat block for Renbuu and slaad came up.
1. Slaad information
<Nephrite> The slaad are from the crazy realm of colorfulness, right? Or are those two separate things?
> The slaad are from Limbo.
> Limbo is pure, undefined matter that constantly changes in chunks.
> You can go from a snowy rock to open space to a roaring inferno in a few steps. It's untamed and uncontrolled chaos.
> It's really hard to survive there unless you have magic, are a natural anarch (an entity that can naturally control Limbo) or a deity.
> Notably, not all slaads are anarches. The majority of them are, but sometimes random creatures not native to Limbo have the gift. Ithea from B3's an example.
> I believe it was mentioned at one point that thet dungeon slaad in B4's an anarch of unimaginable power and range.
2. Red Knight and Limbo
<Nephrite> It seems odd that the Red Knight would take up residence there as you'd think someone fond of tactics would rather a much less chaotic place.
> She serves Tempus, who is CN. Her divine realm is one of the few safe, controlled parts of Limbo.
> She isn't the biggest fan of it, but having your own divine realm and being under the protection of a greater deity helps a lot.
> I believe they also border Ysgard, which she's much fonder of.
<Nephrite> Yeah, I'm sure she wasn't going to argue with Tempus when he's like "well here you go"
> Yeah, gotta take the good with the bad.
> If nothing else, it gives her a great source of practice for her legions. Limbo requires a strong border defense to keep the slaad and odder things yet out.
3. Slaad alignment
<Nephrite> Are slaad generally just Chaotic (well bordering on anarchic I suppose) and not really good or evil? Using the term "neutral" doesn't feel right with them since I feel like the Chaotic part kind of trumps the rest of it.
> Yes.
> They don't care about good or evil. They're just chaotic and generally insane.
> They perceive reality in a far different way than other creatures, especially the lower castes. Some of the higher slaad manage something close to a consistent personality and some degree of motivations.
> When a normal slaad does something strange, dangerous or helpful, it's not a question of good or evil. It's just how the bizarre and insane way they see the world hashed out that time.
> Interestingly, there's occasionally (but rarely due to the stuff done to the Spawning Stone) slaad of other alignments. Chaos is everything to them - even things it isn't.
> Limbo can even be completely self-contradictory.
<Nephrite> I suppose that's the pinnacle of chaos for you.
> Yes.
> If Arborea and Morwel's dream is turning reality into a malleable, perfect dream of happiness, Limbo is taking that concept of chaos and turning it into an incoherent, ever malleable dream. The Abyss takes that and turns it into an endless nightmare that's never the same.
> They all have the same root idea of changing reality on whim and into something that better represents them.
> With the slaad, it's just incoherent madness.
<Nephrite> If only those pesky "heroes" and "adventurers" would listen to what they had to say.
> Sometimes slaad say things of incredible value and wisdom. Other times it's meaningless babble. No one really knows how to tell which is which.
4. Slaad lord discussion
<Nephrite> Do the slaad have a deity?
> Not really, Neph. There are slaad lords who rule over the slaad, such as Renbuu (he's who I've been working on). But they don't lead the slaad at all. They might command some through strength and control Limbo, but the nature of the slaad makes real control impossible.
> Slaad don't really worship them or anything. They're just too individual and insane for it.
> Most slaad lords are feared - slaad tend to worry about those that are stronger than them or who strike them wrong for whatever reason.
> This extends to the slaad lords. The two strongest, Ssendam and Ygorl, are terrified of Renbuu. Renbuu's much weaker than them, but something about him and his colors just sets them off.
<Nephrite> So it's more like Druids venerating nature as a deity, they follow the idea of chaos, as much as... well, you know, anyone who's insane can.
> Yeah.
From the desk of small changes worth mentioning even if not relevant: Houserules update for Initiate of Alicia. Just a wording fix. I don't think it'll affect any of you, but Seira's in play, so it's not impossible one of you could end up with Alicia eventually. Or something.
I'm debating how Helena should pay her brand new +4 LA off. Suggestions? I'm thinking just taking 4 levels of it on the horizon walker side so that she preserves her BAB.
BAB is overrated. I'd suggest the fighter side, and use the same thing I did. Give her fey hp/bab/etc each level. That way she only drops 2 bab instead of 4.
Well, she's a fighter type so BAB is mission critical for her. She lacks any sort of boosting game and won't get one with her current build. I'm just hesitant for her to fall two behind on it, as she didn't gain any bonus to hit from her new template.
I understand! But losing out on scout is really death, if it's for four levels.
Less scout and more horizon walker, she's planning on taking that to 10 before any more scout.
Then it'll work. We just need Helena to train in the desert first....
Better yet, fiery once she reaches planar terrain masteries. Resistance to fire 30's shiny.
Amanna's sheet should be up tomorrow or Saturday. Any discrepencies will come down to the fact that I've been running her from notes rather than a full sheet.
Amanna's finally up. Notes.
- Her likely build is to continue fighter on one side and cleric on the other. She might prestige a little bit, but most of the obvious options for her have various issues.
- She will grab an ACF in place of a feat at level 8 or 10, most likely for CC's AC or Will save booster. I need to sit down and do the math on that. Using her fighter side for full BAB hurts the AC booster since it relies on base Will save.
- Tempus has battleaxes as a favored weapon. It's an odd thing, as his holy symbol shows a sword. Just one of those little quirks. Amanna has a sword on account of that and personal preference, though she retains weapon focus in battleaxes as well.
- I may tweak her sheet in the next few days. I didn't look at splatbooks for her spells and kept them simple, so that's an opening. Doing something with her War domain granted power is an option, but I don't want to change the domain itself. I also need to finish her miscellaneous items. Not a huge deal.
-Grabbing a shield to have a defensive style is an option for her. She'll likely get one sooner or later.
Requesting a refresher on the things Emmia told us re: potential allies.
Erad reaches level 8!
Monk 8 and Kensai 2.
2 on a d10 (unfortunate) for a total of 5 with 79 total HP.
Skills go up by 1. Technically he has an extra skill point now. How exciting! He might start going into Sense Wisdom.
+1 Dex.
+1 BAB and +1 to all saves. Damage technically goes up but due to the Monk's Belt there's no change. Also gain Slow Fall 40 ft (as irrelevant as that is).
Erad picks up Power Surge, which I think we had agreed was going to be a Con-based check or something of that nature? I'll go back through the forum to find the answer. He also gets a second point for his weapon, so I'll go looking into some options there.
Something is confusing me, and if it has a simple explanation I've forgotten about, please remind me.
It concerns our HP, as tracked by the #e topic.
First, my HP rolls.
HP:
[22:43] <@Corwin> rolling hp as well
[22:44] <@Corwin> roll 4d6
[22:44] <Serith> Corwin roll for Serith < 15 > [d6=2,6,2,5]
[22:02] <@Annerose> roll 1d8 cryo Seith
[22:02] <Serith> Annerose roll for Serith < 2 > [d8=2]
[19:41] <@Annerose> roll 1d8 hp for cryo2
[19:41] <Serith> Annerose roll for Serith < 3 > [d8=3]
[23:13] <@Annerose> roll 1d8 hp
[23:13] <Serith> Annerose roll for Serith < 7 > [d8=7]
Hit Dice: 10pal+4d6fey+3d8cryo+2x8con+2x8stalwart
This is near game start, with us at lvl5:
[21:32] * Annerose changes topic to '12Franceska: 127/127, Stephanie ("You Monster!") Sundown: 167/167, {Julia}: 76/76, Thing: 42/42, Rosemund: 114/118 | 7 Annerose: 41/45, Athear 59/59, Inari: 36/36'
45 works, being 10lvl1 paladin +15lvl2-5 fey +2x5con +2x5stalwarc sorc
This is after our leveling to lvl6:
[06:45] * Topic is '7 Annerose: 51/51, Erad 57/68, Inari: 43/43 T: 46/52, Helena 28/37 (-3str, -2dex, -5con), Rock (8)96/96 | 3Cid! I'm waiting!'
51 also works, being 45 +2lvl6 cryo +2con +2 stalwart sorc
This is after our leveling to lvl7:
[21:44] * Annerose changes topic to '7 Annerose: 58/58, Erad 74/74, Inari: 47/47 T: 66/66, Helena 57/57, Rock 101/101 | 3Star Hero, 5th edition'
58 works too! Since it's 51 +3lvl7 cryo +2con +2stalwart sorc
I double-checked, and Eb and Neph's leveling here makes sense as well.
Neph (http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103536.msg1059114.html#msg1059114): +6hp, goes from 68 to 74.
Eb (http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103536.msg1059112.html#msg1059112): +4hp, goes from 43 to 47.
Then, on October 12 Eb changes the topic:
[21:50] * Inari changes topic to '7 Annerose: 65/65, Erad 81/81, Inari: 54/54 T: 73/73, Helena 64/64, Rock 108/108 | <Dracos> but games evolve from toy. And if someone wants to throw their toy against the wall, and it has meaning, then it has meaning.'
I'm not sure how we all got that +7hp, and it's been bugging me. I think Neph and I kept using the amended figure, but Eb went back? That's the only way I can think of to explain Erad having 88hp now and Inari 51. Does anyone remember?
My correct HP is 79, I think somewhere along the line we got Inari's buff for extra HP and never corrected it.
That sounds correct, yes.
T reaches level 8!
- Swashbuckler 2 and Factotum 8.
- 2 on a d10 for a total of 5 hit points and a grand total of 71 hit points.
- +1 BAB for a total of 8.
- Gains grace+1. This is a +1 competence bonus to Reflex saves. Nothing fancy but save boosts are always useful.
- T's maximum spell level with AD rises to 3rd. He reorganizes his spells to the following: Shield, Fireball, Invisibility. Sometimes you just have to pull a Simmer.
- +1 inspiration points for a total of 7. Always useful.
- Cunning move ACF. Lets him teleport 10ft per factotum level. Useful since movement like that could be more than handy.
- +1 Fortitude saves.
- +1 Con for +8 hit points and +1 Fortitude.
- Skills go up as normal.
Helena reaches level 8!
- Horizon Walker 3 and Yuki-Onna 1.
- 4 on a d8 for a total of 6 hit points and a grand total of 63 hit points.
- Terrain mastery (underground). 60ft darkvision's really handy for her.
- +2 Ref and Will saves.
- +1 Con for a total of 16. +8 hit points and +1 Fort saves.
- Skills go up as normal.
Not a bad level.
Rock reaches level 8!
- Troll 8 and Barbarian 5.
- 12 on a d12 for a total of 20 hit points and a grand total of 121 hit points.
- +1 BAB for a total of 6.
- Gains improved uncanny dodge. Nice for what it is.
- Regeneration increases by 2 to 7.
- +1 Fortitude saves.
- +1 Strength for 28.
- Skills go up as normal.
Unremarkable level.
[22:42] <Annerose> roll 1d20+8+5 K:H
[22:42] <Kobot> Annerose rolled 1d20+8+5 K:H --> [ 1d20=14 ]{27}
When was the coronation of Dynast George I?
A few hundreds years ago, 22...4, if Annerose recalls. It was a fairly short reign, as he died in an accident soon after. Pure bad luck, his horse got spooked while riding down the streets of Misty Harbor and tossed him, and the Dynast landed just wrong and broke his neck.
Erad, we can handle staff experimentation here, since you have free time IC to work on it. What's your plan for experimenting on it?
Try various other elements and see if they combine with 'sword,' so 'cold sword,' 'acid sword,' and so on and so forth.
He'll also try words like 'shield' and 'barrier' to see if it does anything, so 'fire barrier' or 'fire shield' and so on.
He'll also try other weapon names, 'arrow,' 'staff' 'wand' and that sort of thing.
Okay, give me a list of terms in draconic that you're trying.
These are all primary words: ixen gul uvelucal shochraos jedark ultro arcaniss ternesj thrae bensvelk malsvir ymmute rygat
These are all secondary words: caex fethos daguam siyanc vaex vaess bemin arcaniss kepesk kaden dos
He'll also try ioth irisv kepesk interchangably with the other words.
If he finds a combination that works, he'll try adding turalisj muansi sart ray line to them.
EDIT: I didn't notice but apparently there's not a draconic translation available for the following: electric (but lightning covers this) physical (force may cover this) and staff.
Experimenting, Erad finds the following combinations work.
Ixen caex - creates emerald flames that deal 8d6 fire damage to all creatures within 50ft of the wielder. DC 20 Reflex halves, SR applies, the caster level is 15th. Takes 15 hit points from Erad to cast.
Gul caex - creates a blast of cold that deals 8d6 cold damage to all creatures within 50ft of the wielder. DC 20 Fortitude halves, SR applies, the caster level is 15th. Takes 15 hit points from Erad to cast.
Uvelucal caex - creates a gush of acid that deals 8d6 acid damage to all creatures within 50ft of the wielder. DC 20 Reflex halves, SR applies, the caster level is 15th. Takes 15 hit points from Erad to cast.
Kepesk caex - creates a blast of lightning that deals 8d6 electricity damage to all creatures within 50ft of the wielder. DC 20 Fortitude halves, SR applies, the caster level is 15th. Takes 15 hit points from Erad to cast.
Ixen fethos - grants the wielder resistance to fire 30 for 1 hour. Caster level 15th. Takes 7 hit points from Erad to cast.
Gul fethos - grants the wielder resistance to cold 30 for 1 hour. Caster level 15th. Takes 7 hit points from Erad to cast.
Uvelucal fethos - grants the wielder resistance to acid 30 for 1 hour. Caster level 15th. Takes 7 hit points from Erad to cast.
Kepesk fethos - grants the wielder resistance to electricity 30 for 1 hour. Caster level 15th. Takes 7 hit points from Erad to cast.
Irisv kepesk - heals all creatures but the wielder within 50ft 2d8+15 hit points. Caster level 15th. Takes 30 hit points from Erad to cast.
Erad felt a sense of resistance when irisv kepesk was used. It felt almost sluggish to call up and left him far more drained than the other usages.
Does holding the staff the same way Graxy (his name is Graxy now) held it (at the bottom, pointed out) seem to do anything?
T reaches level 9!
- Swashbuckler 3 and Factotum 9.
- 6 on a d10 for a total of 10 hit points and a grand total of 89 hit points.
- +1 BAB For a total of +9.
- Gains insightful strike. That was the point of that dip and he's glad to have it, thanks.
- Gains a new spell for arcane dilettante. His current loadout is endure elements, shield, invisibility and fireball.
- +1 to Fort and Will saves.
- Skills go up as normal.
- Gains darkstalker as his level 9 feat. He wants this sooner or later, so may as well make it sooner.
Solid level for him.
Helena reaches level 9!
- Horizon walker 4 and yuki-onna 2.
- 5 on a d8 for a total of 8 hit points and a grand total of 79 hit points.
- +1 BAB for a total of +8.
- A new terrain mastery. She grabs forest since she hasn't visited any of the others yet. That's woodland stride and her terrain mastery applying in forests.
- +1 Will saves.
- Skills go up as normal.
- Selects melee weapon mastery (piercing) as her level 9 feat. That's a +2 to hit and damage, which is rather nice.
Okay level. Not great but that feat's nice as anything.
Rock reaches level 9!
- Troll 9 and draconic creature 1.
- 6 on a d8 for a total of 15 hit points and a grand total of 144 hit points.
- Gains wall of stone as a new spell-like ability.
- +1 Reflex and Will saves.
- Selects [REDACTED] as his level 9 feat. You'll see.
Good level if you include draconic creature.
Erad will take 10 and spend time searching the wagon to see if there's anything new. (Total is 25)
Quote from: Nephrite on April 04, 2016, 09:51:47 PM
Erad will take 10 and spend time searching the wagon to see if there's anything new. (Total is 25)
Erad gives the wagon a search, but he doesn't find anything new.
Quote from: Nephrite on April 04, 2016, 08:41:51 PM
Does holding the staff the same way Graxy (his name is Graxy now) held it (at the bottom, pointed out) seem to do anything?
also this!
Quote from: Nephrite on April 04, 2016, 10:21:03 PM
Quote from: Nephrite on April 04, 2016, 08:41:51 PM
Does holding the staff the same way Graxy (his name is Graxy now) held it (at the bottom, pointed out) seem to do anything?
also this!
Make an K:A check, Erad.
[21:57] <Nephrite> roll 1d20+5 K:A
[21:57] <Kobot> Nephrite rolled 1d20+5 K:A --> [ 1d20=6 ]{11}
He holds the staff differently. Doesn't seem to do anything in his eyes.
Erad reaches level 9!
4 on a d10 for a total of 7 and a grand total of 86 HP. These mediocre HP rolls really need to stop!
BAB rises by 1 to 9 and the Flurry of Blows penalty is gone! No save increase this level (boo).
Gain improved evasion (yay!) and +10 on movement (more yay!)
Nothing on the Kensai side except the weapon can go up to +3 enhancement.
At 9 HD, the dragonborn's darkvision extends to 90 feet, and her low-light vision allows her to see three
times as far as a human in shadowy illumination.
Due to the +1 int and Nymph's kiss, I get an extra 2 skill points per level, so 2 go into K:A in addition to everything else going up 1.
I'll be taking Toughness to make up for the HP issues. It also makes sense, Dragonborn are supposed to be pretty hardy.
Take 20 on the search~!
Dune, can I have Conjure Ice Object as an arcane spell?
Would my craft snow sculptures skill work with it or do I also need a craft ice sculptures skill?
Quote from: Corwin on April 05, 2016, 12:50:53 AM
Take 20 on the search~!
Who is searching and what total would that give?
Quote from: Corwin on April 05, 2016, 01:50:14 AM
Dune, can I have Conjure Ice Object as an arcane spell?
Would my craft snow sculptures skill work with it or do I also need a craft ice sculptures skill?
I'd allow it, but I'd also say it should probably be a sor/wiz spell anyway.
I'd let snow sculptures work. To be honest, just training into craft (ice and snow sculptures) would be reasonable, since it's so specialized to begin with.
Quote from: Anastasia on April 05, 2016, 02:23:08 AM
Quote from: Corwin on April 05, 2016, 12:50:53 AM
Take 20 on the search~!
Who is searching and what total would that give?
Actually, maybe T can just take 10 and use that Factotum feature to get a 9 boost on the skill result? His perception is +13, so it'd come down to 32. Let's say two of us aid for +4 and a total result of 36, and we avoid taking 20.
You still don't find anything, unfortunately.
I guess we found all that we could at either the lair or the wagon?
It probably isn't an extra room then, and it might be something the wagon can do. (maybe it can fly now???)
I'm mildly ashamed by asking, but can I get 'frostball' for one of my lvl3 spells like here (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/UA:Cold_Domain)? There's just no long-range damaging spells I can find and with loser quick dragons I really need something for next time. I'm fine with any sort of energy except fire for my spell, since I can't use fire.
Are these spells (Ray of Exhaustion, Ray of Dizziness) affected by Snowcasting?
Quote from: Corwin on April 05, 2016, 11:38:55 AM
I'm mildly ashamed by asking, but can I get 'frostball' for one of my lvl3 spells like here (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/UA:Cold_Domain)? There's just no long-range damaging spells I can find and with loser quick dragons I really need something for next time. I'm fine with any sort of energy except fire for my spell, since I can't use fire.
So essentially fireball with cold damage? Yeah sure, that's fine. That's not the first time it's existed, it's a fairly common fireball alteration.
Quote from: Corwin on April 05, 2016, 11:47:54 AM
Are these spells (Ray of Exhaustion, Ray of Dizziness) affected by Snowcasting?
Yes, I don't see why not. Adding the cold descriptor to it or a +1 level boost if it already has that doesn't meaningfully impact the spell, plus it makes no distinction about the type of spells that can be affected by it.
Cool. Can I swap Frost Breath for Elemental Dart?
What book is elemental dart in?
Dragonlance campaign setting, apparently. It's a sort of cold-themed MM with a to hit roll and higher damage.
Quote from: Corwin on April 05, 2016, 12:02:23 PM
Dragonlance campaign setting, apparently. It's a sort of cold-themed MM with a to hit roll and higher damage.
Pure curiosity here, but where'd you hear about it? That one's fairly obscure.
D&D tools had a cold-themed spells page, I read through it for ideas.
I'm a little iffy on the spell. 5d4+5 vs 5d6+25 is a pretty solid damage increase. On the other hand, the Fortitude save is sufficient compensation, so okay. We'll give it a shot.
Officially posting my request that the Concentration check for the Kensai class simply be
CON+Char Level
I think this is an adequate representation of what it's intended to be.
Okay, since Eb wants to bow out of B5, this is our current plan. I'm going to turn B5 into a weekly game, with a session each Tuesday. This is flexible, so if Cor's schedule doesn't work that day, we can bump it to Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Say which day works best for you, Cor.
Eb wants to make a clean break, so Inari leaving will be done off camera and in summary. The details of that are still up in the air. Inari, is there any gear on your sheet that needs to be returned to the party? Plot important things, things you were holding for others, that sort of thing?
Ideally we'll have a session this week, but probably later in the week since I need time to work this out.
The scrolls of heal and summon monster 3 were party treasures Inari held onto. Nothing notable past that except perhaps the masterwork shovel.
If you wanna toss those back in, feel free. Keep the shovel though, it can be Inari's memento of her times with the party.
Edit - If you do, make a loot post stating that you're adding those to party loot.
Quote from: Anastasia on May 16, 2016, 03:44:39 PM
Okay, since Eb wants to bow out of B5, this is our current plan. I'm going to turn B5 into a weekly game, with a session each Tuesday. This is flexible, so if Cor's schedule doesn't work that day, we can bump it to Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Say which day works best for you, Cor.
Eb wants to make a clean break, so Inari leaving will be done off camera and in summary. The details of that are still up in the air. Inari, is there any gear on your sheet that needs to be returned to the party? Plot important things, things you were holding for others, that sort of thing?
Ideally we'll have a session this week, but probably later in the week since I need time to work this out.
I have read and agree to these terms and conditions.
Friday works best. Zero chance of last moment need to stay at work and such.
Quote from: Corwin on May 17, 2016, 02:31:53 AM
Friday works best. Zero chance of last moment need to stay at work and such.
Friday it is. See y'all then for that. If there's any business y'all need to do with Inari, speak so now so we can sort it out. It'll probably be OOC only since Eb wasn't interested in it when I asked.
Relevant:
[22:12] <Kobrb> Really, Inari should get a share even if she's leaving. But I'm not gonna go to the mat over that one.
[22:13] <Kallen> do foxes even need currency
[22:25] * Kotono reads up. Not really, but it's the principal of the thing. But the PC is leaving so eh, whatever.
[22:26] <Nephrite> If she was going to get a share then I probably would've done it subtracting all the items each person took
[22:27] <Nephrite> Which I think would've been a wash in terms of the gold payout
If there's a strong disagreement on this from Cor I will go back to redo it, but I wanted to be fair and at least post it for his reference.
Posting here so I don't forget -- look around Lumendale to find someone to fully identify the dragon artifact.
Quote from: Nephrite on June 03, 2016, 04:40:13 PM
Posting here so I don't forget -- look around Lumendale to find someone to fully identify the dragon artifact.
So noted.
Amanna's been leveled up. No changelog for once since it's simple, though I note she didn't roll any 1s on her hit dice for posterity.
Referring back to This (http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103554.msg1068133.html#msg1068133) can you tell me what the +1 ability is?
Either way:
Erad reaches level 10! Monk 10 and Kensai 4.
5 on a d10 for +9 total HP (3+1 from toughness) for a total of 113 HP. All saves go up by 1 (thanks, Monk!) Skills will go up as usual and the extras will go somewhere that I haven't decided yet.
Monk 10 gains the following:
Ki Strike (Lawful) (oh boy), Slow Fall 50ft, and due to the Monk's Belt + Ioun stone combination, his damage increases to 4d8. His damage is correct at 3d8. He also gains an AC from Monk due to this.
Kensai 4 gains the following:
+1 extra modifier for his weapon (which is going into absorbing the rest of the Holy Dragon sword) (EDIT: This doubles its damage against dragons) and he also gains Ki Projection, which will help him with his diplomatic bricks and so on.
As a refresher, I think we decided to use HD for the check for Power Surge?
[22:00] <Nephrite> This can be more of a nagging post, but what happens to someone like Maggen? He did a whole bunch of stuff for Auril but was pretty much thwarted, so I gues it's a question of whether she rewards him "Trying" or not. My guess is more on the "not" side.
[22:01] <Kotono> Feel free to post that, yeah.
Quote from: Nephrite on November 19, 2016, 11:06:11 PM
[22:00] <Nephrite> This can be more of a nagging post, but what happens to someone like Maggen? He did a whole bunch of stuff for Auril but was pretty much thwarted, so I guess it's a question of whether she rewards him "Trying" or not. My guess is more on the "not" side.
[22:01] <Kotono> Feel free to post that, yeah.
Maggen's a corner case. He was tremendously successful and something of a maverick* at the same time. On paper he'd be likely to become a favored servant, directly promoting to a higher tier outsider. His maverick nature and defeat here muddies the water. He's not really worthy of being consigned to the blizzards for all time or any other punishment, but he needs refinement and lessons in ideological purity.
http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103072.msg1057580.html#msg1057580
The link there leads to what's essentially one of Auril's penal brigades**. He'd be put into that or into a group like it and given a chance to prove himself and earn Auril's favor once more. If he succeeds, he'll get the outsider promotion and unholy glory he feels he deserves. If he fails, he'll be a shivering spirit consigned to the blizzards for all time, never again to know warmth or relief from winter's grasp.
At best he gets his promotion. It's better than the alternative, but it's still eternity in Auril's court. It's a place where any positive emotion is snuffed out in favor of unfeeling coldness. He'll jockey for favor in his position and seek to fend off rivals, trying to avoid meeting his final death while holding onto what he has and gaining more. No matter how high he rises, he won't ever extinguish that final, little spark of humanity within him. The bit that quietly yearns for something better, that aches and pains him from deep within his frozen heart. He'll never know the simple and complete contentment of the least spirit in the Heavens, doomed to be inferior to a mere lantern archon or cherub.
No matter what, all Maggen will have in the end is winter.
* Auril does not approve of him using a fire spell as his main attack. An Aurilite using molten silver to kill is a little odd, don't you think? Also his sadism isn't to Auril's taste, she prefers colder rage and revenge.
** Also known as a metal brigade. C'mon, being a howling ghost protecting a two headed demon tarrasque? That's pretty metal.
Quote from: Nephrite on November 19, 2016, 03:59:30 PMAs a refresher, I think we decided to use HD for the check for Power Surge?
Sure, that's fine.
Enjoy never having what you want, you jackass!
Quote from: Nephrite on November 19, 2016, 11:42:05 PM
Enjoy never having what you want, you jackass!
Those that go to the various lower planes lose, even if it looks like they win. Evil offers nothing but emptiness and misery beneath all of its posturing.
And whenever you get a chance, please refer to my question in the level up post. :)
Quote from: Nephrite on November 19, 2016, 11:55:33 PM
And whenever you get a chance, please refer to my question in the level up post. :)
Check the last few posts.
Quote from: Anastasia on November 20, 2016, 02:42:52 AM
Quote from: Nephrite on November 19, 2016, 11:55:33 PM
And whenever you get a chance, please refer to my question in the level up post. :)
Check the last few posts.
I think we're talking past each other or I'm blind, I'm referring to this:
QuoteReferring back to This (http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103554.msg1068133.html#msg1068133) can you tell me what the +1 ability is?
Also I'm bad and forgot Erad still had Turn Undead stuff, so I'm going to add his uses (He gets 8/1d6 uses, which certainly isn't great but it's free, so whatever)
T reaches level 10.
- Fighter 7 and Factotum 10.
- 4 on a d10 for a total of 8 hit points and a grand total of 97 hit points.
- +1 BAB for a total of +10.
- +1d6 sneak attack for a total of 4d6.
- Another daily use of opportunistic piety. Healing's useful.
- No change to saves.
- Skills go up as normal.
Helena reaches level 10.
- Horizon Walker 5 and Yuki-Onna 3.
- 6 on a d8 for a total of 9 hit points and a grand total of 88 hit points.
- Terrain bonus rises to +2. Nice.
- Gains a new terrain mastery. She selects mountains since you're in them. Gives her a climb speed of 10ft and a +8 racial bonus to climb checks.
- Fort and ref saves rise by 1.
- Skills go up as normal.
Okayish level.
So let's sort out the fall of Arenel.
1. What will you do about the rioting in the streets?
2. Once the rioting runs whatever course it will, what will you do? Are you going to assert any authority?
3. What will you do about Maggen's castle? Will you explore it further or leave it be?
4. Are you going to give away what food you have left? T'll note there's no way the food you have will cover an entire city, there's just too many hungry mouths to feed.
5. Once all that's settled, what about the local temple of Auril?
6. Any miscellaneous things to do?
1. I propose we use the rioting to secure the seats of power in the city, our fliers providing overwatch. We've captured the attention of the people, and enough of the regular soldiers chose to follow us that it should go well. We'll use that to secure the holdings of Maggen's top advisors, the granaries and hold the palace. That will give us control of far more food than we currently have. We will, in addition to our earlier claims to the mob, promise to distribute the food the day after to make sure no one in Maggen's realm goes hungry anymore.
I also want to detail soldiers to close the city gates and keep them closed. No loyalists escaping, and we'll contain the news of the coup for a bit.
2. We'll do our best to put a hold to the rioting once we effectively hold the cities and Maggen's cabinet and key supporters are in custody, if the rioters hadn't stopped by then on their own. We'll do this by forming them into groups that provide civic aid and redistribute food. I'll be acting as the new authority behind the city.
3. At first we'll only keep enough of a presence to hold it. Once we've gotten the mob to break up into smaller groups and to act productively, we'll muster a portion of the city guard/army, and clear the palace. T will be on point, along with Amanna to provide healing as needed and Rock for his superior senses. The guy we rescued will also help, in case he knows other spots or heard Maggen taunt him. He should also help us convince any other prisoners that we're legit, while Amanna could Detect Evil them for any infiltrators.
4. Food will be redistributed only after we have control of the city and the mob had been broken up as stated above. We'll distribute enough to last everyone a week and keep the rest in store. That should buy us time to take stock of individual resources and boost the people's gratitude with us so they're more likely to cooperate. Past this initial distribution we'll provide to those who need it the most and try to stretch our stores while waiting on Amanna's friends to come through. I'm picking Teleport for my spell, so I could always go with her, Rock and Cylen to get all we could carry and return swiftly while we wait on their caravans to reach the town normally. Since I don't see bags of holding on anyone's sheet, I'd like to make a deal with whatever mage lives in Arenel. I can outright buy a few if we can't work out something, and will definitely try to buy at least one for me.
Furthermore, we'll repeat our claim of distributing enough food to feed everyone in the realm, not just the city itself. Since we know a lot went there to try and find work to feed their families in the surrounding villages, we'll try to reassure them we're not abandoning their families.
Reopen the city gates once things settle down and we've taken down everyone we intended to.
5. I propose to sack it and use its stores once we're done with the palace in (3). Erad? Aurilites will get the option of surrender.
6. Aside from finding a suitable mage, I want to see who might have been plotting against Maggen. We did find a guy like that before, so it's quite possible there'd be someone here as well. T is well suited for this, and so are Team YukiOnna.
Let's see how our wagon changed!
I can't help but wonder whether Maggen or the Arenel temple of Auril have another piece of my set.
What is the range between Arenel and other spots? Where Amanna says their shipments are likely to be going through, Brent Househaven's realm, Misty Harbor, Warmfolk. We could try a few long-distance visits to look into getting more allies.
I think Emmia mentioned another possible ally somewhere in the area of Warmfolk? I failed to find it in the logs, so can someone double-check?
The only thing I would add to what is proposed is that we get a message to Househaven of our success and perhaps a status check on him as well as on the High Priest back at the Shining Light Cathedral whose name escapes me at the moment. Perhaps via a Sending if we can find someone to do it? Surely there are people who can in the city.
A lot of (5) depends on who we find there -- Erad's pretty sure not every single person who worships Auril is a horrible person and the crackdown on other religions is what kind of set the tone for life in Ailan, so he's against completely destroying it. A lot of this depends on the personalities they'd meet there.
Everything else looks good, reiterating that everyone will get food I think is a good plan.
I will double check on the logs for Emmia.
That's actually what Teleport is for. Unless the distance is simply too much.
Auril-wise, she's kind of a bitch. While her clergy might not all be scum to the last, letting it stand and be worshipped for me is similar to you doing that for a temple to Tiamat. >_>
Somehow I completely missed Teleport in there, good call.
Agreed on Auril being a bitch, definitely. I suppose so long as we're not banning people from worshiping her (although seriously why would you) then Erad's got no real complaints. The temple could probably be hallowed and used for something else.
Also agreed on getting a bag of holding. I'd say Erad will do some shopping but it's likely that we're going to find a bunch of stuff already so we'll see about that after we ransack loot investigate the castle.
Quote from: Corwin on November 25, 2016, 03:45:46 PM
1. I propose we use the rioting to secure the seats of power in the city, our fliers providing overwatch. We've captured the attention of the people, and enough of the regular soldiers chose to follow us that it should go well. We'll use that to secure the holdings of Maggen's top advisors, the granaries and hold the palace. That will give us control of far more food than we currently have. We will, in addition to our earlier claims to the mob, promise to distribute the food the day after to make sure no one in Maggen's realm goes hungry anymore.
Go ahead and list these in order of priority, from the most priority to the least priority. This will matter, so choose wisely.
- Securing power in the city.
- Capturing Maggen's top advisors.
- Getting the granaries under your control.
QuoteI also want to detail soldiers to close the city gates and keep them closed. No loyalists escaping, and we'll contain the news of the coup for a bit.
This will be done assuming nothing derails you there.
Quote2. We'll do our best to put a hold to the rioting once we effectively hold the cities and Maggen's cabinet and key supporters are in custody, if the rioters hadn't stopped by then on their own. We'll do this by forming them into groups that provide civic aid and redistribute food. I'll be acting as the new authority behind the city.
Okay. This will involve various Charisma based checks depending on how precisely you execute this.
Question: On what authority will you take control of the city? Strength of arms? Trying to parley Lord Househaven's writ into it? Claiming the last name of Malana and doing it that way? Something else?
Quote3. At first we'll only keep enough of a presence to hold it. Once we've gotten the mob to break up into smaller groups and to act productively, we'll muster a portion of the city guard/army, and clear the palace. T will be on point, along with Amanna to provide healing as needed and Rock for his superior senses. The guy we rescued will also help, in case he knows other spots or heard Maggen taunt him. He should also help us convince any other prisoners that we're legit, while Amanna could Detect Evil them for any infiltrators.
Okay. Will you be along or are you leaving it to them? This may matter, as you'll likely have a lot of sticks in the fire as it is.
Quote4. Food will be redistributed only after we have control of the city and the mob had been broken up as stated above. We'll distribute enough to last everyone a week and keep the rest in store. That should buy us time to take stock of individual resources and boost the people's gratitude with us so they're more likely to cooperate. Past this initial distribution we'll provide to those who need it the most and try to stretch our stores while waiting on Amanna's friends to come through. I'm picking Teleport for my spell, so I could always go with her, Rock and Cylen to get all we could carry and return swiftly while we wait on their caravans to reach the town normally. Since I don't see bags of holding on anyone's sheet, I'd like to make a deal with whatever mage lives in Arenel. I can outright buy a few if we can't work out something, and will definitely try to buy at least one for me.
Okay to most of that. The Bag of Holding thing will depend on finding one for sale and convincing/forcing them to sell. More on that in session as it'll depend on how some things go.
QuoteFurthermore, we'll repeat our claim of distributing enough food to feed everyone in the realm, not just the city itself. Since we know a lot went there to try and find work to feed their families in the surrounding villages, we'll try to reassure them we're not abandoning their families.
Noted.
QuoteReopen the city gates once things settle down and we've taken down everyone we intended to.
Also noted.
Quote5. I propose to sack it and use its stores once we're done with the palace in (3). Erad? Aurilites will get the option of surrender.
Okay. Are you planning to go in there all PCish and smack them all down, siege it with rioters or try something more exotic?
Quote6. Aside from finding a suitable mage, I want to see who might have been plotting against Maggen. We did find a guy like that before, so it's quite possible there'd be someone here as well. T is well suited for this, and so are Team YukiOnna.
How precisely are you planning on doing that? Lots of GI checks and similar means or something more interesting?
QuoteLet's see how our wagon changed!
Okay. I'd normally do that offscreen, but your time will be so strained IC for the next while that we'll cover it IC once you're over the worst of it.
QuoteI can't help but wonder whether Maggen or the Arenel temple of Auril have another piece of my set.
One way to find out.
QuoteWhat is the range between Arenel and other spots? Where Amanna says their shipments are likely to be going through, Brent Househaven's realm, Misty Harbor, Warmfolk. We could try a few long-distance visits to look into getting more allies.
I think Emmia mentioned another possible ally somewhere in the area of Warmfolk? I failed to find it in the logs, so can someone double-check?
I'd have to check my notes, gimme a bit on that. At worst you can always do multiple teleports as needed.
Quote from: Anastasia on November 27, 2016, 08:18:26 PM
1. I propose we use the rioting to secure the seats of power in the city, our fliers providing overwatch. We've captured the attention of the people, and enough of the regular soldiers chose to follow us that it should go well. We'll use that to secure the holdings of Maggen's top advisors, the granaries and hold the palace. That will give us control of far more food than we currently have. We will, in addition to our earlier claims to the mob, promise to distribute the food the day after to make sure no one in Maggen's realm goes hungry anymore.
Go ahead and list these in order of priority, from the most priority to the least priority. This will matter, so choose wisely.
- Securing power in the city.
- Capturing Maggen's top advisors.
- Getting the granaries under your control.
I kind of figured they were tied together. Maggen's top advisors surely hold power in the city, and I doubt he entrusted the food stores to some scrubs.
Can you explain how 'securing power' is separate and distinct from the other two?
Quote2. We'll do our best to put a hold to the rioting once we effectively hold the cities and Maggen's cabinet and key supporters are in custody, if the rioters hadn't stopped by then on their own. We'll do this by forming them into groups that provide civic aid and redistribute food. I'll be acting as the new authority behind the city.
Okay. This will involve various Charisma based checks depending on how precisely you execute this.
Question: On what authority will you take control of the city? Strength of arms? Trying to parley Lord Househaven's writ into it? Claiming the last name of Malana and doing it that way? Something else?
The authority of
justice. Ideally I'll kick in the door where a cabal of nefarious minions plots to get away with things and show them the error of their ways.
Quote3. At first we'll only keep enough of a presence to hold it. Once we've gotten the mob to break up into smaller groups and to act productively, we'll muster a portion of the city guard/army, and clear the palace. T will be on point, along with Amanna to provide healing as needed and Rock for his superior senses. The guy we rescued will also help, in case he knows other spots or heard Maggen taunt him. He should also help us convince any other prisoners that we're legit, while Amanna could Detect Evil them for any infiltrators.
Okay. Will you be along or are you leaving it to them? This may matter, as you'll likely have a lot of sticks in the fire as it is.
I'm leaving it to T with strict instructions not to get in over his head.
Quote5. I propose to sack it and use its stores once we're done with the palace in (3). Erad? Aurilites will get the option of surrender.
Okay. Are you planning to go in there all PCish and smack them all down, siege it with rioters or try something more exotic?
Yes. They'll get a demand for a surrender and promise of safe passage to frostier pastures, or the same hospitality Maggen offered his prisoners. I'll note that those dungeons have now gained many vacancies.
Ordinary people won't be there since if the priests decide to fight it out they won't be a match for Auril magic.
Quote6. Aside from finding a suitable mage, I want to see who might have been plotting against Maggen. We did find a guy like that before, so it's quite possible there'd be someone here as well. T is well suited for this, and so are Team YukiOnna.
How precisely are you planning on doing that? Lots of GI checks and similar means or something more interesting?
How about we just ask officers and people who seem like they might know? There's no need to GI the city for hours when we have local allies.
QuoteWhat is the range between Arenel and other spots? Where Amanna says their shipments are likely to be going through, Brent Househaven's realm, Misty Harbor, Warmfolk. We could try a few long-distance visits to look into getting more allies.
I think Emmia mentioned another possible ally somewhere in the area of Warmfolk? I failed to find it in the logs, so can someone double-check?
I'd have to check my notes, gimme a bit on that. At worst you can always do multiple teleports as needed.
Actually important, spell slots are limited.
Question, the Gauntlets of the Talon state: Provided that you are lawful good, lawful neutral, or neutral good, gauntlets of the talon grant you two primary natural claw attacks that count as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Each claw deals 1d6 points of slashing damage (if you are Medium)
Since I have Superior Unarmed Strikes, does this mean it does 1d8 instead (i.e. treating the damage as Large)?
It's a really irrelevant amount of damage either way but I figured I'd ask.
Hey, don't forget the loot from the cavern!
From IRC earlier in the week: > I'm going to post tonight or tomorrow about it, but I'm struggling with B5 on IRC. Not your faults, just my eyes and energy level issues. I'm not sure what to do about it, honestly, I haven't been happy with the slow pace. I don't really want to move it to the boards since my focus for that's about full with B3 as it is.
Right now I'm not sure what I'm doing about this, I've been chewing on it all week. I'm struggling with IRC and energy, but I'm not sure what the answer is. I enjoy B5 by and large, but between B3's heavy footstep for DM time and my own issues, I'm struggling with B5.
More later, but I'm just making sure both of you are aware of this, in case the message on IRC was missed by either.
Sure thing. Do what you need to do.
What's the verdict? You need more time to figure things out?
Everything else being the same, meh. I like this game but I'm worried it just doesn't fit into things right now. I mean, honestly? B3's coming up on what's over 5 years of plot towards a payoff for that. That's taking so much time and energy behind the scenes, not to mention running it. Combine that with the above and I'm decidedly meh, and I don't like DMing when I'm meh, since it results in a shitty product.
Meh.
I think I'm going to pause this game for the week, sit down and figure how things are going to change between Cid's game running and B3's pace. I was stalling a week in case Cid's game curtails Saturday gaming for B3, since that'll impact things as it is.