Variel's WotR

Game Master Neltji

I actually like the Trickster path a lot. The thing is... Zeriax is not a trickster, and even less a Mythic Trickster :D

He may be a champion, or even a Guardian at heart, but a Trickster...

Bah, what's in a name? Reiko is more of a fleet fighter than a trickster. I'm having to get creative with the Trickster abilities to make them fit her concept. The name isn't important. It's all about the build.

The truth is that the Paths are really built for the 'standard' classes and most of the less vanilla classes will take some shoehorning to work in any given path.

So very true Reiko ;)

Well, at least I think I have decided not to take Legendary Item right off the bat - maybe at a later tier, like 3 or something, if Zeriax still lives.

I have a Tiefling PFS character who is a former Szarni operative, savage Thug type. He took the Archaeologist Bard Archetype and people always look to him for advice on ancient lore while all he wants to do is kick ass...

Names mean a lot to people...

Well, I am still pondering a few options for Zeriax as we go Myhtic (if we survive of course).

Since we are getting two levels and a Mythic Tier, I am seriously considering giving him a level of Empyreal Sorcerer, and going Dual Path Champion/Archmage - I think I may enjoy that :D

What would you be doing with your casting? Cause I've found that caster level I'd, in fact, king, especially versus SR of demons

Zeriax: Sooner or later you'd prolly start regretting that move as you'll suck as a caster and your martial ability will suffer from the slow BAB progression. There is always the route Eldritch Knight however...

Well, I feel a bit silly. I give that long wheedling post about how Pakak receives the visions...
and then, mighty mage that he is (Well, will be when he levels), what's he do? Fall back and protection from evil. Not exactly high action ;)

Can't edit my profile, but I forgot my regeneration so I got 26 hp

Zeriax: Sooner or later you'd prolly start regretting that move as you'll suck as a caster and your martial ability will suffer from the slow BAB progression. There is always the route Eldritch Knight however...

In all honesty, I am considering a couple of ideas - being a caster is definitely not the main one, but... Think about it - there are several level 1 spells useful for an archer. With dual path and Archmage + Wild Arcana, I will have access to ALL of them :D

Add a dash of Arcane Archer, and I can be looking at a level 14 Zen Archer that can cast all level 1 and 2 arcane spells - sound fun as heck :D

Not sure if I will be gimping me too much, but I might give it a try.

Hey guys, the kids are hollering like crazy for some reason so no update tonight. I will try to get one before work tommorow.

Gah! The anticipation is killing me.

Kids are like that sometimes... hope it all calms down by morning! :)

Yeah, youngest one was also giving me a hard time last night until she crashed. Hang in there.

Variel, text of 'WEapon of Awe':

You transform a single weapon into an awe-inspiring instrument. The weapon gains a +2 sacred bonus on damage rolls, and if the weapon scores a critical hit, the target of that critical hit becomes shaken for 1 round with no Saving Throw.

So since Maelchar got a crit on the demon last round it should be shaken for the coming round, just a reminder.

Shaken:

A shaken character takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than frightened or panicked.

Thanks I forgot you had weapon of awe up. Will adjust and noticed at the same time that i forgot the flank bonus to the to hit. Copy and pasted the wrong stat line.

Thanks Maelchar.

Like I mentioned i am on vacation this next 10 days so this is the perfect time for RP and wrapping up any loose ends that you may want to deal with. Please Feel free to interact with any of the NPC's thus far as you now have a chance to really talk to them and perhaps learn something from them. I will be driving for the next 8 hours but will get to all of the responses tonight to keep the conversations going.

In terms of our level up... should we retain whatever damage we suffered but add in our new HPs? Or are we just 'healed'?

There is enough time that you can assume you are completely healed unless you want to RP it that you are still damaged when you talk to people. The are no random encounters or anything else between books that will affect you so this really is a free for all for you guys for the next 10 days in realy life and at least 2 weeks in the campaign.

Cool. No need to RP it since we're not going to be assaulted on our way home.
BOOM! Reiko's character sheet is fully updated.

Woot!! Checking from my phone - grats us!

And thanks Variel for a great, amazingly consistent GMing.

I am planning to get a level of monk, sorcerer, and the Champion dual path Archmage. That ok?

I'll update the alias and post later - have to work this weekend :/

Uh, you mean Wizard, right? With a CHA of 8, you can't cast spells as a Sorc:

To learn or cast a spell, a sorcerer must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level.

Empyreal Sorcerer ;)

Ah, so a Wildblooded Celestial guy, huh?

I hope that works out to be as fun as you hope, my man.

I hope so - even though I know I am moving away from the blunt (puncturing?) effectiveness of the Pure Zen Archer, fun IS the name of the game.

And I would never know if I didn't try it.

I am still wavering between Heirophant and Marshall... sadly it seems most of the Heirophant abilities seem to center around channeling and wildshaping and augmenting those abilities... not so much stuff for an oracle... I have a lot more reading to do to make any decisions.

Suggestions are of course welcome...

I guess the first question is - where do you want to go with your character, Mael? Do you want to go more combat oriented, more oracle-y, or a happy mix of both?

I don't really know yet... still doing some reading...

Well, I meant that more in how you want to play your character regardless of class or path... but read on, sir.

He's sort of a mix of martial and healer... not sure what I want to concentrate on most... was thinking of going to prc exalted, since evangelist is out (which is sad, not because it's cheesy but because it really FITS him), which would be his best choice...

or as another option, a few levels of sorc since he has a high cha and go mystic theurge. Too many choices... aaaaaaagh

I'd like some input on Mythic powers. Tell me what you like and I'll pick that up. For my Marshall order I will be taking Advance which grants the whole team a free move action as a swift action. This is awesome as it allows us to set up full attacks and flanks in the first round of combat and once Samantha reaches level 7 she can also inspire as a move action so thats a lot of oomph for a swift action and a mythic point.

As to Path abilities there are a lot of options so lemme hear your opinions. As we only start off with 5 points of mythic power and I have quite a few things samantha will use swift actions for I want to go slow on abilities that require both of these resources:

Commanding Entrance: Pretty awesome flavorwise but I lack the skill ranks to get intimidate up...

Deadly Guidance: Sneak Attack for everyone. I'm not a big fan of sneak attack as imo the amount of damage it adds is neglible when considering the movement requirements. Also we have two reach wielders we should try and capitalize on that.

Granted Stride: We all ignore difficult terrain. This can be really busted if we have access to spells that create difficult terrain. Otherwise I think this is still a strong choice.

Inspire Minions: If we get followers this would be extremely strong without it's useless.

Inspired Defense: This will add +2 to all saves while inspire is up. Imo a very strong choice as demons seem to force a lot of save or suck abilities. I read the second sentence as meaning that only the save bonus is increased by my mythic rank, if it applies to inspire in general a must have.

Lightning Performance: Would be spectacular but Advance accomplishes almost the same thing as of level 7. The free action activation might be worth it later however.

Loyalty: Obviously awesome and would be my first choice but I'm not sure we wanna go there as imo Leadership is badly overpowered.

Press the advantage: I don't think anyone of us is really crit fishing. With Enlarge Person on Samantha this could be really good though.

Resurging words: A few temporary HP per day for each of us. I'd like this more if samantha's Charisma were higher.

Tactical Genius: I'd love this if I were a raging half Orc.

There is a power for the guardian that lets you use your healing on a character that's died the previous round. So i can Loh you back to life. Heriophant also has this power . So that's one thing I could do, but I could also get REALLY tank-ey if you think you can avoid dying.

Power Attack was my plan, but Retributive Reach (gives reach for AoO's) and Combat Reflexes (4 AoOs) is looking good.

the Path ability Ever-Ready gives an extra AoO at tier 3, so I'm way less Tank-ey and can't lockdown as well.

At tier 3 there's Cage the Enemy which makes hitting with an AoO end movement for one MP, so so if I commit to tank I could theoretically lockdown a 5x5 area, hard.

I'll tinker with my level up attempts later when I get back home. Obviously, I'm going Arch mage

Retributive reach sounds awesome.

I'm pretty positive granted stride works as it's written. It's pretty nice. So what shall it be +2 to all saves or Avoid Difficult terrain?

That +2 to all saves is quite impressive, mainly when I'm guessing you'll be Inspiring Courage whenever possible.

Does it improve at later tiers?

Going up against demons and their minions... I'm thinking the +2 on saves would be useful more often and would be more of a lifesaver than eliminating difficult terrain.

And, yeah, Advance is seriously cool.

OK, I'm thinking of taking Relentless Healing, which lets me heal you even if you're dead within one round. My second choice would be to not need to eat, drink or breathe, but that sounds selfish in comparison, so I think I'll take the relentless Healing...

any other suggestions or ideas?

Zrriax, No, the +2 is not based on tier at all, but it does scale with level. It applies the inspire courage bonus against charm and fear to ALL saves.

Unless she spends an MP on it, in which she ads her tier to it as well. Which is insane!

I think I'm going Lockdown guardian and Mael is taking the power I was talking about with the heal, so I have no guilt about going on my path!

Out of curiosity, Mael, which Surge ability are you taking? Inspired Spell or Recalled Blessing?

Regarding your ability choices... Relentless Healing is very cool when things go really wrong. Hopefully, we won't need that too often. But I also think that your other choice (Sustained by Faith) is a decent choice - but not for the reasons you cited. Going without food and water is pretty specific and not something you'll likely face often. Not needing sleep is pretty handy. And the lack of breathing (at Tier 3) is nice because that generally confers immunity to gas attacks, etc. That can be quite handy. But the reason I think it's a good choice is this bit:

If you have abilities or class features that require rest before they can be regained, you can choose to regain them once per day by spending 1 hour in uninterrupted meditation.

I believe that means that with a single hour of meditation you can refresh your spent spell slots - essentially doubling your casting slots for the day and any of your daily powers. That's pretty much a win-win for the team AND you get the abilities you like.

INspired Spell for the Mythic ability. I really like Sustained by Faith, but I'm afraid if I don't take Relentless Healing, we'll need it and not have it. I can take sustained by faith later, I hope.

Just saying that I love all of the discussion about abilities and paths and options. You guys are doing well enough that you don't need any input from me. Things I am going to realize soon though...

Must take out Maelchar first so he can't bring back the dead...
Take out Samantha second to get rid of that horrendous save bonus option and the free move
Hit Garith at range to avoid lockdown sequence
Shove Zeriax in a hole (create pit spell) so he can't see anything to attack
Attach a permanent anti magic field to Pakak and hope his AC ward doesn't prevent another 12 attacks somehow.
Reiko leave to last as she won't have anyone to flank with

I think that should wrap it up for my to do list for now.

just out of curiosity, Variel... for the most part, not counting the scales, and Radiance, most of us are SADLY and SERIOUSLY underpowered re: wealth by level... any chance of rectifying that somehow when we return to HQ? I mean all Maelchar has really is a single +1 weapon he never uses, +1 armor and a +1 cloak of resistance.... I'm sure I'm not the only one in this situation.

Well, I would certainly welcome input. Though I have HERO lab which should serve as a nice crutch for all this :)

Hmmm... I assume you are taking two levels in Wizard. How do you plan to spend your level 5 feat, your L5 Wizard feat, and your Mythic feat?

As a base, I think Wild Arcana is a really excellent arcana feature for you to take. I like it better than Arcane Surge because it lets you pick any spell from the Wiz list to cast - which is great when you are confronted with an enemy/situation you hadn't anticipated... the achilles' heal of all prepared casters.

You might consider taking a Universal Path ability, not an Archmage one:

Mythic Spellcasting (Ex): You can learn a number of mythic spells equal to your tier and can expend mythic power when casting them to enhance the results. To select a mythic spell, you must be able to cast the non-mythic version or have it on your list of spells known. Every time you gain a new tier, you can select an additional mythic spell. You can take this ability up to three times. Each additional time you take it, you can select an additional number of spells equal to your tier and you gain one additional mythic spell whenever you gain a tier.

Just factor in the need to have the regular spell before you get the mythic one when adding goodies to your spellbook due to leveling up.

I'm all about the mythic hydrolic push and scorching ray!

Wow sustained by faith seems pretty stellar. Any way I can dual path to get it for Samantha? Imagine get up in the morning prepare a boat load of all day buffs (Greater Magic Weapon and Vestment looking at you there). Buff everyone up before the day starts then take a full round action and get all your spellslots back now with utility. That ability is deffo worth a feat or two...

Also I also feel woefully under equipped btw.

Working both yesterday and today :/

Pakak, I would definitely take Wild Arcana in your case.

Heck, I am even taking it in mine ;)

Wow sustained by faith seems pretty stellar. Any way I can dual path to get it for Samantha? Imagine get up in the morning prepare a boat load of all day buffs (Greater Magic Weapon and Vestment looking at you there). Buff everyone up before the day starts then take a full round action and get all your spellslots back now with utility. That ability is deffo worth a feat or two...

Sustained by Faith requires an hour of meditation not a full round but your idea is totally sound. :) You could take Dual Path as your Tier 3 feat and then select Sustained by Faith as your Tier 3 Path Ability and boom you are set.

Thanks guys. I was thinking Arcane Surge at first, but it looks like Wild Arcana might indeed be better so I'll probably go with that.

I'm not sure which feat I'm going to take, considering one that allows you to restore spells much more quickly (I forget its name) or one that allows you to bypass SR

Some spells to learn from books, at level 5...may affect my later choices.
Bear's Endurance-DC 17 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31
Dispel Magic -DC 18 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29
Magic Circle vs Chaos-DC 18 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33
Versatile weapon-DC 18 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20