Talanor, the Bright Tower

Game Master Valjoen_KC

[ooc]

• How many essences would it take to grant Garidan's breastplate this feature?

• How many more to do away with the costly requirements--and Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat--needed to add spells to the armor?

Perhaps this last question could be balanced by one of the following:

• Adding a spell requires little more than casting it upon the armor, but once added, it is permanent. Garidan can, subject to a successful UMD check, use it once per day;

• Spells can be added, changed, or recharged by spending time and making skill checks. Weaker (low level spells) are naturally faster and easier, stronger spells more difficult and time-consuming.

• Garidan must feed the armor an offering of his own flesh (hp damage) to induce it to accept new spells; fits well with the source of the essences. Can be further expanded to allow Garidan to feed slain spellcasting--whether by class or SLA--foes to the armor, upon which it gains--depending on the open spellscribe slots available at the time--a random selection of that foe's magical repetoire.

Presumably, the spell's variable effects would be treated as if it were cast by a caster of Garidan's character level, using his Cha modifier for DCs? So to cast stronger spells, Garidan would need a minimum character level.

If spellscribed armor isn't possible, then I'll feed one essence to Garidan for a +5 bonus to [dice=Random Skill]1d4 (1: Bluff; 2:...

Interesting idea. I've never used this feature. I'd say:

1. Since you are not a spellcaster, you need one EE infused with the armor to bypass the feat requirements. This makes the armor "spell-scribable"; and

2. Then, you can add 1 EE taken from a spellcaster to add one spell known or memorized at the time of their death. This would give you one cast of this spell per day, dependent on a successful UMD. The CL, DC, etc. would be determined by the caster level & stats of the creature of origin of the EE. All limitations to spell level and caster level apply. So adding "Whirlwind" to anything but Medium/Heavy Armor or a Heavy/Tower Shield is not possible... and the UMD Check would be DC30, for example;

or

3. Additionally, a spellcaster (like Malthazir) with scribe scroll or brew potion would be able to add any spell they have to the armor once the 1st EE is infused to make the armor "spell-scribable." This would act like a scroll and disappear after the first use. Same restrictions apply as above. Since we aren't using GP for these costs, I'd likely come up with a reagent or some other material that would be required. I'd make it available but limited supply.

The winter hag knew: bleed, gust of wind, whispering wind, invisibility, lightning bolt, river of wind, sleet storm, and control winds.

Thoughts?

Thank you, Truk! Witches (of any variety -- mother/maiden/crone, guy, or non-binary ;-)) have always been my favorite supernatural creature in stories. Hags in Pathfinder with their coven magic have always struck me as so neat and evocative. So, thank you. I look forward to whatever hag themed ideas that our GM comes up with.

It looks like you will get the next Life Essence, and Niyut will be out of the running for a while.

I was thinking of using this Life Essence to grab Scribe Scroll. I asked you many moons ago whether I could copy necromancy spells into the Liber Sanguinem and you said I would need Scribe Scroll first. Is that still the case?

I also want to lean into the whole Bone magic thing. May I do a scrimshaw instead of just paper scrolls? It's why I picked up engraving tools.

As for the cost for scrolls would it be possible to use Blood Money to pay for the costs when special materials are scarce?

Interesting idea. I've never used this feature. I'd say:

1. Since you are not a spellcaster, you need one EE infused with the armor to bypass the feat requirements. This makes the armor "spell-scribable"; and

2. Then, you can add 1 EE taken from a spellcaster to add one spell known or memorized at the time of their death. This would give you one cast of this spell per day, dependent on a successful UMD. The CL, DC, etc. would be determined by the caster level & stats of the creature of origin of the EE. All limitations to spell level and caster level apply. So adding "Whirlwind" to anything but Medium/Heavy Armor or a Heavy/Tower Shield is not possible... and the UMD Check would be DC30, for example;

or

3. Additionally, a spellcaster (like Malthazir) with scribe scroll or brew potion would be able to add any spell they have to the armor once the 1st EE is infused to make the armor "spell-scribable." This would act like a scroll and disappear after the first use. Same restrictions apply as above. Since we aren't using GP for these costs, I'd likely come up with a reagent or some other material that would be required. I'd make it available but limited supply.

The winter hag knew: bleed, gust of wind, whispering wind, invisibility, lightning bolt, river of wind, sleet storm, and control winds.

Thoughts?

Sounds pretty good to me. If I'm reading this correctly, the armor could eventually have a mix of one/day and one-shot spells scribed into it (with more of the former meaning fewer of the latter, of course) depending on opportunities present themselves to Garidan.

If you're game for it, could the armor's enhancement bonus be considered when determining the maximum number of spells it can hold, along with the base AC bonus?

Also, what it Garidan wants to replace one permanent spell with a different one?

Finally, for the storm hag spells, Random Choice: 1d6 ⇒ 2 (1-2: Invisibility; 3-4 Lightning Bolt; 5-6: Sleet Storm).

@Niyut - Yes, I will still allow you to scribe necro scrolls but it will be limited to bone magic. As for Blood Money, it can work for base GP costs to create the "scroll". I won't allow it for special components.

@Garidan - I'd say no to adding the enhancement bonus to the number of spells. I'd like to stick to Paizo's rule on this. And I'll allow you to "upgrade" a spell with another EE, but not replace. So you can use an EE to upgrade to Greater Invis, but not swap Fireball for Invisibility.

When you say I can copy those necro spells into the book but it will be limited, what counts as a bone spell for necromancy? Like I have that scroll of Lipstitch can I scribe that into the book?

Or are you saying that if I want to create a scroll from a spell in the book that is not on my spells known list, then it is limited to bone magic?

@Niyut - Yes, I will still allow you to scribe necro scrolls but it will be limited to bone magic. As for Blood Money, it can work for base GP costs to create the "scroll". I won't allow it for special components.

@Garidan - I'd say no to adding the enhancement bonus to the number of spells. I'd like to stick to Paizo's rule on this. And I'll allow you to "upgrade" a spell with another EE, but not replace. So you can use an EE to upgrade to Greater Invis, but not swap Fireball for Invisibility.

Alright. Then I'm going to have think very carefully about future spell choices when it comes to permanent ones, provided that the appropriate essences are on hand naturally.

That's it then, one storm hag essence to gain spellscribed for Garidan's breastplate, and the second to gain 1/day invisibility at CL 10th for determining duration and the DC of Use Magic Device checks to activate the spell.

And secondary features from either essence before I add these abilities to Garidan's sheet?

Lipstitch sounds like the name for a band.

These boards keep logging me out, but I've posted in gameplay. I'll look at the inventory/essence end of things this weekend.

I am having the same issue.

Yes, Paizo's team of crack(ed) website coders jiggled the website and fixed it so hard it broke...

When you say I can copy those necro spells into the book but it will be limited, what counts as a bone spell for necromancy? Like I have that scroll of Lipstitch can I scribe that into the book?

Or are you saying that if I want to create a scroll from a spell in the book that is not on my spells known list, then it is limited to bone magic?

The second... your scribe scroll feat is for bone magic.

Cool. So, for example, just to be clear, I could inscribe a bone with a Cure Serious Wounds because it is on my list and that's how Scribe Scroll normally works?

Or is it that I can only scribe Bone Shaker because that's the only bone related spell I know? Because that would be of limited use.

Also, can we talk about which spells are bone magic? Is it just spells that have bone in the name? Or is it a specialized list like the Air Elemental School, etc?

No major pillow talk before sleep. I doubt this site would allow me to anyway. It's held together by duct tape, I swear.

So, how about the weather in [local area]? And how's [local team] doing this year? I understand that they're usually [good/bad/on fire/down with the sickness/fighting off Godzilla with 50 gallons of cod liver oil and the power of cheese].

Sorry for the delay. Been frustrating with the site being down... and work getting to me. I should have some time late this afternoon if a merger meeting doesn't go over 3 hours. If it does, I'll get an update in the morning tomorrow as my Friday is light.

Cool. So, for example, just to be clear, I could inscribe a bone with a Cure Serious Wounds because it is on my list and that's how Scribe Scroll normally works?

Or is it that I can only scribe Bone Shaker because that's the only bone related spell I know? Because that would be of limited use.

Also, can we talk about which spells are bone magic? Is it just spells that have bone in the name? Or is it a specialized list like the Air Elemental School, etc?

I think, in fairness, if you're taking scribe scroll as a feat, you should be able to scribe any spell you know. Any other ruling would be severely limiting.

I thought so too. My original line of questioning just concerned with whether you thought I could scribe the spells from the necromancy spells we found in the tower into the book. When I had asked you about the possibility then you said get Scribe Scroll. I just wanted to see if that were still true.

That's it then, one storm hag essence to gain spellscribed for Garidan's breastplate, and the second to gain 1/day invisibility at CL 10th for determining duration and the DC of Use Magic Device checks to activate the spell.

..Armor: Breastplate of the Swashbuckler (+1 Mithril Breastplate)

I know how I will spend my two essences.

Both will go into the robe.

The first will be that ability that we discussed earlier on PM.

The robe functions as a Shawl of Shadowy Disguise: If you choose, creatures that see you while you are in dim light or darkness are unable to discern any but the most general information about your appearance or actions. For example, they can determine your general shape (such as humanoid), as well as the gist of your actions (such as, “She was trying to break into the store”), but cannot determine your precise actions, your appearance, or any identifying information about you. In bright light, your normal appearance is revealed.

Secondary Benefit: Shadow Caul (Su): While the robe is worn, a character treats any square she is in that is in darkness as if it were dim illumination for the purposes of spells and supernatural abilities. This ability does not activate in normal light, bright light, or supernatural darkness.

The second goes into making more mirror images as the primary effect:

"Mirror Image: I'm thinking an extra +2 images per essence with an increase in the maximum image by +2 as well." -- VJ GM for reference.

..Robe: Brynderie's Silken Robe

Cool! Now I just need to figure out how to fly.

Thank you, Truk! Witches (of any variety -- mother/maiden/crone, guy, or non-binary ;-)) have always been my favorite supernatural creature in stories. Hags in Pathfinder with their coven magic have always struck me as so neat and evocative. So, thank you. I look forward to whatever hag themed ideas that our GM comes up with.

It looks like you will get the next Life Essence, and Niyut will be out of the running for a while.

I was thinking of using this Life Essence to grab Scribe Scroll. I asked you many moons ago whether I could copy necromancy spells into the Liber Sanguinem and you said I would need Scribe Scroll first. Is that still the case?

I also want to lean into the whole Bone magic thing. May I do a scrimshaw instead of just paper scrolls? It's why I picked up engraving tools.

As for the cost for scrolls would it be possible to use Blood Money to pay for the costs when special materials are scarce?

......(LE4: Storm Hag) Scribe Scroll. You can scribe any Necromancy Spells that you discover into the Libre Sanguinem Additionally, you can scribe any Known Spells on to properly prepared bones using Blood Money in place of gold pieces. Certain spells that require unique spell components will still require such components to scribe them upon the bones. (Secondary Effect) 1/day as an immediate action, you gain fly 60' (good) for a number of rounds equal to your character level. Additionally, you gain Storm Rider (Su) A storm hag is considered two size categories larger for the purpose of wind effects.

Need some thoughts from the 3 of you for your essences!

Gruskorb: 12 Essences (11 Ethereal/1 Earth) & 3 Life Essence
..Unassigned
....(EE5: Bone Golem) - Saving
....(EE8: Gnoll Commander) - ??
....(EE9: Gnoll Priest) - ??
....(EE10: Storm Hag) - ??
....(EE11: Storm Hag) - ??
....(LE2: Gnoll Slayer) - ??
....(LE3: Gnoll Priest) - ?? (Secondary Effect)

Malthazir: 12 Essences (12 Ethereal) & 3 Life Essence
..Unassigned
....(EE11: Storm Hag) - ??
....(EE12: Storm Hag) - ??

Truk'tosh: 12 Essences (9 Ethereal/1 Fire/1 Earth/1 Water) & 2 Life Essence
..Unassigned
....(EE8: Storm Hag) - ??
....(EE9: Storm Hag) - ??

Cool! Now I just need to figure out how to fly.

Read my thoughts, eh?

I am pretty magical!

Are you still considering how my other Life Essences improve?

Garidan Vissir wrote:

That's it then, one storm hag essence to gain spellscribed for Garidan's breastplate, and the second to gain 1/day invisibility at CL 10th for determining duration and the DC of Use Magic Device checks to activate the spell.

..Armor: Breastplate of the Swashbuckler (+1 Mithril Breastplate)

....(EE10: Storm Hag) Spellscribe Armor. (Secondary Effect) The essence of the storm hag grants you a +2 to acrobatics and stealth.
....(EE11: Storm Hag) Cast Invisibility 1/day at CL 10th for all effects and determining DC for UMD.. (Secondary Effect) The essence of the storm hag grants you the ability to strike a harder blow upon your opponents. 2/day, you may temporarily gain the Vital Strike feat for a single round.

Oooooo, neat!

Vital Strike is situationally very powerful. So twice per day is about as often as you might need it.

Vital Strike is situationally very powerful. So twice per day is about as often as you might need it.

Oh, it wasn't a complaint, by no means! I actually thought about Vital Strike and the follow-up feats for Garidan's build, but then found Circling Mongoose and went with that instead. But for occasions where a single attack is all he can make, and it absolutely has to count, this'll be great!

The only shame is that ripostes aren't considered attack actions, so no Vital Strike for those :p.

I didn't think you were complaining. I was just opining my thoughts on vital strike. :-)

I am pretty magical!

Are you still considering how my other Life Essences improve?

....Life Essences:

Yep, was working through one thing at a time.

But I will be honest, I'm most enthused about the opportunity to get some use out of Garidan's UMD. With the way wands and staves work in this campaign, there aren't a lot of prospects left to start with, and our party has somehow managed to cover just about every source of scrolls too :D. Further, there aren't a lot of permanent items that need UMD to be coaxed into working either; the Ampoule of False Blood is about the only one, and it's a border case at best, very much subject to GM discretion as to whether or not it works.

Garidan, I plan to make you some scrolls. There have been more than enough times that I wished that you or Gruskorb could cast a spell off of a scroll for me. Malthazir is powerful, but he doesn't always closely read what's posted or do due diligence as a back up healer. Given enough time, I can make you any wizard spell 3rd level or lower by using the Arcane Enlightenment hex, or any spell off my list, or any of the spirit magic open to the Shaman spirits of Life, Lore, Ancestors, or Fire (those spirits that Niyut has a connection to.)

If you want to give me a list of spell in order that you would like, I can start making them for you.

I mean, they will be carved bone, but Garidan shouldn't mind too much. :-p

I mean, they will be carved bone, but Garidan shouldn't mind too much. :-p

Considering what I have in mind for that Ampoule of False Blood trick, no, a few bits of carved bone wouldn't squick him out at all. Besides, from a logistical standpoint--which our obsessive little swashbuckler is very much aware of--paper and parchment for scrolls isn't in great supply anymore. So using what there is an abundance of only makes sense.

As for these spellbones, go ahead and crank out whatever you feel would be useful. I assure you, Garidan won't be picky in the least :D. Because it does rely on a skill check, though, it shouldn't be anything that needs to be cast or we're all screwed; more along the lines of "Hey, if you can decipher this, it'd be really useful if you could cast it at such-and-such moment." Effectively, I'm giving you carte blanche to make Garidan a utility mule for all those little spells you might want to cast, but can never quite justify spending a daily slot on; that's pretty much exactly what I got the skill for, after all.

Well, unless you want something specific, I won't bother making you scrolls until we have more down time. I need to spend this rest butchering those hags and researching that ritual.

I think at this point Truk is saving his ethereal essences for some effect that makes his ranged attacks usable.

Emulating the belt of hurling was the original plan which I believe requires four ethereal essences but that number might be slightly off given that a chunk of that cost comes from an enhancement bonus to strength (which isn't a think in this campaign, correct?)

The Erastil issues is easily changed to Ralloryss. He's the deity to farmers and agriculture. I'm still writing him up. But you don't need to worship him, so it's all good.

We could alter it to be about throwing your axe. You would need an EE for each of Throwing and Calling. We'd need to alter Master Archer and Imbue Arrow. Garidan's are a good start but I'd like to review the feats a little more. I'd be good with either a feat to grant wisdom to range attack or 3 EE's (14,000 gp item) for the ability like the belt of hurling being added to Morgrym's Holy Symbol. Since its thrown, strength would apply to damage, I'd probably allow Power Attack to apply since it just sounds cool to have Truk hurling his axe just to have him recall it, Thor-like.

I would like to point out that searching for the term hurling brought up this response.

I recall the exchange. I was repeating the question in hopes that the GM would change his position. =P

If Truk'tosh saves another EE to emulate the belt, does he get everything from the belt (including the +2 bonus to strength)?

I'm still not wanting the ability bonus since 1 LE grants +1... 3 EE's granting a +2 and additional benefits is a bit out of whack... and it opens the door to other items enhancing stats.

However, removing the enhancement bonus should lower the cost as you noted before.

So, here is my proposal. 2 EE's enhancement to Morgrym's Holy Symbol to allow Truk'tosh to use Strength instead of Dexterity when making ranged attacks with thrown weapons. Additionally, the range increment of any weapon thrown by the wearer gains a +10-foot bonus.

Also, if you ever take Power Attack as a feat, it will apply to your axe... or you can always add another EE to Morgrym's Holy Symbol for an effect similar to Power Attack to thrown weapons.

That sounds good. Truk's two EEs will go to imbuing Mortrym's Holy Symbol.

..Item: Morgrym's Holy Symbol of Mylesar (Wound-wire Ram Skull)
....(EE8/EE9: Storm Hag) Grants the use of Strength instead of Dexterity when making ranged attacks with thrown weapons. Additionally, the range increment of any weapon thrown by the wearer gains a +10-foot bonus (Secondary Effect) Storm Strike (Su) 2/day, as a swift action, you may call upon Mylesar to gather the power of the storms and make a single attack with a weapon that is predominantly made of metal. Such an attack deals an additional 1d6 points of electricity damage per 5 character levels.

@Truk'tosh - Are you still considering levels in Hintlander. I was rereading about the prestige class and have a few thoughts, but didn't want to spend much time on it if you have changed your mind.

@Malthazir and Gruskorb - Still have some EE's ( and lots of them in Gruskrob's case) to imbue. What are you wanting to do?

Yup. I invested quite a bit into ranged attacks for it.

For names, I went through lists of water related spirits. I really like Apam Napat, which translates to son of water/grandson of ice. Or Nethuns who was the Etruscan god of wells. Do you like either of those, if so I can put up a naming post

The latter works. Go for it.

I hope you don't mind that I have us walking. I am eager for the story to continue.

Going to enact a Gruskorb-summoning. Let's see if it works!

Monotreme.

Monotreme!

Monotreme!!!

I think our wizard wandered off in the night never to be seen or heard from again. I mean it's the only explanation for not posting in over a week. At some point you have to call off the search party and admit to yourself that little Timmy is never coming home. :-p

In Timmy's case, though, they never did check the well. Of course, it was covered, and the dog never showed a single sign of interest in it. Pity they never noticed the bite marks on the edges, as though something had dragged the cover into place using only teeth...

Haven't heard from Gruskorb in about a week and not from Malthazir in two weeks. I've checked some of their other characters and Gruskorb doesn't look to have posted anywhere since 10/30 and Malthazir posted on a couple of other characters on Nov 1st.

I sent each a private message. If we don't hear from them in the next 24 hours, I'll move the 3 of you along in the story and have you guys bot them for now.

I was under the impression the site was still down; I logged in yesterday, had some dinner, and was logged-out before my tea afterward. Before that, I saw goblins aplenty.

My assumption is you are the authentic people and not some web technician prank.

Perhaps Garidan's ritual cut through the ether to banish the web bug.

Well f%&! me, it looks as though that ritual did do something! It was meant to summon Gruskorb, and look who just rolled in with a post.