Busy day for me. I will try post this evening.
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Sorry all. I've gone from an ample amount of free time to working a 45 hour Monday-Friday week on my feet all day. In the 4 hours I get where i'm not asleep or at work i'm unpacking into my new studio flat.
Doesn't help i'm not yet doing computer work, which i'll be doing more of as time goes by. Slowdown shouldn't be too long, just need to get settled.
No worries AK - no one walks away from Slumbering Tsar... They all die there :D
Talomyr- I feel like Arachiel is easily your most successful character dice-wise i've seen (Basilisk excluded). What do you reckon?
Jinx........
Talomyr- I feel like Arachiel is easily your most successful character dice-wise i've seen (Basilisk excluded). What do you reckon?
I'm not so sure about that. Karthas and Tun'ada didn't have particularly bad dice luck. I have couple of other current characters that have decent rolls too.
Now early in this game Arachiel was giving Khalid the cursed a run for his money in the bad dice luck catagory, but admittedly Arachiel's rolls have been much better since the avatar switch.
Sorry for absence a shocker period for work.
If everyone is happy to hold at the barricade and let Barak take shots maybe automate until something else happens? I'm totally out of relevant area shaping spells sorry. I have magic missile, glitterdust, monster summoning I and halt undead with the last being held back for emergencies.
Lots of buffs wearing off in a few rounds mind...
It should be reasonably obvious to you guys by now that the Undead are seeking a chance to attack Telurion; as the clear source of the nasty positive energy that can slay them in droves.
With his action this round, he is likely to be on the receiving end of an attack.
Those who haven't posted get until this evening, as I wasn't able to update last night.
I would have used a ready action, but I was under the impression I couldn't, after climbing.
But I did pick up a longspear, correct? So maybe I have a chance to fight back - also Arachiel and Durin will surely devastate them if they try to harm poor Telurion :D
No worries AK. Been having a busy week also, but everyone has been kinda quiet.
I'm being patient, really! Also, very busy too.
Not to be mean but presumably sunder a real possibility on the AOO.
If it helps somewhat with Lara's insertion Marcus's plan as soon as we clear the site is to try a commune before venturing further into what seems like the more dangerous sw quadrant. Idea was to verify what sort of timeframe we have for the ghost re-forming.
I'll raise this all IC but people might want to think about any particular questions they want asked bearing in mind they need to be answerable yes/no.
Dunno but we might have sneaked over to level 8 with this engagement as well. Not sure how we're doing levelling in this one DM? Camping or training?
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At the very least, a safe haven for a day. Will think on it but likely small amount of downtime.
It should be a lot of XP, yes.
Edit: Odds are very low that the one who hit Barak has enough HP to survive both a hit from Durin and a channel, even if he saves. There were a couple of as yet undamaged swordsmen left though.
Please correct me if not a clay golem...
We did get awfully lucky on its initiative roll but a bit of bad luck on Durin's attack rolls and the thing could tear us to pieces.
We can do it! I think...
I have to say your lucky Telurion came in as a Channeling specialist :). That could not have come at a more fortuitous time. Seeing everything from this side of the screen... the amount of damage he managed to put out via channeled energy was just obscene by comparison to everything else.
You now have enough experience to advance to Level 8; next time you grab some downtime.
A round of applause for our Oracle everyone... 'Thank you, thank you, it really was my pleasure' :D
Seriously now - this build is experimental but I gotta agree it came in really handy against that mass of undead, even with the channel resistance. I guess we've found one thing he can do well. I am also satisfied with the healing thus far - it entails some amount of bookkeeping, but it has been working out well rounded I believe.
As far as being an able combatant, which was another objective I was going for... Meh...
Level 8! Sweet! Now, what was I thinking of doing with level8..?
AK, one question for you - what are your thoughts on Misfortune?
Well I for one am just very pleased we managed to survive the day (so far) without losses. Curious to know the actual xp total :)
We are short of everything and have no protection if we hit more bad weather so I think its hunker down for sure. Kiri and Marcus are going to try a commune so last chance if people have any questions.
Are we going to need to return to the Camp to level up / add our sixth player DM?
My level up is in my profile: currently thinking Secure Shelter and Wall of Fire as new spells. Thinking about switching out Aqueous Orb as per previous discussion as well.
AK, one question for you - what are your thoughts on Misfortune?
We discussed it when you were pitching characters around-
The Misfortune mechanic on a Dual Cursed Oracle is nightmarish to run over a play-by-post.
As an immediate action, you can force a creature within 30 feet to reroll any one d20 roll that it has just made before the results of the roll are revealed.
Absolutely fine on a RL table, a nightmare over this medium.
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Well I for one am just very pleased we managed to survive the day (so far) without losses. Curious to know the actual xp total :)
We are short of everything and have no protection if we hit more bad weather so I think its hunker down for sure. Kiri and Marcus are going to try a commune so last chance if people have any questions.
Are we going to need to return to the Camp to level up / add our sixth player DM?
My level up is in my profile: currently thinking Secure Shelter and Wall of Fire as new spells. Thinking about switching out Aqueous Orb as per previous discussion as well.
There is no pressure to return to the camp to add sixth player. You will need to return to The Camp or take steps to fortify the Last Outpost. Right now The Camp is the only place I can see you levelling up in.
XP total is in Durin's profile, pre the 8000 or so I gave you in last IC post mentioning it.
Yep, just remembered the Misfortune conversation. Pondering my alternatives right now.
Energy body or combat healer both seem good.
I'd agree energy body is the better revelation. It does scale with oracle levels though while combat healers lets you swift action your highest level spell. But only once per day.
I'd probably lean toward energy body for the same reason as AK but choices, choices.
Of course you guys are right - I had forgot about Energy Body. That is definitely my choice.
Now I'll just ponder what spells to get, and the planning will be ready for our next rest.
Without complicating things further if you are still going holy vindicator you get faith healer at level 3 of the prestige class which gives you a free empower on all cure spells cast on yourself. It would be quite nice to swift action drop massive healing on yourself via combat healer although its a way away and you could always spend a feat for the extra revelation later. If you end up sticking with oracle for the better casting then yeah energy body just gets better and better and you could take combat healer when its up to multiple uses a day.
Interested to see where Durin goes with his new rage power.
Any comments on spells? I could always take haste but I'd rather use the freebie for a 4th level and was kind of hoping our new bard could replace it at least until I can buy a scroll. Oh and I will be able to short range teleport people around. That should be fun.
Or we could simply be wiped out by some nasty random encounter tonight while we're out of spells, shouldn't jinx it.
I am hesitating regarding the HOly Vndicator path:
- On the one hand, I find it thematically REALLY fitting. Telurion is for the time being a traveller and explorer, wielding the power of Life Energies but without a particular allegiance to this or that God. It would make perfect sense to me however, if after being exposed to all the awfulness that we will surely be exposed to, he would become... Different... Acting with more sense of purpose adn/or duty, thus becoming a Vindicator :D
- Also, I wanted to give the PrC a ride, and see how it works out in the end, since I built Telurion as a semi-focused healer, but expecting him to participate actively in combat. This last experience left me in doubt regarding his combat abilities though - not getting pessimistic off the bat, since this was very hard on weaponry, and he lost his own almost immediately :/
- On the other hand, I cannot deny the strength of simply leveling as Oracle - it just keeps on piling revelations and specific, useful spells related to his mistery - the spells are somewhat compensated by the fact that Holy Vindicator only loses two spell levels (it hurts though), but what really makes me want to veer towards that PrC are the different abilities which I am curious about, and the fact that I get to boost somewhat my healing with Faith Healing, while keeping the channeling always maxed.
So... Yeah... Not fully decided upon yet, but I guess I still have some time to think about it. If Telurion survives, he needs to decide at level 9 between Alignment Channel or Elemental Channel (prereq), and I think I can only grab Holy Vindicator at level 10, and not immediately, correct?
As far as spells go, haste is really a bomb for this group - with Arachiel, Durin and even Telurion wanting to melee + Barak raining death, haste IS as tremendous boost in damage.
If we get wiped out, well... Problem solved :D
Interested to see where Durin goes with his new rage power.
As my prefered path has been rendered null by the 'ultimate' source ban, I see my top two choices as Strength Surge (useful but somewhat boring) and Ground Breaker (pretty good all around for Durin and thematically awesome).
I, of course, am open to other suggestions. :)
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- Also, I wanted to give the PrC a ride, and see how it works out in the end, since I built Telurion as a semi-focused healer, but expecting him to participate actively in combat. This last experience left me in doubt regarding his combat abilities though - not getting pessimistic off the bat, since this was very hard on weaponry, and he lost his own almost immediately :/
Well... here is my analysis of the physical combat potential of your Strength 18 medium BAB Oracle.
With the spells available to you, you should be fine. Your high strength is making up for the lower BAB and then the spells do more than enough to compensate for it. Most notably, at Level 8 you gain access to level 4 spells; including Magic Vestment and Greater Magic Weapon; the latter should help even if your weapon is only masterwork.
Personally, I find reach weapon fighting is very effective for Cleric's/Oracles.
What I would question is your Power Attack feat. It is overused on medium BAB characters, who usually need the to-hit more than the high BAB classes who usually have easy ways to boost to hit as well beyond their BAB advantage. I'd argue its going to be of limited use except when you are buffed to the wazoo.
I do tend to give a 1 level "grace period" where I let people switch out a feat at next level up, if you fancied that.
As far as Oracle VS Holy Vindicator goes, i'd stick with Oracle but that's more of a gut feeling than any real analysis. I haven't personally built a HV myself so its just theory-crafting talking.
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Interested to see where Durin goes with his new rage power.As my prefered path has been rendered null by the 'ultimate' source ban, I see my top two choices as Strength Surge (useful but somewhat boring) and Ground Breaker (pretty good all around for Durin and thematically awesome).
I, of course, am open to other suggestions. :)
I'd recommend Ground Breaker. Far cooler and i've yet to even see you make a Sunder check.
Probably the way I will go.
Hasn't been a lot of opportunities to use sunder. Most of our opponents haven't used weapons or armor. If they did, it usually didn't seem like it was worth it at the time. I did smash a hole in the wall to get at the Barghest. :)
Presumably you were going down the spell sunder path?
So many delicious rage powers its almost impossible to pick a bad one.
I like both strength surge (useful on defense as well) and ground breaker.
Other options I could get excited about:
- Animal Fury (surely we could re-skin as Dwarven Headbutt)
- Disruptive (demons all cast spells and you've got a reach weapon), spellbreaker an alternative way to make casters feel bad
- Inspire Ferocity (if your feeling generous this can be fairly sick given it applies to the whole party as an untyped bonus and keeps scaling but it would only be one round duration)
- Unexpected Strike (once a rage but basically one free AOO a rage)
- Witchunder (think it starts getting good at 8, +3 damage nothing to sneeze at and more and more stuff starts casting spells)
- Roused Anger (emergency rage, not sure if it prevents you from dropping out of rate if made fatigued)
More DR seems effective but boring.
Don't suppose theres any doubt about what to take next at 10.
I am hesitating regarding the HOly Vndicator path:
- On the one hand, I find it thematically REALLY fitting. Telurion is for the time being a traveller and explorer, wielding the power of Life Energies but without a particular allegiance to this or that God. It would make perfect sense to me however, if after being exposed to all the awfulness that we will surely be exposed to, he would become... Different... Acting with more sense of purpose adn/or duty, thus becoming a Vindicator :D
- Also, I wanted to give the PrC a ride, and see how it works out in the end, since I built Telurion as a semi-focused healer, but expecting him to participate actively in combat. This last experience left me in doubt regarding his combat abilities though - not getting pessimistic off the bat, since this was very hard on weaponry, and he lost his own almost immediately :/
- On the other hand, I cannot deny the strength of simply leveling as Oracle - it just keeps on piling revelations and specific, useful spells related to his mistery - the spells are somewhat compensated by the fact that Holy Vindicator only loses two spell levels (it hurts though), but what really makes me want to veer towards that PrC are the different abilities which I am curious about, and the fact that I get to boost somewhat my healing with Faith Healing, while keeping the channeling always maxed.So... Yeah... Not fully decided upon yet, but I guess I still have some time to think about it. If Telurion survives, he needs to decide at level 9 between Alignment Channel or Elemental Channel (prereq), and I think I can only grab Holy Vindicator at level 10, and not immediately, correct?
As far as spells go, haste is really a bomb for this group - with Arachiel, Durin and even Telurion wanting to melee + Barak raining death, haste IS as tremendous boost in damage.
If we get wiped out, well... Problem solved :D
I don't really expect you can get close to Durin or Arachiel in melee effectiveness without a decent magic weapon and your buffs up which kind of makes sense. I wouldn't make too many judgements after one (extended) encounter either.
I don't see why you couldn't enter HV next level but check with DM. Yeah HV is simply not going to channel or cast as well as an oracle (favored class bonus for one but the nice scaling revelatons for another) so basically I'd consider whether you really want the HV goodies. The bonus to AC is perhaps the best one and your shieldless at least at the moment.
I'd suggest losing the two caster levels is going to hurt your buffs more than you realise (and really harm any casting against anything with spell resistance) but you could always take magical knack via the extra traits feat.
Plenty of time and encounters to decide. I suspect theres going to be lots more undead to pop and you've got the best class in the game to do that (except possibly a sun domain cleric).
Oh and I could take haste via the human favored class bonus.
That would cost 1 hp though and theres something deeply distressing in that to my back brain when I can simply buy the scroll at some point. What if I get dropped to neg 1 and need that hp at some point?!?
Was going for Spell Sunder correct.
Witch Hunter was my initial choice... and perhaps it is still the best option atm. I'm not totally sold on Ground Breaker as it is counter productive with Greater Beast Totem's pounce.
Well... here is my analysis of the physical combat potential of your Strength 18 medium BAB Oracle.
With the spells available to you, you should be fine. Your high strength is making up for the lower BAB and then the spells do more than enough to compensate for it. Most notably, at Level 8 you gain access to level 4 spells; including Magic Vestment and Greater Magic Weapon; the latter should help even if your weapon is only masterwork.
Personally, I find reach weapon fighting is very effective for Cleric's/Oracles.
Yep, I am counting on the spells to shore me up and at least guarantee I am not irrelevant in melee. The idea has always been of a second line combatant, and also one that offers protection to ranged attackers and wizards - when I think about it now, it actually makes sense that aArcus and Barak will not be there most of the time (flying or invisible, etc.) unless we are underground, which is how it is supposed to. So Telurion will end up more as a mixed buffer/healer/second-hitter I guess.
Also, I haven't used it yet, but I can still use Alter Self as a racial ability ;)
What I would question is your Power Attack feat. It is overused on medium BAB characters, who usually need the to-hit more than the high BAB classes who usually have easy ways to boost to hit as well beyond their BAB advantage. I'd argue its going to be of limited use except when you are buffed to the wazoo.
Yep, I have thought about that too, but I really could not bring myself to bypass Power Attack - it looks to me as the best damage upgrader in the whole game, mainly when wielding a 2h weapon... I may be wrong but it IS the difference between 1d10+6 or 1d10+12 damage.
I do tend to give a 1 level "grace period" where I let people switch out a feat at next level up, if you fancied that.
What I have been honestly pondering is Combat Reflexes. It IS good in my book, but since I am not packing the increased tiefling paladin LoH healing (was the initial build idea), I was equating the possibility of taking Toughness or something like that but... EIGHT more hp seems so... Meh...
As far as Oracle VS Holy Vindicator goes, i'd stick with Oracle but that's more of a gut feeling than any real analysis. I haven't personally built a HV myself so its just theory-crafting talking.
Yep, I am sure that Oracle would probably work but one has got to try something different every once in a while, right? :D
I could also switch out a 3rd level spell for Haste easily enough. Does someone in the party have a way of detecting invisibility?
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Yep, I have thought about that too, but I really could not bring myself to bypass Power Attack - it looks to me as the best damage upgrader in the whole game, mainly when wielding a 2h weapon... I may be wrong but it IS the difference between 1d10+6 or 1d10+12 damage.
Its also the difference between a hit and a miss fairly often :)
I could also switch out a 3rd level spell for Haste easily enough. Does someone in the party have a way of detecting invisibility?
We're in pretty good shape I'd say. Incredible gem of seeing as a party item. I have see invisibility in my spellbook and even with it in opposition school scrolls for emergencies (come to think of it I should be parcelling these out to umd users). Will pretty much always have at least one glitterdust memorised as a conjurer.
My familiar has permanant tounges as well if your happy to rely on that for translation. That would let you squeeze heroism in maybe, pretty terrific for an archer I dare say and Marcus also has a lesser extend rod you could borrow to boost the duration on yourself.
Really, haste and dispel magic are the glaring omissions in my arcane roster and you've already got the latter covered. Vincent had good hope which is pretty insane but your build does seem less party buff orientated and more offensive than his was.
So yeah Telurion I should be giving you some spell scrolls. We can treat you obliterating all of those undead as your initiation in Marcus' eyes :)
Do you want to put scrolls of see invisibility, enlarge person protection from evil and expeditious retreat with your stuff? You might like to have a look at my spellbook as well.
If your inclined you could loan Kiri your wand of bless. That wouldn't be a bad first action for her in combat and would free up standard actions for you.