Yes it WAS tough! Having Emerion's blade made of mithral was a flavour thing for me, but it proved VERY useful! You had me really worried there for a minute, I though Em was headed for a heroic death at one stage.
Hey, All -
I'm back and caught up at work. I'll catch up on the game and post tonight.
Thanks!
Excellent!
Also apologies for going AWOL over the weekend. Didn't anticipate things being as busy as they were.
Nice rolls for me, Tim! I appreciate it! Thanks, that crit was fantastic, and I was really sweating that fight.
As for Kel's hit points, Istas' healing would bring him to 30/35, with 35 being where he was with the Heroes' Feast points. Once you lose those points, can they be healed? If not, then Kel would be at his otherwise full up but meager 23 hit points.
We were all sweating that fight! It was a tough one...
Dispel Magic would be so useful here..dammit why didn't I think to take a scroll of that.
Hmmm...I actually do have that prepared as a ready spell...provided, of course, our illustrious GM didn't have Istas trade that in for a spontaneous cure spell while I was away.
I don't think i did any spontaneous curing, did I?
Resolution of the round in the Am
I don't recall one no.
Well then...I know what I'll be spending Istas' next action on... :-)
Mist blocks line of sight, not line of effect which is what spells need. As long as Heather knows we are there, I think the spell works fine.
That's RAW, and I'm allowing the haste. The question is more hypothetical or philosphical. How much control should the caster have when they can't see the target of the spell? Suppose a caster can't see and there are multiple targets in the area, some hostile? If the caster can't see how do they control who or what the magic targets?
Good question. I have always played it that if you have a means of knowing where your allies are located, you can target them even if you cannot see them. In this case Heather knew where Emerion was, and he hadn't moved (yet). There was only one person she wanted to not effect, and she had a pretty good idea of where she was.
Line of effect is confusing, because by RAW you do not need line of sight, you can be blind and still have line of effect. Conversely, you can see clearly a number of targets but not have line of effect to them because they are behind a pane of glass.
Wall of glass to divide the battlefield? Very Darth Maul.
Yow. 9th level cleric, with all the buffs up for once, (You did very well sneaking in and starting fights before the clerics could buff themselves early in crawl.) and she barely scratched you.
I ran her pretty much as written. Wellard poured in a ton of early electrical damage. Neil's dispel magic took the air walk away from her just as she was going to cast obscuring mist, climb higher, and cure up. And the melee team closed too fast for her to heal up in the pool once she was down. I took those swings at Istas because I was desperate to hurt someone in what looked like her last round or 2 of life. So depressing when the BBEG goes down with a whimper. I know Dabbler can relate.
Clever, bypassing Ramoska the vampire the way you did. I had really figured you'd charge in a blow a ton of resources on him before facing Andaisin. Of course there will be complications from that. I look forward to seeing how you deal with them.
Yep. Their are ramifications for every decision and concession that heroes grant to villains. Istas already knew at that point that Andaisin was who they needed to stop. There'll be time for cleaning up her undead minions and accomplices after dealing with the high priestess of Urgathoa. That was her reasoning at least. The greatest evil and all...
Just remember if we kill Ramoska Neil has to rewrite chapter 4 off Carrion Crown..lol
We got lucky..the fact that she could not make the saves against the lightning bolts let me do 54 points in three strikes which would be about 2/3-3/4 of her hit points..thankfully clerics usually don't have great reflex saves.Also her being in the air meant I always had a clear line of sight..she really wasted her time doing the Spritual Weapon on me perhaps she should have thought about the Obscuring Mist then..but it was in character for her to be so arrogant.
So depressing when the BBEG goes down with a whimper. I know Dabbler can relate.
Grrrr...one hit one kill from a half-giant psychic warrior, and the other one downed by a volley of powers and missile fire in round one, thanks to bad initiative rolls.
That said, we played it right, surrounding her and using superior actions to keep her off-balance. If Emerion had been in front of her, he probably would have failed his Will save as bad as Fina, for which I am grateful to my boots. I'm impressed I did that much damage to her, in fact, as Emerion won't hit his 'sweet spot' for another few levels.
As for the vampire, who knows?
Just remember if we kill Ramoska Neil has to rewrite chapter 4 off Carrion Crown..lol
I'm sure you mean Chapter 5 of Carrion Crown. I had naught to do with Wake of the Watcher... ;-)
How many of you read and remember this twist?
And thanks for tossing the derro in, Neil. Foreshadowing years in the making. Took us far longer to get here than I ever thought it would. I was thinking you wouldn't remember.
work.
Bill, read as much as you like into the debilitating sadness remark.
You know, I wasn't sure what to make of that, and am still puzzling over it. What would make Keliwyn sad would be the fact that neither his human bane rapier or the oathbow are particularly effective against this new risen monstrosity.
Kel didn't put down Andaisin. The downside to the oathbow, even this nerfed version. Debilitating depression. Skip it and try again.
Neil, Zarabeta gets the last word over Akorian.
Too funny.
You should totally have him show up at the Mayor's dinner party as another guest and "patron" of the arts just to spite her. ;-P
Well that was an extremely challenging dungeon..which isn't surprising as we were a level behind where we should have been, I really felt the lack of having 3rd level spells although the consumables did go a fair way to covering that lack but they are just that,consumable and no substitute for your own abilities.
I agree it was tough, but we did handle it rather well. I am just so glad I made that sword of Mithral.
Hopefully we will get a nice level-up soon!
I was sweating the whole last run. I haven't read the adventure through, but knew we were underleveled. The idea of facing the vampire, then the luekodeamon, then another luekeodeamon, and then Andaisin left me thinking we would take casualties . . . and then she rose again. I really expected at least one kill, and feared it would be Kel with his low hit points. All in all, I'm glad to get through it all.
We used good tactics, a lot of flanking, and a fair few good resources, and PLEASE say we can level up soon Thom! I have a feeling we have some more tough times ahead of us!
Go ahead level up. Prepared casters get no new spells until next preparation. Spontaneous casters get their new spells, but no recharge of expended spells.
Hooray..having spent over a year at 5th level I am looking forward to a slightly faster advancement rate from now on.Yes we coped there but barely.
So 6th level.Heather gets her 3rd level spell, Elemental Ray damage goes up to 1d6+3(wow)she gains her normal compliment of hit points ans skill points
Ok so she learns, Mending, Summon Swarm(from her FC bonus) and Haste.
I'd like to buy a wand of stinking cloud to continue my area control abilities but the 11250 for a fully charged one is probably way beyond me I might get a lower charge one though (10 charges would be 2250)
Purchases can be made once you're back on the surface.
Any gear from her ladyship? Emerion is searching her.
Going another level of fighter, taking Weapon Specialisation (rapier).
Question: didn't we find a headband of intellect +2 someplace Emerion claimed? Just checking as I have not written it down.
That's my recollection, Dabbler, although I don't remember where we picked it up. Maybe Dr. Davalaus?
Keliywn will go another level of Rogue, picking up Rogue Talent: Combat Trick: Combat Expertise so I can pick up the Improved Feint feat next level.
I think the headband resulted from looting Rolth's body.
And Istas will advance as a...cleric! How's that for a shocker? Actually, I suppose she'd look pretty cool if she took a level of inquisitor. Hah! ;-)
I think you should all dip a level in commoner! It will lower my paranoia level.
I'll look up Lady A's gear and post tonight.
Yes it definitely was off Rolth, I just wanted to be sure I wasn't misremembering things!
Added that, have to think about which two skills to boost later...
Let's see if I can break 30 . . .
hit points
d'oh! You gotta me kiddin' me! I'm now at a whopping 24 hp at 6th level.
Okay, so we're going to be shopping for AC items . . .
Hey, Bill, I believe Thom let us re-roll 1's in the past.
I think we can sell the scythe at least. Only Istas is able to use the breastplate, I am sure she'd like the headband/periapt too. Cloak, well in spite of wanting to bolster Emerion's Will saves, Keliwyn has worse.
I think we can sell the breastplate, too, unless it's better than the one Istas is currently wearing. The only item I'll want for her is the periapt/headband of inspired wisdom +2.
Bill, Let's see 6th level rogue at 4.5/level = 27 hp. You're really not too far off the mark. But re-roll that 1.
I like periapt of wisdom. It's more fun to say than headband. It doesn't matter to me. If you want a boring ragtag headband instead of a nice shiny glittery periapt, make it so.
Thanks for the cloak, Keliwyn could use it.
Hit points reroll
I've updated my hardcopy character sheet, but still need to update Kel's profile, and will do it tonight.
Just for my own edification, can anyone explain to me the difference, either by rules or flavor, between a nosferatu and a vampire?
You're probably going to experience the difference soon.
Istas should be able to make a Knowledge (religion) check to discuss the differences with everyone in terms of a nosferatu's special abilities. As long as she beats a DC = 10 + the base creature's CR, she should know pretty much every legend about it (i.e., abilities and weaknesses). A base vampire is at least a 5 HD creature with a +2 CR adjustment for the template. A 5 HD character (PC or NPC) would be a CR 4 + 2 for the vampire template = CR 6. A nosferatu is probably along the same lines. So, a DC 16 is probably what she'd need to beat?
So, how about letting us know what we're getting into, Thom? Then, we can have our characters discuss a reasonable strategy for this fight. At least, in terms of the nosferatu's baseline powers. Who knows what he's capable of with any class levels he may have.
I'll be honest we just survived two CR 9 fights with an APL 5 party..I'm not all that keen on our chances about surviving another encounter of the same power level..at least not all off us.
Oh, come now, Wellard. You haven't been keen on our survival for quite sometime now, especially as compared to our APL. And yet, we keep surviving. Thom hasn't steered us wrong. And, based on what I know about the AP, he's made adjustments that have kept things challenging without overwhelming us. As Istas would say, "Have a little faith." And, also, have fun. ;-)
I will respectfully point out that Heather was 2hp from NOT surviving the last encounter...
I've been holding my breath, too, Wellard. Problem is, Istas isn't going to be inclined to let him go . . .
Thoughts:
I will respectfully point out that Heather was 2hp from NOT surviving the last encounter...
And yet she did the majority of the damage we inflicted on Andaisin. Sure, it was a critical hit with shocking grasp coupled with some lightning bolts. But, if she hadn't done it, she'd likely have never become the target of Andaisin's full attack in the first place (which is what reduced her to 2 hp).
Did you also notice that Istas took only 7 hp of actual damage in that battle? That's because of all those temporary hit points Thom made sure to give us. Plus, I purposefully moved in so Andaisin would focus on Istas. The priestess has the high AC and Fortitude save bonuses to weather the Urgathoan's assault. Basically, without a "tank" in our party, I've been building Istas to take on that role for us. It's what helps keep Heather safely out of reach so she can keep dealing massive damage for us. And, it's what hopefully helps Emerion and Keliwyn achieve their maximum flanking opportunities. Plus, even if Istas falls in battle, she's got the Diehard feat and clerical abilities to put herself back together, if necessary, to rejoin the fray.
Personally, I think we took that hospice by storm. Yes, we had to pull back and recover our resources after the upper level, but we rocked the lower level. That last fight with Andaisin is meant to be an epic level encounter. Usually, that means a 50-50 chance of survival. And yet, we all survived. And, quite honestly, Heather (via Wellard) is a huge part of why. The ability to web your enemies, haste the entire party, and blast away with lightning bolt, magic missile, and ultimately use halt undead on the toughest undead creature we've faced (so far), was a game winner for us. And Heather generated all of that.
Nevertheless, we all played our roles exactly as needed. Emerion and Keliwyn did awesome with the sneak attacks. Istas blasted away the lower level undead when needed. And, even Fina chipped in by occupying some attackers here and there. But, to me, Heather carried the day. And, like any good hero, she carried the greatest risk to herself because of that. Falling to 2 hp isn't that bad, though. It would've still taken a lot more damage to totally slay her outright before Istas (or anyone else) could have pulled her out of negatives.
All in all, I stand by my words. Thom is giving us the right amount of challenge at the most story-appropriate times...and we've always lived to tell the tale.
I've been holding my breath, too, Wellard. Problem is, Istas isn't going to be inclined to let him go . . .
That, too, is the other element to this. For me to play Istas in such a way that she totally agrees to let Ramoska go would be at cross-purposes with her religion. I decided to play the encounter as focusing on the greater of the two evils first, always intending to come back and deal with the "lesser" one. We certainly have to keep track of our resources. But, in general, we're way ahead of where I thought we'd be following our encounter with Andaisin. Plus, I've still got one major trick up Istas' sleeve that she can use in battling the nosferatu. Let's see how things shake out...
But that's just my two cents,
--Neil