Hexes are the best. Seriously. All hexes all the time.
I wouldn't mind having those gloves. Anyone else want them?
Nope, go ahead. I kind of love the idea that the Wizard/Alchemist can throw things back. Especially since you have Throw anything.
Aww, too late. And here I was going to come charging on my mount while smiting the witch.
Reynard, can you benefit from the spellbook? Or use the wands? Or can you not use them because you are a psychic caster?
A Mindblade's spellcasting ability changes to that of a spontaneous caster, so the Spellbook won't be of any use to him.
That said, it's not really noted anywhere that his spellcasting changes in any other way for using magic items and all the wands still fit on his spell list. Although the fact that it's psychic energy is totally a DM's call.
I would have to consider it for a bit before making a decision on it, in my games.
I'm honestly not totally sure. This is my first time working with psychic casting. I'd lean toward no though, because of this line from Occult Adventures on Psychic Magic:
Psychic spellcasters aren't affected by effects that target only arcane or divine spellcasters, nor can they use arcane or divine scrolls or other items or feats that state they can be utilized by only arcane or divine spellcasters.
Now, I'm working on my UMD, so I still might manage to use them with a good roll, but not as reliably as Spectrum can.
Alright. Isme, take whichever wands you like. I'll take the rest and give them to Array and Glimmer. You and I can study the spellbook later.
I'm actually quite pleased with that distinction between psychic magic vs. Arcane and Divine magic.
Spectrum, honestly all those wands are nice but I doubt I'll be using them constantly with all the other options available to me (not to mention the move action it'll take to get a wand out). Might be better to let Array and Glimmer use them.
GM, what level (maximum?) are the additional spells in the spellbook?
That works for me. Just wanted to give you first pick.
I say we should give the area a more thorough look than we gave it earlier.
Can't hurt.
Sure. I know we didn't fully explore the house.
Finally able to log in. Got that weird DNS error with my Internet where I couldn't connect to Paizo at all.
Sorry for the sudden disappearance. Give me some time to catch up.
Which one on the map is Kaven?
Not on the map, he scarpered across to the west.
Damn, he's fast. Is West toward the ogre fort?
Kaven is about to have a bad time. Harassment and stopping runners is what Array and Glimmer are built for. I've been hoping for a scene like this.
North is towards the fort.
Do note that he's behind a tree, though of course that doesn't much matter if he's followed by two fast flyers. May also want to note that he currently seems intent on fleeing the battle not taking part in it.
Good to know, thanks.
So many fireballs!
I love this encounter. Those poor ogres.
It's possible I missed a turn of yours, my apologies, Reynard.
No problem. I've been busy lately and not posting as much as I'd like to, so I would certainly share some blame for not being here to notice.
Here's the gist of my plan-
When we went on our Magnamar shopping spree, I had a bunch of leftover money so I bought a ton of consumables. Among them, a bunch of Tree feather tokens. (I had planned on activating them in the air and dropping them on things)
Instead, I think I can use them to block the two entrances. It looks like the gates are about 20 feet wide, and each tree is 5 feet wide, so it will take 8 of them. (I have 10)
Or I could use three on each gate which would leave enough room between them for a Medium creature to Squeeze though, but would trap a large creature.
Another option is to use the two Swan Boat tokens I have. The boats they make are huge. (Each one can hold 8 large creatures). My concern with using the boats is that they might not be durable enough to keep the ogres from smashing through them.
I also have a couple scrolls of Wall of Fire, which has a duration of Concentration +1 round. Array and Glimmer can both use them. If they are being stealthy, they could keep the fire walls up for the entire siege of the fort.
So, I could either use trees, walls of fire, or both.
GM, can you think of and reason this wouldn't work?
Hmm, I really like the idea of planting the Tree tokens at the gates and then using the walls of fire, since they are opaque and the heat only flows off of one side, to cover them. That way if anyone tries to just take the damage and rush through they run right into a line of trees and can't go anywhere. So let's go with both.
Pretty sure the boats would be broken through pretty readily.
Mmm; it's a very practicable idea. Should seal them in nicely.
I'm afraid to tell you though that it's likely a bit unnecessary.
If you guys just run right into the fort, chances are every troll in the place is going to come straight for you. I'm sure there might be one or two who'll turn and run, but that's not an enormous problem- there's no one elsewhere as far as is known to warn.
Welcome to continue with it if you want; perhaps you might want to take down all of them.
Oh, hmm well I suppose in the scheme of fight or flight, Trolls are often more fight.
It's a good enough plan I'd say we force them to fight. Wyam has no hesitance about which side of the line these Trolls are on and it's very likely that this Lucrecia is leading them. So lets go get her.
So, invisibility can target objets.
Does a Wall of Fire count as an "object"?
That's a no.
Hmm. That's a bummer.
I'm giving some thought to just flying up above the fort and raining magic death down on it. Could probably thin their numbers quite a bit with some shock and awe tactics.
Another option is to attack them at one of the main gates after blocking the other. Wyam and Reynard on the ground as the front line, the Black Arrows behind them, and me, Isme and the dragons above. We create a choke point, draw them out and blow them up. If they try to stay back we have a ranged advantage. If they rush in, they are in the middle of the artillery.
I see how that could work initially but once the commander realizes that we aren't about to let them fully utilize their numbers they'll probably pull them back into the fort and we'll have to go in after them... well actually, even a little bit will help.
I'm more worried about them having spell casters in their ranks. I wish we had better recon on their forces.
GM, could I send Glimmer on a scouting run to look for casters?
Yeah, that's going to be an issue. I'm willing to bet that Lucrecia is with them and almost certain she's a spellcaster. Also they might have more casters like that Ogre matriarch.
If you need recon, Isme actually functions perfectly as a rogue as I designed her. If you need more information, she can do individual scouting missions and extract information from nearby creatures (Speak to Animals, Charm Person/Monster, Zone of Truth, Sow Thought, Detect Thoughts…). It would just take much longer to do that kind of prep work.
Easiest way would be to let Isme speak to some vermin or animals around there but since they're animals the information they have would probably be limited to a vague description of amount of forces and type.
If you can get her an individual from that and she can pretty much pump them for everything they know. More specific things like spellcasters, traps, and so on would be attainable even with an ogre grunt. Doing it on something smarter than that would be more difficult (unless we've captured and restrained them) but would probably give more information.
…Also there's Reynard, the actual rogue.
I love the idea of Isme doing recon. Let's go with that. Take a solo scene. Isme hasn't gotten a lot of spotlight lately. It is about time she got some.
Indeed. Who'd suspect that the raven flying overhead is actually taking stock of their numbers and resources? Well, unless they think we have druid friends, but why would they?
Mmm, quite. Isme is a literal raven, and this is an absolutely fine time to put that to use.
It's also worth noting that a reason the ambush plan is effective is that, as far as the fellows at the fort know, nothing's gone wrong. As far as they're concerned their comrades will return to the fort in an hour or two, successful or otherwise.
I like that all the ogres and trolls in the upper left map are 20 feet tall. :)
Invisibility sphere anyone?
I think the tanglefoot save was forgotten.
I'm not entirely sure how the tanglefoot bag effect (glue to ground) interacts with the orb effect (forced move).
GM, what's your ruling?
Another question-
I think that normally an Aqueous Orb would snuff out a Flaming Sphere.
If I were to change a Flaming Sphere's damage type to Electricity or Cold and overlap the two orbs, what would happen?
Well not necessarily, magical fire that is immersed in water has a caster level check to either be snuffed out or it simply becomes super heated steam which still causes fire damage to those affected.
So going off of that, presumably the other two sources would just work normally but might be awesome looking.
Flaming Sphere's rules specifically states that it is snuffed out by anything that can quench a fire of it's size, and Aqua Orb states that it snuffs out any fires it moves across and acts as dispel magic against magical fires.
The question is whether those things still apply if the Sphere is no longer made of fire. The other option is that the sphere still counts as fire for all purposes except the damage type (which is the rules-literal ruling, but seems really wrong to me).
Pretty sure I included the Tanglefoot save. But in any case, orb would tear the lizard off of it.
Changing it to electricity/cold should let it work fine.
Oh, I see what happened.
Not that it matters since all the saves were failed, but one of the lizards should have had to roll twice and take the lower (Ill Omen).
When I originally read your post I thought I was seeing the top roll for one lizard's save against the sphere and the bottom two for the other lizard's save with Ill Omen.
Since you can't take 10 in the middle of combat, I decided to proceed as if that action didn't happen.
Might be messy, sorry for that.
Reynard, don't forget you're a rogue and have Evasion, which means when you normally take half damage on a reflex save, you take no damage.
D'oh! Good call. No damage, then.