Doh. I had already forgotten about that and thought my character was hoarding all of the potions...
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Doh. I had already forgotten about that and thought my character was hoarding all of the potions...
So we have a drug addict and a hoarder. Great.
lol. all things alchemical at least, yes :)
Locks Tangent:
Nothing in the Core says when successes toward Picking a Lock reset, but it also says that one shouldn't be able to open a lock with just taking time, no matter their proficiency level. The general consensus on the forums is that the successes reset on a critical failure, even if that isn't the RAW.
Um...critical failures effectively break the kit itself, and the replacement picks are how the kit are Repaired, it just doesn't require a check.
Um...critical failures effectively break the kit itself, and the replacement picks are how the kit are Repaired, it just doesn't require a check.
Huh. Apparently I am mistaken; there's a clause about Repairing a set of thieves' tools in the Picking a Lock action.
Jevar approaches the door to their right, back up against the near wall.
This can't go very far... he says before pushing it open.
You open the door into the endless void of the realm of the great Cthulhu! Everyone make a DC 60 Will save against 60 sanity damage for gazing upon his horrific visage!
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I, for one, welcome our new overlords.
Joins the cults.
Man, not again...
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This actually segues very well into one of the bigger changes from 1e to 2e: Aiding
Honestly, one of my biggest gripes about PF1 as a GM is that everyone’s knee-jerk reaction to skill challenges is “How many aids do I have?” It was frustrating because even with a +0 in a skill you still had a 45% chance to grant someone else a +2 stacking bonus, which with a group of even 4 players made basically everything have a +6 higher bonus (perhaps more with intelligent improved familiars and such) because why not?
In 2e the DC to Aid is now 20 and there is a penalty for critically failing the check. This honestly makes skill challenges more viable and less “how many aids do I need before I don’t need to roll?”
As much as I don't want to experience it, penalties for aiding have always made sense to me tbh.
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"This abomination cannot be allowed to survive. The great name of The Lady of Graves demands it. You may do whatever research you wish, Jevar, but I will not leave this room while the creature is alive. It's an affront to pretty much everything I stand for."
Actually, it’s already not alive. :)
On a more serious note, it’s time for another slight tangent about deities.
In 1e, deities had 3 “statistics” that had a mechanical impact: alignment, domains/subdomains, and favored weapon. Five important things were added to a deity’s “statistics” since 1e: allowed alignments, divine font, cleric spells, edicts, and anathemas.
Divine font is largely the same as 1e channeling, save that it’s now independent of alignment and reliant on the deity themselves, which can allow for more viable party compositions in evil campaigns, or weird deities like a LG deity that only allows a harming font. A good example is Lamashtu, who provides both harming and healing fonts despite only allowing evil worshipers.
Allowed alignments are a significant divergence, because now there are no longer any NE or CN worshipers of Pharasma, a goddess of impartial neutrality and maintaining the natural order of the Cycle of Souls. Nor are there CG worshipers of Gorum, a god of war, battle, and bloodshed. And they allow, again, for really weird deities that allow radical alignments (I’d give examples, but Lost Omens Gods and Magic doesn’t come out for another week).
Cleric spells are common, non-divine spells that are added to a cleric’s divine spell list if they worship a particular deity (Nethys gives a lot of classic arcane spells to his worshipers).
The important ones, in my opinion, are edicts and anathemas. Edicts are actions that members of the clergy are encouraged to do; in the case of this particular circumstance, one of Pharasma’s edicts is to destroy undead, because they are viewed as an affront to the Cycle of Souls. Conversely, anathemas are actions that a church views as blasphemous and a true worshiper would never do. Sticking with Pharasma, one of her anathemas is to create undead, because, again, undead are an affront to the Cycle of Souls, so a Pharasmin knowingly creating one would be an implicit spit upon the cycle itself. Edicts and anathemas are a good way to spotlight how a worshiper would and wouldn’t act without the player having to have gone through the entirety of that deity’s entry in Inner Sea Gods (and as someone who’s read them all, I’ll tell you that they are hefty entries).
The reason I bring this up is to showcase the significant difference between edicts and anathemas: anathemas are actions that someone cannot do without incurring severe consequences in the eyes of their god and their fellow worshipers (for clerics and champions, doing your deity’s anathema essentially guarantees a loss of divine spellcasting). Edicts, on the other hand, are actions that are encouraged. Doing the opposite of an edict is NOT anathema. E.g. it is not anathema for Shakur to NOT destroy this undead ghoul, it would just be extremely strange to not do so without a good reason. Essentially, edicts are “I should...”s and anathemas are “I will never...”s; a slight but VERY distinct difference.
In case you haven’t noticed I’m extremely antsy for Lost Omens Gods and Magic to come out already.
Um...
He lunges at Shakur as best he can with his arms and legs restrained. Like a feral animal he gnashes his teeth in an attempt to bite at anyone close by!
You don’t consider that hostile?!
D'oh, by the time I read the other's posts that little detail had slipped my mind -_-
So we just came across a strange fringe case: 1e’s Surprise Rounds were intentionally gotten rid of in favor of rolling different things for initiative (in this circumstance, Stealth). This brings up the weird case of also specifically getting rid of opposed rolls and how it would work if a creature’s Stealth initiative roll beat a person’s Perception DC but not their total initiative result, and there’s been some discussion on this topic (the later posts in that thread seem to get fairly toxic, so there’s a heads-up), but the way it boils down can be summed up in this post (including the thing the poster is quoting).
In essence, what happened in this circumstance is that Urzok rolled a high enough Perception check to be able to have a “gut feeling” that something ain’t right, but because that “something” rolled higher on its Stealth check (which was also its initiative check) than everyone’s Perception DCs, so Urzok can’t perceive it until he either finds it using the Seek action or it makes itself seen. In short, the “something” is undetected by everyone, and is unnoticed by everyone EXCEPT Grognar.
The specific exception to this rule is rogues, who have the Surprise Attack class feature that just adds another layer on top of all this (“If you’re rolling Stealth for initiative and you roll higher than their Perception DC, then you’re undetected against them; if they roll better initiative than you, then you are not unnoticed by them; and if you’re a rogue and roll higher than them on initiative, they are flat-footed against you regardless”).
I’d like to specifically extend an apology to X Hums (Shakur’s player) whom I know and game with offline: I ran a PFS scenario for you where something like this came up and I ran it incorrectly (only the kobolds that had some cover should’ve been undetected by the party), and this is my attempt at rectifying that situation upon delving into further research.
Also, Hero Points reset in 5 days.
Holy hell Shakur, how do you heal with a +16 modifier? That's insane! Not doubting you, just trying to learn your clericy ways!
Holy hell Shakur, how do you heal with a +16 modifier? That's insane! Not doubting you, just trying to learn your clericy ways!
The heal Spell just works like that. Spending 1 action on the spell heals 1d8 per spell level to one touched target. 2 actions is 1d8+8 per spell level (2nd: 2d8+16, 3rd: 3d8+24, etc.) to one creature within 30’. Three actions is 1d8 per spell level to all creatures in a 30’ emanation. Clerics get bonus spell slots equal to 1+Cha. mod that get automatically heightened to their highest spell level that can only be use to prepare heal or harm (depends on the deity).
Really confused about what you’re trying to ask me here.
That's so good! The ramifications of that are pretty evident!
Sorry GM, asking two questions here.
1. Would you explain what the note you have typed to explain the damage the creature has taken means?
2. Listed actions: attack, attack, step. I included the questionmark on the step because it would be contingent on you allowing his turn to resolve after someone has given him room to step back/away from the creature.
Unrelated, I just remembered that I have power attack. I can't even with myself right now >.<
1. It is a bit confusing, so I’ll explain: Urzok ran into some resistances (2e’s equivalent of DR) when he attacked it (my key-phrase for this is “you felt like not all of it [your attack] went through” or some variation). Basically, I don’t like telling players the exact amount of resistance that a creature has because I’m like that, so instead I document it as “(-X from ‘Y’ attacks [before resistances])” where X is the amount of damage the party has dealt to it minus the amount that its healed (because trying to be vague about fast healing/regen is just too much for me), and Y is the number of times resistances have applied (but not been calculated into its overall damage taken).
To explain better (while also having some metagaming stuff): this thing has a reaction that lets it reduce the damage of certain damage types by 5 for a single attack, as well as two abilities that let it heal itself—one being when Urzok took the persistent bleed damage and the other being that “vein bursting” ability it just used. The party has (as of this post) dished out a total of 40 damage and it’s healed 4, and one of those attacks had its damage reduced by 5, so the ooze has taken a total of 31 damage. But I like to keep my players guessing, so instead of saying “-31” next to its name, I put down “-36 from ‘1’ attack [before resistances]”. It’s just a personal preference to keep exactly how resistant something is to damage close to my chest.
2. Considering you technically go last out of the initiative block, I’m fine with that.
Thanks for the explanation! Makes sense to me. I will also try to be clear about what damage type I'm using from now on.
Sorry for the short notice, but I had to handle some stuff all evening (everything is fine now!) and don't have the time/energy to post tonight. I'll catch back up tomorrow, please bot me as necessary!
Jevar notices something and keeps his arcane eye engaged to zero in on the source of magic...
That isn’t how that spell works anymore, Jevar. Only the presence or absence of magic.
Oh right. Looks like it'll be a couple more levels until the heightening provides extra info.
As Urzok and Shakur recede through the service door, Jevar grunts and resigns to pushing himself through to follow the moving battle line.
What do these cultists have to gain by throwing themselves at our feet? Is the joke that they're all planning to come back and haunt us as more undead?! That has to be it...
Occam's Razor: Maybe they're just crazy.
Yes, but Jevar's pessimism is preparing him for the worst :)
Hi folks, just an FYI that I'll be out of town on a camping trip and unable to post this coming weekend, Sat. 2/8-Sun. 2/9. I will be able to resume posting in the evening on Sunday (US/Pacific time).
Hi folks, just an FYI that I'll be out of town on a camping trip and unable to post this coming weekend, Sat. 2/8-Sun. 2/9. I will be able to resume posting in the evening on Sunday (US/Pacific time).
Reminder, this starts early tomorrow morning.
Firstly, thank you for trying not to metagame, but the only reason I put the red circle on the map was because the PCs knew where it was—hidden means you know what space it’s in, you just can’t see it. True, it could’ve Sneaked away, but with its extremely loud sobbing that’s basically impossible.
Secondly, talking as a free action is solely for flavor—telling someone something else’s location is its own action: Point Out, which has the visual trait, meaning that the one Pointing Out has to be seen in order for it to be effective. Basically, all you can do as a free action is say “I found it!” or “It’s here!” with no further context.
That said, I’ll let you redo your turn due to poor communication on my part.
[dice=Deception, following the expert]1d20+1+2
Two things: 1) Hero Points exist. 2) You calculated your bonus wrong.
Emphasis added. That's why Follow the Expert is a very good exploration activity to remember.
2. Really? Untrained is ability score and the level is *not* added.
2. Really? Untrained is ability score and the level is *not* added.
Correct, BUT when you're Following the Expert, it's a specific exception to that because someone is taking the time to actively steer you in the correct direction in how to do that specific skill, thus when you're Following the Expert, your proficiency bonus in an untrained skill (assuming you're Following the Expert in that particular skill) is equal to your level instead of just 0.
Oy, I must have been pretty tired last night when u missed that spelled out
"Alright. Alright. Talk the talk. Walk the walk. And maybe we'll get out of here alive. Well then. Onwards. To the northwestern watchtower. Oh, and uhh,Hail HydraPraise Zandalus!"
It’s silly, but I liked the reference, so I’m giving Shakur a Hero Point for that.
Anyways, important question: there are quite a few side rooms along the way to the watchtower. Would you guys want to check out those other rooms or just make a b-line straight to the watchtower?
I'm game to check rooms along the way.
The trick will be to not arouse too much suspicion by doing so. The more the crowd sees us, the more opportunities they have to think we’re doing something we shouldn’t be.
My vote is yes, but let’s take some precautions.
Hrmmm... Would it be suspicious for us to bee-line it to the watchtower? I guess, what are other people doing? I feel like it would be super suspicious if the lot of us formed up and started searching the place. I think maybe we split up to open a couple doors, then converge on the watchtower door?
If we have to choose between one or the other, I say we just bee-line it.
Alright, so it seems really wishy-washy. But because of stuff that y’all don’t know about, appearing suspicious to the rest of the cult isn’t really an issue, and that seems to have been the biggest thing you guys were hung up on, so I’m just going to advance it as if you guys were making a b-line to the tower (with maybe a slight exception when we get to a certain point).
No worries, thanks GM!
So apparently I didn't read the sanity rules correctly, and apparently you don't get a save to avoid gaining a madness, you just get it automatically when you take sanity damage greater than or equal to your sanity threshold.
But I think that that's so silly, because then it would be forcing all of these penalties onto the PCs, especially in this AP, so I'm going to continue doing it how I have been doing it (where you get an initial save to negate the madness).
I guess it depends on the intention of the mechanic in this AP. Do the authors want everybody to devolve into inescapable madness, or is mental fortitude a thing in their narrative?
I guess it depends on the intention of the mechanic in this AP. Do the authors want everybody to devolve into inescapable madness, or is mental fortitude a thing in their narrative?
Ironically, Horror Adventures was written concurrently with Strange Aeons, so the mechanics weren’t written as part of the AP, but they were so perfect that I couldn’t not use them.
Oh yeah. Hero Points reset in one week.
I like the way you've been running madness/sanity stuff!
For the record, you didn’t need to Step twice—you could’ve done it just as well with a single Stride. I will remind you that Attack of Opportunity is NOT a universal thing—only enemies that are akin to soldiers actually have it.
GM, would you walk me through the mechanics of what just happened? From what I can tell, shouldn't Urzok have had the chance to say something to Jevar? Or the party a chance to respond after the first attempt at collapsing the wall failed?
GM, would you walk me through the mechanics of what just happened? From what I can tell, shouldn't Urzok have had the chance to say something to Jevar? Or the party a chance to respond after the first attempt at collapsing the wall failed?
It was mostly flavor based on the fact that Urzok tied with the ghouls in initiative. What Urzok heard was the ghouls taking their first turn (two Aiding and one forcefully causing the wall to collapse on Jevar). The “one...two...” was basically the thing he heard (before sneakiness got thrown out the window), but it was happening too quickly for him to react beforehand.
Sorry, should’ve been clearer about that. In hindsight, I only really did it for the flavor of the counting.
For the record, you didn’t need to Step twice—you could’ve done it just as well with a single Stride. I will remind you that Attack of Opportunity is NOT a universal thing—only enemies that are akin to soldiers actually have it.
Yeah, but most anything real I would have wanted to do would have required two actions, and in character he would have been cautious, so *shrug*.