Way of the Wicked by GM SnowHeart (Inactive)

Game Master SnowHeart

Affyria is fully updated now. Level 2 spells, Deception is a Tool trait, Mask of Virtue feat of damnation, +1 bluff, diplomacy, Knowledge (planes), Perception, Sense Motive, and an imp for a familiar.

GM Snowheart wrote:

I'm going to stick to requiring one of the ten provided traits, but retraining per the rules is fine.

FWIW, if I recollect correctly, by the rules the only traits you are allowed to retrain are racial traits.

In terms of how we distribute loot, I'm flexible. We might want to see what gifts Thorn has for us before we make a decision.

Interesting. That appears to be correct based on pfsrd.

Darn. So... no go? Or could I do it using the same rules as though they’re actually 1/2 a feat?

Also,
HP: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

I figured I could take the 'mutagen' talent since we seem to have plenty of healing options outside of my extracts, but if y'all think I should instead go for 'Infusion' I could do that. Or, I could replace 'improved initiative' with 'extra talent' and pick it :)

Ok ... everything should be updated. I went with "You Shall Be My Angel Slayer" and Furious Focus

Take the talents that make you smile most, Asturu. I will point out that since we are doing averaged team initiatives, Improved Initiative gives you quite a bit less 'bang for the buck' than it normally would - just food for thought. If you plan to go solo at times, it is still just as useful.

Hey Timo, there is a retraining option you might consider... you can 'train up' your HPs at a cost of 60GP per HP up to your normal maximum - as if you rolled a '10' on your second and third HP rolls.

Not bad ... I've never played with the retraining rules so I never really considered it. So 480 gold gives me max HP ... Have to see what our loot shakes out to be.

Gah! I may have made a math error, Timo. If you are retraining at 3rd then it could be 90GP per HP, not 60GP. I was thinking since we leveled up at the end, you were retraining at 2nd.

Tried posting it earlier, but the forum said 'no'. But thank you for the feedback, Price. I'll switch it out tomorrow :)

Glitchy today (and yesterday, and the day before...).

Yeah, I can't edit my profile page and for the longest time had the forum eat everything I tried to post.

Asturu, aren't Spellcraft and Knowledge skills free to use Inspiration on? With a lucky roll, you might make the DC ;).

Okay, I changed the trait to the one that gives +2 stealth and changed my improved initiative feat to 'improved grapple'. Will that be useful? Maybe, someday, eventually, but with Asturu's possible STR scores (str29 is in reach when he hits lvl4) that might be a fun and handy tool in our adventures yet to come =)

ps - I really don't mind feedback, praise and criticism on my build at all so when you think I'm messing up or missing out, feel free to point it out!

edit - you're right, but since the moment has already passed it wasn't of importance anyways :D

Aaaaaaand.... I came down with the flu yesterday. Trying to catch up on my games this morning. Will have something up soon.

hope you feel better soon... no rush if you're not feeling up to it... this applies of course to all games of yours that I'm in.

the gloves only work once per day - is that once per day per SLA (it has 2 SLAs)... or do I have to choose which one I use once per day?

Choose which one. Sorry. Was trying to keep the value roughly in line with what others were receiving.

And, on that topic... I'm not sure where you guys are in your characters' wealth as compared to where you should be for WBL. When you have a moment, let me know and if you're short I'll try to give you a true-up. I know it may be hard to put a value on the stuff I just gave you, so don't worry about trying to add that in.

Sorry to hear you got hit by autumn's greatest gift after the sniffles. Hope it passes soon!

Question: When I'm Calling creatures, will succeeding on a Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate check grant me any bonus on the Cha check? Just curious.

Ah. Good question. Given that I'm looking at something with a value in the ballpark of 300-500 gold, I'm going to say no. That would be a bit more powerful than I'm intending. That said... let's tweak the provided bonus slightly. When you've studied this for an hour, it gives you a +2 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks against devils (regardless of whether you've called or summoned them) for the next 24 hours.

@ Asturu, thanks! My husband got it last week. Fortunately, it passes quickly.

Daidalos Icarum wrote:

Question: When I'm Calling creatures, will succeeding on a Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate check grant me any bonus on the Cha check? Just curious.

Ah. Good question. Given that I'm looking at something with a value in the ballpark of 300-500 gold, I'm going to say no. That would be a bit more powerful than I'm intending. That said... let's tweak the provided bonus slightly. When you've studied this for an hour, it gives you a +2 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks against devils (regardless of whether you've called or summoned them) for the next 24 hours.

Well, it was as much of a general question as anything. If I lie to a called creature to downplay the danger of a certain task, or threaten it successfully, or convince it that it really does want to help me, does that influence the inbuilt bonus/penalty to the check the spell allows for?

As for WBL.....
*Does calculations*

Hmmm.... So I currently have

2751.21 gp in gear (most of which is in the Iron Circlet, and the rest is in my spellbook).
...Dang. How does the hat represent 2/3rds of my total wealth?
That's a bit under the projected 3,000 gp for WBL, but not by too much.

Side note: Did we ever identify the cloak from Sir Balin, and who wants it?

Well, the plus to a "Charisma check" would apply to the bargaining of any planar ally/binding spell. In that context, it's a pretty big boost and probably more valuable than I intended.

And as I think about what I'm intending the book to represent, which is the ability to convey authority on the laws of the Nine Hells, I think it's more of a social skill check rather than mere force of personality.

If anyone tried to identify the cloak, I missed it. Easy enough to roll, though.

Not like that. I'm asking if a successful social check would influence this bonus at all.

The check is assigned a bonus of +0 to +6 based on the nature of the service and the reward.

Anyway, if it doesn't, that's fine. I doubt I'll have too much trouble with the Cha checks the way my build is looking, so no big deal either way.

As for the cloak, Price rolled here and I tried a little afterwards (but didn't do so well).
Anyway.....: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18

Am I remembering correctly that Ultimate Intrigue had rules for religious conversion? If so, if folks want to make rolls on that for Timeon, there will have been ample time. Alternative, to handle it from a more traditional and narrative approach, I would say Timeon's faith in Mitra has already been broken. But now he needs a hook to make him worship Asmodeus or, at a minimum, decide that an "evil" worldview is a more pragmatic/proper one.

I can't find any rules about conversion, but I don't have the book, so it's possible my google skills simply aren't up to the task. I'll throw in a few spoilers with my next few posts, with some interactions with Timeon, my approach for corrupting him, and the like.

Converting NPCs and Cohorts to Your Faith
Source PPC:C&C

You can proselytize for your deity, using your powers of persuasion and social influence to indoctrinate an NPC in the dogma of the faith while inspiring their fealty.

Converting an NPC to your faith is similar to modifying their reaction with Diplomacy.

You can only attempt to convert NPCs who are at least indifferent toward you, though you can take time to make a hostile or unfriendly NPC indifferent, and then begin the process of conversion. The DC of a conversion depends on how many conversion steps away from your faith an NPC is, starting at one conversion step for an NPC with no significant faith who matches your faith’s alignment. For each step the NPC’s alignment differs from the alignment of your faith, add one conversion step. If the NPC already holds a significant religious belief, add an additional conversion step.

Note that servants of other faiths— including divine spellcasters who worship a deity and agents in the employ of a formal religion—normally can never be converted to a new faith. The GM has final discretion over whether an NPC will ever convert to your beliefs.

If the GM rules that an NPC can be converted, the DC to convert that NPC is 10 + the NPC’s Hit Dice + the NPC’s Wisdom or Charisma modifier (whichever is higher) + 5 per conversion step. For example, a 5th level warrior with a Wisdom of 12 and no existing significant faith and who is the same alignment as your deity has a conversion DC of 21. Each conversion attempt requires at least an hour of proselytizing, and you can attempt no more than one conversion check per week. For your conversion attempt, roll a Diplomacy check and a Knowledge (religion) check at the DC determined above. If you succeed at both checks, decrease the number of conversion steps for that NPC by one. If you fail either check, you reinforce the NPC’s existing faith and add one to the number of conversion steps for that NPC. If you fail three checks over the course of a conversion effort, the NPC rejects your faith and you cannot attempt another conversion for a year. However, if the number of conversion steps ever reaches 0, you convince the NPC to adopt your religion. Note that this does not necessarily change the NPC’s alignment.

While proselytizing is a reasonable activity for a religious adventurer, it should be handled with sensitivity, both in character and at the gaming table. Having a PC repeatedly attempt to convert NPCs who aren’t interested is likely to result in worsening their attitude toward the character, and significant effort may be required to restore those relationships. Some players may be uncomfortable with too much time being spent on religious talk, in which case a GM is free to simply treat the conversion as a skill check, without actually roleplaying the talks that allow the conversion check to take place.

Successful Conversion

Characters that successfully convert others to their faith can gain divine blessings for adding new members to their religion. The first time at each character level a PC converts an NPC, they gain a conversion bonus for a number of days equal to the level of the NPC converted. Typical conversion bonuses for various faiths, and examples of classes likely to be interested in converting, are listed on the following page. In the case of Neutral deities, the bonus may be a sacred or profane bonus as most appropriate for the PC who gains it.

Thanks Timo. Missed that.

So, what DC would that be? If he's LG, has 1 HD, and has a +1 Wis (or Cha) modifier, that would start with a DC of 27, which is doable, but barring external aid (such as Aid Another), Daidalos would need a Nat 20. Affyria would have a better chance with the diplomacy check ('only' needing a 17), but can't make the K(religion) check. Price (if interested) likewise can make the Diplomacy check on a 19 or better, but can't make the K (religion)
Best-case scenario, with Aid Anothers from four others (Price, Affyria, Kiffex, and someone else?) and buffed with Tears to Wine (+2 bonus to int-based skills- Diplomacy and Bluff are Int skills because of a trait), I can get a +17 to diplomacy and a +20 to K (religion)- which I can then make the DC 27 with a take 10. Of course, if the DC is higher than 27, I'll need to get more creative with my bonuses.

I chose myself for this calculation because, while I don't have the highest Diplomacy modifier, I'm the only one who can make the Knowledge check without external aid. So, it's possible, if tricky.

Essen Spiel is going on at the moment, so my posting rate (and size) is a bit lowered at the moment.

Timo-Couldn't you use the Iron Crown? Hiding our Asmodean allegiance is kind of the whole purpose of having at-will Disguise Self.

From what I understand, it only alters visual. They would still hear full plate clanking around while looking like a sailor and know something was up. There is also the whole being knocked overboard and drowning bit :P

Website up...

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It's annoying, to be sure. I usually save all my posts into a separate document when the website is being tricky. Still, at least it's not always down. ;P

Just got home from the vet. Had to say goodbye to a dear companion kitty today. I'm a wreck and may or may not post later. Tomorrow morning I leave on a 4 day retreat, so my posting may be spotty if at all during those four days. Please bot me as necessary... sorry and thanks.

Luke, as I said in the other thread, very sorry to hear it. Hope the next few days give you the time you need.

We've got a 13 year old pup with heart disease that we are hoping will make it through Christmas. I feel for you, Luke.

I want to give everyone an opportunity to post if they want but I will aim to have something up tomorrow morning.

Timo- Something we likely would have discussed IC would be buffing strategy. Do you want me to Enlarge you or would you rather I target Grumblejack?

Probably me, particularly on a boat. GJ is already large ... going to a 3x3 square might make maneuvering not so easy.

Okay then. That's what I'll do then.

I'm presuming that Mage Armor would have expired by now, and, unless it's the summer solstice (based off of sunset times in France, which is about the same latitude as Talingarde, going by maps of Golarion and what you said in the player's guide), it's been more than two hours since sundown. If I'm wrong, great.

Perhaps someone can help me out here:

I want to get into online PFS play, but I've never played PFS before. What I understand so far is that 1) I need to make a character by the PFS rules and 2) I'm supposed to own the books.

.. but, how does point 2 work on these forums? o_O

Also, I take it adventures will largely be a mix of combats and 'skill checks'? I'm unsure what I'd want to play so I'm trying to get a feel for it.

My understanding as far as number 2 is concerned with PbP is that no one will check if you own the books or not. However, if you take that character to a face to face PFS meetup, they may check there. I tried Organized play via PbP once (it was SFS) and found it really didn't work for me. By necessity the story is a lot a more barebones and it was really hard for me to get hooked. If I were to do it again (which for me isn't likely), I would make a character with a bit more face skills so you aren't twiddling your thumbs during the ivestigation/questioning portion.

I have run and played a lot of PFS. The scenarios are quite varied, some of them have pretty brutal combats, while others are heavy social or investigative affairs. Some of them have unique systems implemented in them, but they don't always work as well as they should, although it of course depends a lot on the quality of your GM.

Alright, thank you. I might opt for a samurai (swordsaint) as they mix martial prowess, social skills and have some lifesaving abilities.

Has anyone heard from Price? So far as I can tell, her player hasn't been online since Sunday.

Hope she is okay...

and I like online pfs play - I also play at cons 3x a year, but online gives me a chance to play between the cons too. Yeah, some of the systems work better in f2f play, but most gm's make the most of what does work online. I have a list of gm's that I will always play with and a few I'll never play with again. burn me once shame on you, burn me twice, shame on me, lol...

I should be able to bot Price tonight. Crazy day at work.

So, I’m a little confused at the elemental’s saves. Looking at the dice rolls, it looks like only one saved it’s reflex (Color Spray is Will, just FYI), but the one that actually succeeded was the one knocked unconscious? Not entirely sure what to make if it....

You’re right. The results of the saves will be the same regardless of modifier, but it’s the bottom two who failed and are unconscious.

So, would that change the damage I took any?

sorry- when I looked, my post didn't show so I did it again... yeah, so like you said, ignore the good one, sigh

Turns out to have not mattered that round. No worries. And I’m finding more and more weird s~&* is going on with the site. I still have to keep logging back in and now I can’t trust the new post notifications; they seem to go back and forth on my own posts. No idea what it’s doing with other folks’z