Septimus is many things to many people. Unfortunately none of these things are particularly positive.
back
Hello all.
Expect to see some new posts from me within the next 24 hours. : )
Hows things now Cyn? Work and Family all taken care of?
To a certain extent! Just as much workload, but the deadlines are further out. So I can take a breather for a couple days--relatively speaking. : ) With any luck we won't have the same bottleneck occurring in a couple weeks when the next deadline arrives!
How was the China trip? Everything go well?
All right, we're back in business. Huzzah!
Sorry about the delay folks. Hope you can forgive me, come back and kick some ass in Harrowstone. : )
Spells updated for Harrowstone.
Cyn, can Karrik have purchased 2 Scrolls of Shield while in town? And that would cost 50g?
Let's say you show up at Alendru's and he's so terrified that they only cost you 40 for the pair. : )
Daddy never mentioned adventurers could be this scary...
Lol. Awesome... Raj + Theron = Profit!
You just remember that when Raj wants to copy spells out of your book at 3rd level. ;P
Hey, you know Karrik's good for it.
Plus Karrik was also getting the special 'wtf is a half-orc doing in my store?!?' discount. ; )
FYI, Lem definitely has some opinions about everything, but I have a meeting after school so I probably can't get a post in for another three hours or so
No probs Lem, I will let everyone head into the Harrowstone courtyard while we wait for you. You're welcome to make retroactive posts at the house or on the road up to Harrowstone. : )
Yeah, I'm going to be on the retroactivity train as well. I expect to cover: bumping into Kendra, the night before Harrowstone, the breakfast beforehand, and the current scene.
But I don't think I'll be out of this work bind for some time yet, so it may be later rather than sooner...
Good luck with the work, Septimus. I know what that can be like!
Sorry about not being able to type up anything yesterday, had crazy stuff going on with work and last minute taxes, lol. Yea, the certain things in life...
I'll try and post something today.
I am here!
Or are you?
Hey folks, I thought I'd take the time to go over the rules for haunts, and how I will run them, so there's no (less?) confusion when you start to run into them. : )
A word of warning first--the links below do spoil some of the haunts you will come across in Harrowstone; if you'd rather not know the details or think you might have a hard time keeping player and character knowledge separate, don't click the links--or go trawling d20pfsrd for all the other haunts. ; )
Essentially, the sequence will work like this:
Sequence of Events for Haunts
1. Haunt is triggered--usually by proximity.
2. All PCs within 'range'* of the haunt get to make Perception checks to notice it.
3. PCs who make the Perception DC on their checks may roll initiative for the surprise round. PCs who fail their Perception checks do not roll initiative and may not act.
During the surprise round, the haunt acts at Initiative 10. The PCs act on their own initiatives--this is different from the Team PC vs. Team Bad Guy shared initiative rules I am employing for combat, although in this case it will simply be Team >I10, then the haunt, then Team <I10.
4. At Initiative 10, the haunt's effect occurs. It may have been neutralised by this point if a PC rolls high on initiative and delivers enough positive energy damage to neutralise the haunt before it can act. In this case, the effect simply does not occur. In the event of tied initiative, the PC goes first.
5. If the haunt is not Persistent, then it disappears when the surprise round ends. After it disappears, the haunt can no longer be damaged by positive energy.
If the haunt is Persistent, then its effects continue as described in its statblock.
6. Once the haunt is defeated/dissipated with positive energy/disperses by itself at the end of the surprise round, you gain the XP for 'surviving' the haunt. You can only do this once per haunt; no farming XP from resetting haunts! ; )
7. After a set period described in its statblock and which varies from haunt to haunt, the haunt resets and you must deal with it all over again the next time you're in the vicinity.
8. Each haunt has a specific way in which it can be put to rest permanently. You may uncover those methods in three ways I can think of--you may come up with more.
(1) You stumble upon the idea as you're exploring, in a 'hey, why don't we try this?' fashion. This is rather unlikely for most haunts; they are exceedingly specific in their requirements.
(2) You communicate with the local spirits in some way and they give you a cryptic answer you must untangle. Alternatively, as mentioned in the introduction to the rapping spirit haunt (see link below), some haunts may revert to rapping spirit haunts after they are neutralised. You may work out a communication method with these spirits--but sometimes it won't help as the spirit will just be plain angry and unwilling to let you help it.
(3) You return to town and do some more research in the Temple Archives. The DC for a research check will be 20 + the CR of the haunt. The Archives will not grant you a +4 on this roll; the information you would be looking for is simply too obscure. It does still allow Knowledge (religion) checks untrained. I will allow immediate on-site Knowledge (religion) checks at a DC of 15 + the haunt's DC to give you a hint. Given the presumed context of Theron's training as an Inquisitor in Ustalav, Theron's monster lore ability will apply.
*'Range' in this context means that in my estimation as the GM, the PC has a chance of spotting the effect that precedes the haunt manifesting. Being just outside the door to the haunted room? Sure, probably with a negative modifier (or a positive modifier to the DC, if you like to conceptualise it that way). Being in the next room? Unlikely you'll get to roll, and therefore you can't participate in the surprise round.
Visibility/Perceptibility of Haunt Effects
There are plenty of questions floating around about the ability of PCs who fail their Perception checks or who are unaffected by the haunt to see/sense what's going on. I can't give you a definitive answer as I believe the answer should vary from haunt to haunt, but I will be trying to employ common sense--most probably making decisions based on whether the haunt is affecting many at once, or just a single target.
For instance, the rapping spirit haunt can be perceived by anyone capable of hearing the haunt--anyone who is within a reasonable proximity.
But the dance of ruin haunt can only be perceived by the PC who is affected--the others see him/her whirling around the room as though dancing with air.
Who does the haunt effect?
A haunt that has an area of effect rather than a single target affects everyone within its range, regardless of the results of their Perception checks or Initiative rolls. A PC who fails their Perception check will simply suffer the haunt's effects at the same time as they see/hear/feel/etc the haunt manifesting.
What's it going to look like?
I propose rolling your Perceptions and Initiatives, that way we don't have to wait for anyone. Here's a sample, using the cold spot haunt. <puts on GM hat> Feel free to read the spoilers in the next post.
You walk into a new room. The place is full of mouldy books.
In this instance, Theron or Lem might be able to fire off a cure spell, or if they think the haunt will be survivable, perhaps they might just choose to gird their loins and deal with the effects, and then look into putting it to rest permanently later. Unless Septimus wants to upend a potion of cure light wounds in the haunt's square, he probably doesn't have many other useful actions available.
The challenge for all of us is going to be slogging through all the haunts in Harrowstone without bogging down and making the entire experience a dull one for those who regularly fail their Perception checks or have no reliable means of dealing positive energy damage. Depending on how your first few encounters go, I may reverse my original decision to disallow holy water damage vs. haunts, or come up with some other means of allowing the non-divine-caster characters to deal positive energy damage. But we'll see. If you are finding the haunts more frustrating than fun at any time, please tell me and I will see what I can do about solving the problem. : )
I am here!
Huzzah!
Or are you?
Whoa. Creepy.
So, just curious, does a Disrupt Undead spell work on a haunt? It is positive energy, but only specifically works on undead...
Edit: I'm guessing that's a no if holy water doesn't work... but then again it isn't exactly the same as holy water.
Wow, I actually kinda just assumed that it did, but that's a great question. It is one of the spells I keep memorized.
Yeah, disrupt undead will work fine. I see a distinction between holy damage and positive energy damage; holy comes from a deity, positive energy from a non-religious planar effect that servants of some deities can tap into.
That distinction may evaporate completely if we find haunts too irritating. : D
Cool, that means a good portion of the party can at least pelt the haunts with 1d6 damage per round without using spells. *checks* and hey, aside from inquisitors, anyone who can get that spell doesn't have cure light wounds. Good thing it works, lol.
/facepalm
What are the chances I could add that to Karriks spells mem'd for the day? I totally didn't even think about it
Heh! Sure; I'm not sure I really gave everyone time to adjust their spells. So adjust away. : )
FORTY SIX POSTS?
IT WAS EIGHT HOURS
Gosh guys. Active much?!
FORTY SIX POSTS?
IT WAS EIGHT HOURS
Gosh guys. Active much?!
Err...yeah...well...how about you ask me how much work I got done today. ; )
Plus, in eight hours and forty-six posts, all that's happened is that Karrik found some gardening tools, Septimus found some flowers, and Raj, Theron and Lem managed to collapse the warden's former home. But I think Raj has other plans...
Oh, I have lots of other plans...
And, per my OOC text, I'm blaming Theron for the house's collapse. Lem and I had that thing locked down. Everyone knows that Detect Magic is a heavy spell and it clearly broke the Warden's residence.
:)
I was waiting for the blame to come, haha.
I'll have to remember to use Detect Magic as a siege weapon in the future ;)
This could be an on-going joke with a lot of potential. :)
We can totally troll the final boss by all having all of us cast Detect Magic at him at the same time. We'll have to have Dragomir train up Use Magical Device so he can join in on the fun.
I had a good range of images pop through my head at that thought. I think the best one is this
I had a good range of images pop through my head at that thought. I think the best one is this
It's 4am here; I'm not sure whether watching that with the sound off (so I don't wake my wife) makes it better, or worse... : s
Rajuna-- +1 rank in Profession (Gardener)
Rajuna-- +1 rank in Profession (Gardener)
Yeah, this is some Edward Scissorhands-style stuff.
I think we should have just backed away and let the Plants vs Zombies game take place!
*is shot*
Rajuna-- +1 rank in Profession (Gardener)
The dice were very kind. I figure Raj has to get in his shots before we run into the haunts where Raj's total contribution will be saying "what the hell was that?"
farting around with my nephews plastic weapons and took to carrying a large dagger thing sideways along my back ala Dragomir... amazing how comfortable and easy to draw it was too... also pretty sneaky for fast draw and shots at ribs.
Ok... so now (assuming the 'It' comes out of the water and eats my blade) is it fair to say that there is a more than an ordinary amount of respect for Dragomirs warrior prowess and sheer damage dealing ability from an IN CHARACTER perspective?... OoC you guys know I am on a streak and it will go badly for me later...
I'm thinking all the front-liners are making quite a showing. Unfortunately -- as you say -- as soon as that luck turns, it's gonna turn HARD.
What are you re-rolling when that happens? Dibs is all but built out. :P
I totally have my Kitsune Oracle in reserve for when Theron dies ;)
Well, truth be told, I'm not sure he's a good fit for the party (and we already have an oracle), so I might have to make myself think of something else.
What happened to the good old days where you right a 'II' after your name when you die?
Lol. Or roll up your dead character's younger brother?
"No, no.. I'm Barrik. Karrik's younger brother. No, he didn't know about me. I've spent the last five years tracking him down. The more I hear about him, the more I"m amazed how EXACTLY LIKE HIM IN EVERY WAY I am. And i will avenge his death!"
Lol. Or roll up your dead character's younger brother?
"No, no.. I'm Barrik. Karrik's younger brother. No, he didn't know about me. I've spent the last five years tracking him down. The more I hear about him, the more I"m amazed how EXACTLY LIKE HIM IN EVERY WAY I am. And i will avenge his death!"
LOL