Council of Thieves

Game Master Mug

So, with my normal gaming group, one of the players has a d20 that we've taken to calling "The Fire Die". The Fire Die seems to gravitate to rolling a 1, 2, 19, or 20 half the time. It's crazy and risky and hilarious. I'm beginning to suspect that the dicebot has turned into a firedicebot for me with regard to diplomacy rolls. Sheesh!

You were way more descriptive than I was planning on being, Mug! I was going to go for a "shuts the door and X minutes later it opens again" fade-to-black type approach.

But yes, Caladius is apparently a hound. =P

Chammandy: Calidus! Say hello to your son! ;)

What do y'all think of Eyes of the Eagle and Magnetist's Gloves? I was thinking it could be cool to bump up Enko's Perception, and allow him to disarm (metal) stuff wielded, from a distance.

I think those sound pretty neat and would work well with our palad- with our monk!

Glad you approve!

Our pala-touch monkey, because it's very clear he's all done damaging things. ;) The good thing is that in this urban setting, Trip and other maneuvers should be viable for a bit longer--thanks, medium humanoids!

Am I misunderstanding our location? I thought we were south of the dining room?

I believe the hallway is South of the dining room and the secret hallway leads to an area East of the dining room, assuming Mug's map has East on the right.

Mug, would you prefer that I keep repeating that Sabinus is scanning for magic, or would you rather that we just presume that Sabinus is scanning for magic, and you can let me know if he sees something interesting? It is sort of his main contribution to this investigation at this point, and I think the others are moving slowly enough that he could feasibly keep casting detect magic...

On the map, east is on the right, yes. Sabinus is correct on your location.

Hmm, no lets just assume he's scanning each area you find and I'll let you know if he see's something.

So--I live adjacent to the San Gabriel Mountains, abutting the hill. It turns out that there is a wildlife corridor that runs down the hill, through my neighbor's unused carport (we live on a shared lot), down through my upper yard where I'm busy building stone circles for fun, through the lower yard where we have a struggling lawn, and into a side yard--and then stops due to a fence. Deer and coyotes would run all the way down to Foothill Boulevard if they had the chance, but humans have cut off their routes. Anyhow, it was no coyote the other day. I was folding clothes, or something, when my neighbor called to me that there was a bear in my side yard. I looked and sure enough, I could see it pacing in front of the sliding glass door. That room is a sun room, so it's all sliding glass doors.

I ran outside with pots and pans and started driving it off(!) while my neighbor took pictures. It eventually got the hint and ambled away. Kind of interesting to see a bear pause to look at you...I made sure I was on higher ground if possible, which wasn't easy, as it had to head back uphill. I was a little adrenalized after that...

Here's a photo.

BEAR

What a story! For your mental well-being, I hope the bear stays away. Keep an eye on your kiddies!

I live in San Francisco, and we often smell skunks at night and driving home from my tabletop game last week I spotted a coyote. It is amazing how wildlife can survive in little pockets of green. But no bears!

Holy beans, that's crazy. I'll have to check out the pic when I get home from work, but that is awesome! and a little scary! I was trying to think of a suggestion to help you avoid that in the future... but I got nothing. Yikes.

There is very little we can do. :D I had to tell my daughter "now, if you see a bear, yell at it and stay close to Mommy." (I also told her "this is Uncle Trent" while listening to a NIN interview...gotta start 'em young!)

On the plus side, camping in Yosemite will now seem like old hat.

San Francisco still has intruders...or rather, the humans are the intruders, eh, Sabinus? :)

Awesome bear!

We had a deer in our yard a few days ago. The neighbor girl tried to chase it, so I had to pull out the dad voice and tell her not to get near (even though it was a doe, I could see it running her down).

Yeah, I bet we've all seen those youtube videos of deers attacking people. If you haven't, then you should. It's CRAZY!

I was sure I posted, but then it disappeared... If you find a rogue post in some place it oughtn't be, disregard it.

Level 4!!!!
+1 Level of Sorcerer (Sage)
.
.
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HP's: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Huh. Caladius, a sorcerer? Who'd've thunk it?! It's a shame you have to give up a bonded weapon though.

Hit Points: 1d10 ⇒ 7

I was leaning toward Wizard (diviner) to qualify for Arcane Archer down the line (my ultimate goal), but the focused study of a wizard just feels less and less like Caladius. Especially after that gods-forsaken play! lol
I think the inborn nature of a sorcerer's ability fits a lot better (and can dovetail into his tiefling heritage). Rest assured though, it's my one and only level. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled urban ranger levels for a little while after this =)

I'm happy to give up arcane bond though. As a switch hitter who only uses 2-handed weapons, needing the weapon in-hand to cast without concentration checks becomes problematic. =P
An amulet or ring would have been feasible, but neither really strikes me as very interesting.

Good call with trading Step-Up out. I think that's a tough one to really get a lot of mileage out of in a pbp format, just because of the nature of the ability and the order of posts.

Sabinus, witch 4:

+1 INT (20 INT for +5 modifier)

Evil Eye hex (DC 17; 8 rounds):
Evil Eye (Su): The witch can cause doubt to creep into the mind of a foe within 30 feet that she can see. The target takes a –2 penalty on one of the following (witch's choice): AC, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks. This hex lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the witch's Intelligence modifier. A Will save reduces this to just 1 round. This is a mind-affecting effect. At 8th level the penalty increases to –4.

+1 to BAB
+1 to Will save

2 additional first level spells per day (one for level, one as INT bonus spell)
1 additional second level spell per day
2 new spells from the witch spell list: blindness/deafness?; spectral hand? Any ideas? Does Sabinus get access to these immediately, or does he need to commune with Tycho to get access to the new spells? If not, do the new spell slots mean he can cast the already prepared spells additional times?

10 new skill ranks (7 new and 3 retroactive due to increase in INT modifier) -- adding ranks to diplomacy, heal, knowledge (arcana), knowledge (local), perception, spellcraft, and stealth.

Level 4 hit points: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Lets treat the trans-planal trip to the Asmodean knot as a mystical and magic thing which allowed you to suddenly learn these spells. Maybe you guys can come back here to level quickly in the future? ;)

Regarding Styles, Lucon, I think there are two in particular that might fit your build.

The first is Dragon Style. The first feat in this chain, while giving you a small boost to some situational saves, also lets you ignore difficult terrain (but only a charge, run, or withdraw action). You can also charge through friendly-occupied squares, which could be really nice if we're all jammed up and clogged like we were in our fight with the Bastards of Erebus. It does require ranks in Acrobatics though, which might otherwise seem like a waste while you're sporting your tank-like shield and armor =)

The other style, which I personally think would suit you more, is Panther Style. All 3 of the Pather Style feats would be ones I think you'd get some mileage out of. Based on how you said you'd like to draw more AoO's, basically this style would let you retailiate against anyone who tries to take an AoO against you. At first the retaliation is a swift action, the second feat makes it a free action, and the final feat has your retaliation trigger before the AoO! All you'd need to qualify for the entire feat tree is one point in Wisdom. You meet the other prereqs since you picked up Combat Reflexes.

One note: the retaliations must be unarmed strikes though.

Oh Sabinus! You picked up Evil Eye! Bless you, sir! Bless you! =D

How the heck did you all level up during the work day? I'll do it tonight. More monkness for now and then comes some bad touch cleric.

How the heck did you all level up during the work day? I'll do it tonight. More monkness for now and then comes some bad touch cleric.

You all manage to post dozens of times when I have a busy day. :)

Last week was crazy at the office for me. Monday and Tuesday of this week have both been slow and several of my other pbps are on extended hiatus due to vacations.

So you guys got all my pbp attention today! =P

Plus. Were. Awesome!

Enko Laberan wrote:

How the heck did you all level up during the work day? I'll do it tonight. More monkness for now and then comes some bad touch cleric.

You all manage to post dozens of times when I have a busy day. :)

Nice riposte for a wizard. ;)

HP: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Ha, and I usually take average anyhow.

+1 level of Monkness
My unarmed strike is now as good as a morningstar! :P

+1 Acrobatics
+2 Kn Religion
+1 Perception
+1 Sense Motive
+1 Stealth

I can haz Ki Pool.

Bumping Wisdom to 17.

Quick question... I'm remembering we may have talked about this... maybe.

1- Is it a move action to retrieve your earplugs Sabinus? If so then we have to limit your Surprise Round actions to reflect just 1 move action.

I guess I was thinking I could access them as part of my move. I do see that retrieving a stored item is a move action, and maybe the only accessing an item possible during a move is drawing a weapon. If it can't happen as part of his move, then in the first round Sabinus will retrieve them as his move action -- hopefully the simple act of sticking them in his ears could be part of that same move action. In that event, and if the sleep hex did NOT work, then Sabinus will take a 5 foot step back, if possible, rather than moving all the way back to his previous spot.

By the way, Sabinus still has his loaded crossbow in hand, which he took out before entering the Knot.

By the way, folks, I am going camping next week, so I'm going to be a bit absent in the near future. We leave Sunday and come back the following Friday. I have updated my tactics, so Mug can direct Sabinus as necessary. I'll continue to post tomorrow and possibly on Saturday.

I feel accessing things when moving distance is specific to a weapon.

So lets say you're able to pull the ear plugs from your pack and use them in one move action if you choose to do that.

Thanks for the heads up on your trip, wahoo for camping! I hope it's a blast. Someone please remind me if I start complaining about Sabinus taking too long for this or that. :)

That ruling makes sense. Drawing and quaffing a potion is two move actions, but it does seem like drawing and sticking in earplugs should be a bit more simple. In any event, with the howler asleep, there is plenty of time for Sabinus to put in the earplugs.

...or is there? ;)

Before we forget about it, who took what from looting that body?

Lucon don't know nothing about no magic. I'm clean, honest.

+1 level Wizard.

[ooc]hp d61d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6 +1 for favored class

+1 int (19)

Skills: 7

+1 appraise
+1 knowledge arcana
+1 knowledge planes
+1 linguistics (add Auran)
+1 spellcraft
+1 perception
+1 Ride

spellbook: add create pit, knock.

Nice hits, so what's the breakdown of the +48 on your damage Lucon? That seems really high. Awesome! but just very high too. :)

At +4 BAB and 18 str I get +12 to damage on a two handed power attack, which multiplies four times on a crit with my heavy pick. I picked it up as my weapon before the Six Trials waiting for my first chance to crit with it, and now I strike! Muahaha! (although Caladius probably offed it on his own)

That is a beautiful thing. Thanks for breaking that down for me. :)

Ava, for the time being, I assume Sabinus is carrying all the loot in the handy haversack.

I hope the nickname "The Brutal Carpenter" or something like that sticks in-game. It'd be hilarious for gentle, unassuming Lucon to get an infamous, intimidating moniker =P

"Bang Bang, Lucon's Silver Hammer came down, upon its head..."

It occurs to me that Corneleous should probably carry the 2nd level pearl of power for now, if he isn't too scared to take something from the necromancer...

The pearl would be put to good, summoning, use.

Sorry for the delay- I found out today that I'm subbing in to a class for the next summer session, so I've been trying to get the course together. It's online, and I'm teaching an identical class already, so it shouldn't be much extra work.

Plus, we're going on vacation Sunday-(possibly a week+Monday). I should have internet.

I'll be on vacation from the 11th to the 21st. I will have Internet, though.

Double yay! :)

1,000th post! Whoop!