Jelani's The Witchwar Legacy (Inactive)

Game Master Brian Minhinnick

What is this game?:I will be running the Witchwar Legacy, a Paizo published adventure module for 17th level characters, with the twist that you will be part of an elite team of gestalt synthesist summoners gathered and formed specifically to take part in the events of the adventure. It will also be part optimization challenge as your characters will only be 12th level. I'm going for a super-hero team feel here. You were normal adventurers now suddenly given huge power and responsibility by immortal forces that you only partially understand.

Adventure Background:
Half a millennium ago, the reign of Queen Tashanna of Irrisen drew near its end, and the time approached for her to abdicate her throne and abandon Irrisen—and even Golarion—for other worlds and dimensions. Tashanna, however, chose a different course. Rather than give up her throne and the kingdom she had so carefully nurtured for nearly a century, she sought to depose her own mother, Baba Yaga, and retain her rulership of Irrisen. After years of research, she was finally able to locate the Torc of Kostchtchie, an artifact containing the mortal soul of the Demon Lord of Giants and Cold. Knowing of Kostchtchie’s hatred for Baba Yaga, Tashanna used her possession of the torc to convince the demon lord to ally with her in a rebellion against Baba Yaga. This short but bloody rebellion became known as the Witchwar.

Unfortunately, Tashanna underestimated Baba Yaga’s personal power. The Old Crone had created both Kostchtchie and the torc, and possessed the means to undo them. Baba Yaga first faced Kostchtchie and savaged him with her magic, sending him fleeing to Iobaria to lick his wounds while her loyalists decimated his giant forces. The Queen of Witches then turned her attention to Tashanna and quickly defeated her rebel forces as well, capturing her daughter and ignobly parading her before her own defeated troops.
Baba Yaga executed every one of Tashanna’s followers and created a huge magical necropolis wherein she interred Tashanna’s defeated army and purportedly the deposed witch queen herself, along with the magical torc that led to her downfall. Known as the Veil of Frozen Tears, this hidden necropolis, filled with traps of the Old Crone’s devising and foul guardian spirits, remained inviolate for 5 centuries—until now.

Now Queen Elvanna, Fourteenth Daughter of Baba Yaga, nears the end of her own reign over Irrisen and faces the uncertain future of her sister-queens who have gone before her. She hopes to hedge her bets with the possession of a powerful artifact, such as the Torc of Kostchtchie. To this end, she has discovered the location of the Veil of Frozen Tears and sent mercenaries to penetrate its wards in order to recover the torc for herself. But the dangers of the frozen necropolis are manifold, and none of her hirelings have yet returned from their quest. A side effect of their meddling, however, is that some of the necropolis’s wards have been breached. Kostchtchie is now aware of the location of the tomb and Elvanna’s efforts to reclaim his torc. Remembering well the humiliating and painful results of the last time someone possessed his torc, the demon lord has sent his own agents to bring it to him. These two factions are heading for a confrontation over the hidden necropolis, and woe to those who get in the middle.

Your In:
Whatever your character would normally be doing gets interrupted by the following:
With a flash of bright white light a lithe and beautiful nude woman with skin the color of marble appears before you, hovering upon powerful white wings and radiating a sense of serenity. "Fear not mortal, I mean you no harm." she says in your native tongue. "My name is Mariah. I am an Archon of Iomedae, The Inheritor." Her voice is like beautiful music, pure and without fault. She carries a long thin gleaming silver trumpet that is covered in swirling, natural-looking patterns. "I am here because your deeds are known to us. My mistress bids me invite you to take part in mission of dire importance. Events have been set in motion that if not stopped, will lead to a terrible evil being unleashed on Golarion. We have prepared a gift for you that will make you stronger than you've ever been before, hopefully strong enough to avert disaster. My commander awaits us, with answers for your questions. Time is of the essence, will you come with me?" Her chest-length, midnight black curls wave gently in an unseen wind, as she extends one perfect hand out towards you, a look of urgency in her iridescent blue eyes.

What I am looking for in a player:
People who can commit to post 1/day during the week (and hopefully on weekends) for potentially the next 6-9 months while we play through the adventure. I prefer experienced PBPers, but I will consider people new to PBP if they show that they can follow instructions. Good, interesting writing is essential. PBP is a slooooow medium for gaming, the only thing that makes it fun is taking the time to write well, and really RP your character. You should also have a working knowledge of Golarion, it's lore and history. Depending on interest, I will be taking five or six players. I will attempt to go for a balanced party (arcane, divine and trapfinding covered if at all possible). If during gameplay you fail to post regularly, your character will do nothing. If you disappear for a week+ with no explanation, expect to be removed from the game and replaced.

My GMing style:
I use Google Drive to put up maps for combat. I will roll initiative for everyone, then run combat in initiative blocks. The highest roller for the party and each type of monster will set that block's initiative count. Then player actions will occur in posting order. I will put the monster's essential stats in my profile, so you can resolve your own actions (AC, saves, CMD, AOOs etc.).

I try to follow the rules as written as closely as possible. If you make a mistake that I see, I will correct you. If I make a mistake, please correct me and point out a rules reference. I will gladly fix mistakes. As far as flavor text/fluff goes I usually follow the rule of cool. Tone wise, I go for gritty and mature. Killing monsters involves lots of blood and guts and mental trauma.

My other games for reference:
My Worldwound Sandbox game ~1700 posts, doesn't include previous threads that have been abandoned/consolidated.

My Carrion Crown game ~1700 posts

My crazy Conan the Barbarian Meets Real World Zombie Apocalypse game ~600 posts

My completed Crypt of the Everflame game 851 posts, inactive.

What you need to apply:
You should create an alias for your character. It needs to have your complete mechanical crunch, a character background and a description of your character's appearance and personality. Bonus points for finding/drawing a reference picture. The more grounded your character is in Golarion the better, also remember that you're one of the more powerful people around. You should have a background that reflects your status as a higher level character.

I also want an in character writing sample that shows how your character reacts to the "Your In" paragraph above, and demonstrates your style a little.

Example Alias from one of my characters.

Recruitment will stay open until Sunday July 14th, noon GMT+8 (that's midnight Saturday the 13th in EST). I will only leave recruitment open longer if there are not enough acceptable applications by that date.

Dotting. Should have a character put together in a few hours I think.

Definitely interested, sounds like an awful lot of fun.

I'll work up a concept tomorrow, not too sure just what yet, but I am well steeped in Golarion lore.

Definitely interested - I will tentatively put together a NG Half-Elven Alchemist(Trap-breaker/Vivisectionist), a freedom-fighter, Fetchling sympathiser, and folk hero from Nidal.

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. Will have something up soon.

EDIT: A few quick questions.

-All of us will be able to afford the Large evolution; is this campaign going to have significant indoor components, making that evolution impractical? By significant I mean can't be circumvented by a few 'Reduce Person' spells.
-If so, how do you feel about some sort of Ring of Reduce Person? Paying more to have it work through the Summoner's Share Spells ability (another GM priced it at 7000).
-One question I was never quite able to resolve- when gestalted and fused, do we get our Eidolon's BAB or do we add in a full-BAB class? I ask because the Monk's BAB and flurry is worded differently to a Synthesist's fused BAB.

Yar!

Interesting, I think I may throw my hat in as well. I have a few character ideas floating around already... OH MAN now that I'm thinking about it I have several character's I'd love to play again!

Vega Surtova, pacifist traveling monk (Ki Mystic/Four Winds/Sacred Mountain) who used non-lethal attacks unless absolutely necessary, is a gardener by trade, and is heavily inspired by Ip Man. The pictures I used for him last time I played him were of Donny Yen playing Ip Man.

Nicholas (aka: Bots), a multiclassed Rogue Gunslinger and natural goofball, heavily inspired by Vash the Stampede (aka The Humanoid Typhoon) from Trigun, using pics of Vash himself for him last time I played him.

Attila, sexy Varisian Pilgrim/Gypsy Harrower (Cleric of Wicca/Fate/Moon + Harrower PrC), who focused on fortune telling with Harrow Cards (I own a deck, and had lots of fun mixing the mechanics with actual in game fortune telling for both flavorful and mechanical boons to future events) and is a naturally gifted dancer (often mixing exotic weapons with his dancing, bladed scarf, urumi, whip, etc). I used a variety of Johnny Depp pics for him.

... those are probably the three at the top of my list of existing characters I made that didn't get nearly enough play time and would like to bring back.

*ponders some more*

~P

Everyone - No custom magic items.

Arkwright - It's all indoor. However, the indoor is giant sized. Shouldn't be too much of an issue. As for BAB, you use whichever is better. So if you were a fighter 12/synthesist 12 your BAB would be 12. A wizard 12/synthesist 12 would have +9 while fused and a +6 while unfused. If you have multiple classes gestalted with synthesist you add them all up like a multiclass character would and then compare it to the synth and use whichever is better.

Should I make an effort to construct him to be relatively effective when not fused to his eidolon?

Yar!

I'd hope (or at least, I'll be building my) characters to be effective without being synthed with their Eidolon. The premise of the adventure above (from what I've gathered) seems to be that you were originally just your non-summoner class until this event occurred, and then you were suddenly bestowed the gestalt. So it would make sense to be effective as non-synthed (otherwise, how did your character survive to get to level 12 in the first place).

Otherwise, everyone may as well dump all physical stats to 7 and use those points to up your mental stats, as they (physical stats) will never be used unless something prevents you from Synthing... and those things to exist)

Though I could be wrong, I'm not DM Jelani.

~P

You know what? I'm going to anyway. What is the point of having a soldier who can't fight?

It's up to you how much you invest in your non-synth half. I'm not going to penalize people who build their characters with the synth half in mind all along. They were selected specifically because they'd be good for this procedure. They may have been mediocre 12th level characters, but they would be excellent as gestalts. Someone like a spellcaster might just have a bad str or dex anyway. Basically, do what you want. This is a level 17 module, and I'm not going to hold back.

Everyone - One thing to note, the way I rule it, you use your character's Con score to determine your bonus HP to your class level hit dice, not your ediolon's. So it's a bad idea to dump Con. Str and dex however...-shrug- Depends on if you want to be a fish out of water if you loose your "suit". Also, you will have hero points, forgot to mention that. 3 unless you take feats for more.

Ok building a chaotic good goblin barbarian feral gnasher when I wake up. I think he will be interesting enough, and fun. Fear my bitey goodness.

Have an idea for thiss but no chance to get submission in on time

On vacation till the 17th and minimal internet till then

bummer

Oooohhhh... I got a halfling ninja in a small-sized eidelon rattling around my head. Will put some more thought to it. :D

Sounds interesting, my first thoughts are a witch.

Name: Enkidu Noneson, First Sword of Andoran
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Paladin
Alignment: LG

Working on a Dwarven Inquisitor now. Excited! Details to come.

Enkidu looks cool. I was thinking earlier someone could do an eagle-like eidolon with tons of talons and be a paladin. The smite would be wicked. I'd like to see a little more detail in the backstory though. Perhaps a few of his more important missions detailed. Were you thinking of using a shield as a weapon? Or just basing the personality off Captain America?

Does a bipedal Synthesist need the Weapon Training evolution to use weapons? Or (since they use the Summoner's feats) can they use whatever weapons they were proficient in?

They do not need the evolution, however they can take it to get proficiency in something instead of taking a feat. But you also get the proficiencies from any class you gestalt with as well. I.e a bipedal fighter/synthesist could wield a greatsword or longsword with no issues.

Eagle-like? So... take plenty of Legs evolutions and stick claws on each of them? Eh.

More important missions detailed? Hmm I'll see what I can do.

Just basing the personality off Captain America, planning for him to wield a big freakin' sword, though I'll see what I can dig up from the weapons list.

I'm interested. Let me start putting something together.

never played with one of these before, this should be interesting

What is required in regards to casting spells from summoner or other sources. Is limbs the only requirement or are there others?

This is very interesting.

My idea is an Osiriani soldier, one of the top fighters at the Ruby Prince service. The non-synthesist part of the gestalt would be a 2-handed basic fighter.
I would like for his Synthesis to be strongly rooted in the Living Monolith Prestige Class (found in the Osirion campaign booklet). I considered taking the PrC with the fighter side of the gestalt but that seems very unefficient and you promised a tough challenge.

The idea is that even as he progressed as a very skilled Fighter, he never felt ready to be judged by the Sphinxes to become a Living Monolith. Finally he died in service of the Ruby Prince, and of course, given his skill, he was considered to be raised by the Prince to become part of the Risen Guard. But at the moment of resurrection, Mariah appeared to him in sphinx form and gifted him with the Synthesist powers.

This form should be either construct-like or sphinx-like, or most likely a mix of the two.

How does that sound?

Big OM - Any synthesist can cast spells, you just need to be able to talk and gesticulate with something. Be is hoof, hand, tentacle wahtever.

Airon87 - We'll handle the gifting of the eidolon in game. But the concept seems fine. Write it up according to requirements.

Arkwright - Well, I was thinking quadruped, with maybe another two legs added on, flight (to whatever degree), large, pounce, bite II, claws x6, improved natural armor, etc.. The idea would be a fast flying pouncer, with max number of attacks. Using smite evil to get past DR and deal high burst damage. Normal damage would kind of blow against DR. It was just a thought, do whatever you want by all means :)

Would you allow Shadow blend or Shadow form from Advanced Race Guide?

Yeah, any of the evolutions on d20pfsrd.com's eidolon page are fine.

so, The Living Monolith main skill is that of becoming Large, through enlarge person spell-like ability.

If I pick the Large evolution for my eidolon, will I need to have two different sized weapons (or one size-changing weapon) for my merged and un-merged form, or will the weapon change size as I merge forms?

Since I suppose the weapon will not change size, is a size-changing weapon present in any manual?

If you have a large eidolon, you're going to want a large weapon. If you cast enlarge person, the weapon grows with you. If you've got a large eidolon with a large weapon and it gets dismissed, you can't wield that weapon.

Are Golarion specific materials allowed?

I'm thinking of a Dervish Dancer, from Qadira. Very quick, lethal strikes, darting into and out of combat.

Are older characters allowed? I'm thinking of a semi-retired character given a new lease of life through the eidolon.

Alright, depending on whether an application in another thread gets accepted I will either be applying as a tactician fighter (called shot and tactics specialist) or an unarmed fighter/rogue

Hmmmm....
I will have to consider this.

Hey y'all, I'm finding Synthesist/Eidelon attacks confusing.

You've got weapon use, primary attacks, and secondary attacks. I see:

This indicates the maximum number of natural attacks that the eidolon is allowed to possess at the given level. If the eidolon is at its maximum, it cannot take evolutions that grant additional natural attacks. This does not include attacks made with weapons.

I see that I can buy evolutions that grant either Primary or Secondary attacks (and that with Multiattack I can reduce the attack penalty for 2ndary attacks from -5 to -2). I *don't* understand if there's a practical reason not to take 5 primary attacks. Do secondary ones compete for the same 5 slots?

Next, how do weapon attacks fit into the picture? Are there any ways that an Eidilon can get > 1/round (either at full attack bonus or at -5)? As a gestalt character, do I get my other class's attacks as well (or instead)?

One more (Inquisitor-specific) question. I see

an inquisitor can imbue one of her weapons with the bane weapon special ability as a swift action.

I'm clear that this only effects one weapon at a given time. Can it be put on a natural weapon (e.g. one of my Eidilon's claws)? Or only a manufactured one?

Thanks!

And now for some flavor-related questions:

I'm working on my Dwarven Inquisitor (Witch Hunter)/Summoner (Synthesist). I imagine him taking down evil and chaotic magical menaces in the service of Angradd...until he gets "the call". I see in the intro that the call comes from an Archon of Iomedae. Does it make sense that Iomedae would be tapping an Inquisitor of Angradd's? Would it be better to make him a servant of Torag? Or Iomedae herself? (In general, I'm happy to collaboratively develop a character who'll be an interesting fit in the setting.)

Thanks again,

@gyrfalcon
Many primary and secondary attacks compete for slots- pincers override claws for example. And primary attacks tend to be more expensive (2 points for Gore). By all means try and stack up on primary attacks, it's just you'll probably end up spending points on extra arms of legs to stick those attacks on.

Weapon attacks! I'm well familiar with these. Basically you can take a full-attack action where you make all your weapon attacks at full BAB and then you make all your natural attacks, except that all those natural attacks become secondary attacks. Note that you can't make an attack with limbs which are wielding the weapon- IE you can't stick claws on hands holding a longsword and try to attack with both in the same round.

My understanding was that natural weapons counted as light weapons so... maybe? Maybe you could Bane a single natural weapon?

I have a similar question:

For the Synthesist, it says when fused, you can use all your own gear, save for armor.

Does that mean if I want to wield a weapon, I need to get arms for my eidolon, or can my weapon be sort of merged with a natural attack?

I'm thinking of making my character some sort of tiger/panther type, so actual human arms would be weird.

@Monkeygod- You'll need arms to wield your weapon. If you just want to attack with natural attacks there shouldn't be any issue with having your weapon fused to your side.

Note that you'll need arms or some equivalent to satisfy the somatic requirements of summoner spells.

Dotting for interest. Crunch will be posted shortly.

Has anyone else made any headway with their character? I'd like to look at one to see if I'm doing this right. Some of these numbers are getting pretty absurd. Granted this is my first high level synthesist, much less synthesist gestalt.

Monkeygod - Yes. ALLLLLLL Paizo. I stated several times the more grounded your character is in Golarion the better. You need arms to wield weapons in eidolon form, but not to cast spells. A paw can gesture as well as a hand. However, if you don't have fingers you can't manipulate components, so no spells with material components while fused.

Gavmania - Yeah, sure. Are you asking to use age modifiers to ability scores? That I will have to consider on a case by case.

Gyrfalcon - Primary and natural attacks both count as one "attack" for purposes of the limit on the eidolon chart, unless they say otherwise. Rake for example gives you two attacks for one slot. If you make manufactured weapon attacks in a round, you take all your iteratives based off BAB like normal, and then can tack on any naturals at -5 penalty with only half your str bonus to damage (as if they were secondary naturals). Arkwright is correct that you also need the limb/appendage free. Bane can be applied to any one of your weapons, natural or otherwise. This means if you have claws and you put your bane on them, one claw gets bane, not all of them.

Fluff wise, it's Iomedae because she's Kostichie's enemy. If your character wouldn't answer a call from an archon of Iomedae then obviously they aren't a fit for this game.

Preliminary crunch complete.
http://paizo.com/people/FalconDragorian

Still needs some additional work and fill add some background details but I'm posting it early since Ptolmaeus requested to look at one.

Preliminary crunch complete.

http://paizo.com/people/FalconDragorian

Still needs some additional work and fill add some background details but I'm posting it early since Ptolmaeus requested to look at one.

Thanks Hawk, I was getting wary about some of the numbers I was looking at. An AC of 42 and an attack bonus of +26 were giving me pause at first.

So like... how many hands do you need to manipulate material components for a spell? Is only 1 hand okay?

One hand is enough.

Question with regard to the Dimensional Assault feat. The dimension charge is based partially on your base speed; must this strictly be your land speed, or can you base it on your fly speed?

Would a sorcerer-summoner with the eidolon as a defensive measure be to weak an option?

Arkwright - Base speed is land speed.

Big Om - No, it'd be damn powerful if done right.

Ptolmaeus - Yeah, your numbers will be really high. Especially AC.

Everyone - Once your alias is finished post with it once saying its ready and I'll begin a list of applicants and review each one for mistakes. If you don't have everything I asked for in the original post I will ignore it until you do.

Tsk; that is a great pity. I'll have to buy some speed items.