cynarion's Carrion Crown PbP
Game Master cynarion

Nah, just got some uppity players who haven't been scared witless in days. :)

If you want to be real mean, make it a Animated Rusty Dagger Swarm, and have anyone hurt by it contract some tetanus-like disease.

Wow, too much evil on the brain latelty, methinks.

Rose Springdawn wrote:

I'd appreciate no more scythes please :)

Now a dagger. Unless it was lots of daggers. Like an Animated Dagger Swarm.

Okay keep the scythe.

XD

... I am absolutely going to create an Animated Dagger Swarm. That has 'win' written all over it.

Animated Dagger Swarm = worst thing ever. D:

Well, you can all blame Raj for my future evil ideas then. ; )

Ooh, an adamantine animated dagger swarm... : D

But Adamantine doesn't rust, so you don't get the disease fun.

Oh oh, but what if it had some form of poison available. Then it could inflcit poison too. And being adamantine, you could even say it damages armor, like make a reflex save, fail for half damage and armor gains the broken condition. Broken armor that fails is destroyed (or whatever's next). Save for half damage and armor is okay.

Not to mention it has hardness 20 and an AC of 24. : D

I was actually thinking an Animated Shadow Dagger Swarm... so they get that nice STR drain. And when you hit 0, the visual would be all of the daggers plunging into the hapless character's major and sucking the life from him. Not to mention that Shadow Dagger Swarms would be hard to see in a dark crypt...

Cuz, ya know Undead Swarms is FUN!

Yeah, an undead swarm is what chased my 8th level magus off. Yech.

###

All right, serious question: how much does everyone want to play it safe? You have one longsword remaining; I worry that if I bust out two more of these things they might overwhelm you. And at first level you're all rather fragile with your single hit dice and all.

I had already planned a third object (a halberd, as I mentioned earlier) in case you busted this encounter open really quickly. I can throw in another one (which will be a morningstar) if you're keen on a stiffer challenge.

Let me know. I will kick off Round 4 later tonight.

Of course I can only speak for myself, but.

BRING IT ON!!

What's the fun of playing it safe. I mean, I'll come back at least ;p

Maybe the Halbard... as you did plan to bring it in in the first place - not sure on the morning star.

I sometimes wonder if these will be our 'bridge too far'. 8-12 hps isn't much and all it takes is a lucky hit.

I'm with Rose - bring the pain. We may get knocked out but it's unlikely you'll kill any of our characters with a single blow. Since the possessed weapons might reasonably switch to a new target when someone drops, you can easily spare the unconscious ones.

I'm pretty sure that Karrik's player would vote the same way.

So, if we were playing the original DOOM game, I'd set the difficulty level to "Hurt Me Plenty". :)

So that's two votes for and half a vote against...? Will see if we get a couple other votes through before springing it on you. Plus my kids aren't entirely settled in to sleep yet. ; )

Bring it on--Desna protects us. :-)

I'm pretty sure that Karrik's player would vote the same way.

Raj is right. I like to boogey; I like to get down.

Or -- as Morpheus said it -- "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

(Well, okay... maybe not as hard as you can ... bu you get the point.)

Hey, we can always ru-I mean, beat a tactical retreat - if needed, right?

All right, done. But not until the morning. Bit sleepy now. : )

Long fight. Need Defense. Break the Sword.

Long fight?!? It's been 18 seconds! ; )

Hey, that's longer than the other fights have gone. :)

But more to the point, in low-level Pathfinder (and from what I read/see in real life -- i've never been in a real fight myself) the momentum and pace of a fight is generally established very quickly… with only really masterful or surprising combatants able to turn things around.

Obviously this turns around at higher levels in Pathfinder, where more options and ever-growing hp pools give players and DMs the opportunity to react to particularly devastating attacks/spells.

Plus, what Karrik meant (but only had the length of a thought to think) was that the fight had the real potential to drag on -- which only increases his chances of getting hit. So more defense is warranted. It's the reason he didn't resort to the Shield against the skellys or the flying bone-thing. We overwhelmed it too quickly. :D

Yeah, the only serious fight I've ever been in (which was in the schoolyard) was over well before 18 seconds were up.

: )

Since I'm not giving you fine folks anything to do with your Thursday, how about you recount some of your memories of the nastiest trap you've ever seen a DM/GM pull?

That, and I am on the lookout for a soundtrack to go with this battle now. Suggestions more than welcome. : )

Louis' Revenge - Interview with a Vampire sound track.

The Choppy music and dramatic fight tempo matches it.

Rose, nice move tanking their AoO with your beastly AC. I've been wanting to get over to that executioner's block for a few rounds now, but didn't want to get ginsued. ;-)

It's a trick I use on my Lore Oracle in my home game. It's a pretty melee heavy group, so I spend all my cash crafting myself good armor and defensive items, use a heavy shield. Cast shield of faith, 32 ac at level 7. Helps with the dwarven barbarian with a 19 ac...

Of course the last group of giants we fought did seem to have Combat Reflexes for some reason. I wonder why.

Ok - today is one of those days that in NONE of my pbp games am I able to get a good number out - that said? I had a HUGE win at work today so virtual champagne for everyone!

Dragomir with the holy relic? Legitimate. Walter can go hide (and bleed) now that hardness isn't going to be an issue. Unless it is. I got 4 more of these. Who wants some.

Yeah, well, Pharasma is honestly more of a help-those-who-help-themselves kinda goddess. No freebies. ; )

Rose, I take it the giants also all had abnormally high Dex scores? ; )

One managed 3 AoOs. I'd call that abnormal for Huge creature.

Yup. That one must have gone to circus school.

I don't see any reason you can't use it...unless I'm missing something?

Voices = Haunted --> Mystery

Without the voices, I might not be haunted, and I might not have a mystery. See what I mean?

Ahhh, I got it.

No, the voices haven't gone away, they've just been cowed momentarily. That's how scary that voice was. ; )

Without the voices, I might not be haunted, and I might not have a mystery. See what I mean?

It could be an interesting twist if the only moments of absolute inner quiet Walt knows are in hairy combats because those are the only times when his voices go completely silent. He could come to welcome combat as 'peaceful' moments.

So, I was about to ask Walter what he was going to pick for his third 1st level oracle spell to make sure we didn't both pick the same thing, and then I realized that he doesn't get one at level 2. It is so weird that at level 2 an inquisitor knows more spells than an oracle, lol.

I think Oracle's get a mystery spell automatically, though, at level 2.

And humans can use favored level bonus for an extra spell known (though I guess that'd have to be 0th level for level 2).

...how about you recount some of your memories of the nastiest trap you've ever seen a DM/GM pull?

I really can't think of a truly exceptional one. Mostly, I've fallen in with DMs who didn't use fiat to create elaborate deathtraps (i.e. - the cubed force-wall oubliette suspended in a magma chamber guarding the MacGuffin in a trapped box that can mystically vanish the force cube). Rather, they created traps within the limit of what the BBEG could reasonably make and they were usually paired up with environmental and monster hazards.

And humans can use favored level bonus for an extra spell known...

I didn't know this! :)

I know oracles and sorcerers get that. I believe that inquisitors too, but would have to look it up. It's one level lower than highest level castable spell though.

Eeeeexcellent. :rubs hands and laughs maniacally:

Sigh. Thanks Rose.

Jayse, "I hate mages."

;p

Found it on d20pfsrd:

Human Alchemists can add a new Formula.

Human Bards, Inquisitors, Oracles, Sorcerers, Witches, and Wizards can add to their spell lists.

Wow.

Sigh. Thanks Rose.

Jayse, "I hate mages."

:D

I know oracles and sorcerers get that. I believe that inquisitors too, but would have to look it up. It's one level lower than highest level castable spell though.

I always forget about those extra spells XD Inquisitors don't get domain spells though, just the domain powers.

Welp, Septimus is going to kiss those extra skills and hit points goodbye. It's all formula all the time for me!

I personally wouldn't do it for a witch/wizard/alchemist/magus. They can still learn spells the old-fashioned way, and with two magus's in group, I'm sure there's some overlap. Just my opinion though.

Welp, Septimus is going to kiss those extra skills and hit points goodbye. It's all formula all the time for me!

Is there really a point to getting the extra formulas? It isn't like there is a limit to the number you can learn, so it just saves you a little gold unless I'm mistaken.

I never really understood why they made a favored class bonus which gives wizards, witches, and alchemists extra spells/formula.... they aren't spontaneous casters.

Yah, the benefit is lost for non-spontaneous casters.

I guess it would depend on the campaign. If you've got a dickish DM who has every BBEG's spellbook suddenly explode when the guy dies and makes all casters jealously guard their spells... I can see where you might need that option. I've known a couple of DMs like that.

So, I think my spell choices for level 2 are going to be one of the following: hide from undead, magic weapon, or weapons against evil.

Though about getting detect undead, but I think in most cases I'll simply be able to use my level 2 detect evil.

I had a friend of mine (Wizard) go for an entire level without a spellbook. He ended up putting on a mithril shirt, picked up a crossbow, and proved to be pretty effective comparatively.

But he got his book back and then some afterwards. Plus it was his fault he lost it.

I have to tip my hat to your friend, Rose. I've run into the caster player who literally stops doing anything once they are out of spells too many times. "Sure I've got a dagger but I'm not great with it... so I'll just stand in the corner."

I'll roll with the In-It-To-Win-It player who will have his Wizard slug it out with a rock when his spells are gone every time. :)

So here's a devil's bargain... the Human Favored Class alternative for the Rogue (i.e. Raj):

"The human gains +1/6 of a new rogue talent."

So... 6 Skill levels / HPs for a Rogue talent... eeesh.