Since it looks like we will not finish due to work and stuff, I’m going to go ahead and talk about our testing of the psychic.
We wanted to try something we’ve been meaning to do, the super fighter team, focusing on making a fighter the best they could be. We had a fighter (obviously), bard, eldritch trickster (divine) rogue and an infinite eye psychic. We were going to try multiple levels but only did level 1, and only 1 session at that.
General comments: Super-fighter was super-effective, at least at this level. At one point the fighter could crit on a 7, for 6d12+17! Granted, it was against a zombie shambler, but still. Even the rogue was seeing good results and they weren’t the focus.
Psychic comments:
We went with spell attack for the mental scan roll. Cooperative Nature is very strong with mental scan, maybe too much so, especially with the cooperative soul follow-up. It makes humans the go to choice for psychics.
The psychic chose mage armor as their one spell per day so it would have the biggest impact. They said that they would probably never cast true strike and hated that it was required. They requested maybe object reading as an alternative. Not sure about that one. Home game I’d allow it.
They never amped detect magic, and only amped guidance once, which turned out not to matter besides taking a 10 minute refocus to get the point back. Hopefully there will be more options to use amps when the book comes out. On another note I never realized guidance and aid stacked before which is nice to discover.
While we only did first, the psychic was underwhelmed by the feat options. They said in an actual game most class feats would be used for archetypes.
Combat was very samey. Amp mental scan a target and TK projectile or daze, depending on what the results say. Partly because the fighter was wrecking everything.
For something called infinite eye, their perception was pretty bad, tied for lowest in the party. Not a big deal, but was mentioned.
Overall feeling is that with a little tweaking psychic will be in a good place but not quite there yet.
Elementalist water sorcerers get produce water instead of the produce flame cantrip. Is this water drinkable and how much is produced per casting? Since it does persistent damage on a critical I assume the water keeps bludgeoning the target so the water must stay around at least for a while.
Armed Fortitude states "Your proficiency rank for heavy armor and shields increases to expert, and your proficiency rank for Fortitude saves increases to master".
Does anyone know what the key attribute is for Bardic Lore? I assume it is either Intelligence or Charisma, but I can't find anything in the rule book.
Since the full round by round description runs for multiple pages, I will sum up and just include the comments. Please let me know if you want the full description of each and every action by the players.
First thing. All the players had fun. Yes, they had issues with some things, but overall they enjoyed the first adventure enough that they were willing to do the next chapter. So good job there.
The group consisted of a axe and board dwarf fighter, a halfling rogue, an elven wizard (conjurer) and a human cleric of Saranae.
Dwarf Fighter:
The Fighter went str 16, dex 16 and wore chainmail, so with a raised shield his AC was 20. This saved him multiple times, especially on second and third attacks. Also, shields in general were much more important than I thought they would be (both the fighter and Cleric used shields). Also, add a shield boss, it's worth it. He wanted ancient blood, but felt the resonance penalty was too much so took Hardy instead. Having someone with darkvision in the party was really helpful. He chose Sudden charge as his feat, but he never really used it due to the small space and said that another feat would have been better.
Halfling Rogue:
The Rogue chose as her ancestry feat weapon familiarity, originally for the filcher's fork, but her halfling sling staff became the weapon MVP. That thing was nasty. She looked over the rogue class feats, and declared that she didn't want any of them until 8th level, so was going to multiclass into wizard next (she wanted sorcerer, but since that wasn't an option...) Consequently, she had an Int of 16, which meant that she had practically every skill in the game. She said that the stupid door which took 16 rolls to open was unfun. She was also the only person to hit dying state (twice), likely because she didn't use a shield.
Elf Wizard:
Summoning is still strong. In fact, the animated broom was broken, and was pretty devestating against the giant centipedes (with the augmented summoning it was AC 15, Hardness 3, +8 to hit for 1d4+dust, and immune to practically everything). The fire beetle vs the goblins in room A7 was also pretty good, what with the dazzle effect much stronger in PF2. The wizard's only real complaint was the fact that it took him forever to find the single cantrp for conjuring, and it was tanglefoot. (He had to check every single cantrip, since the school wasn't listed in the spell list.
Human Cleric:
The group wasn't sure how they would have survived without the Cleric's channel energy. She was torn between Emblazen symbol and Healing hands, and choose the symbol, which was definitely the right choice. Being able to cast while holding both scimitar and shield really helped. She did ask why if wizards got bonus spells from schools why clerics didn't get bonus spells from domains. She also wanted better cantrip options. She cast Daze a lot. (Which did help the rogue and her sling staff of doom, admittedly.) Magic Weapon is an amazing first level spell.
GM comments:
I needed to prepare a lot more than I did. I spent too much time flipping between the adventure, the beastiary and the rulebook. Definitely copy over the monsters being used, as well as any spells they use. Shields kinda trivialized a couple of encounters, especially the Quasit fight (they couldn't break the hardness even when they did hit, so their poison never came into effect.) Speaking of poisons, the poison listing in the index goes to the alchemist section, not the rules under afflictions. The group never used resonance, so it never came up.
Rules questions:
The ooze attack in A1 was 1d6 bludgoning +1d4 acid. How should that interact with shield block? I ruled the damage combined for overcoming hardness but am not sure if that was correct. I also ruled that filth wave could not be blocked, but I could see it going the other way. How does Healer's Blessing and the 3 round heal spell interact? The rogue at one point was at dying 1 and got into with a burning hands spell. I couldn't find any rule about it, but I did not allow him a reflex save, so he went to dying 2. I hope that was correct.
Tracking:
(I included both GM and Players tracking)
GM
1. How long did it take to play this part of Doomsday Dawn (not counting preparation or character creation)? 5 hr
2. How long did it take to prepare this part of the adventure (time spent reading, gathering materials, etc.)? 4 hr
3. How many sessions did it take for you to play through this part of the adventure? 1
4. How many Hero Points (in total) did you give out during this part of the adventure? 1
5. How many times was a player character reduced to 0 Hit Points during this part of the adventure? 2
6. How many player characters were killed during this part of the adventure? 0
Players (Fighter/Rogue/Wizard/Cleric)
1. How long did it take for you to create (or update) your character? 2-3 hrs
2. How many times was your character reduced to 0 Hit Points during this part of the adventure? 0/2/0/0/
3. How many times did your character reach 0 Resonance Points during play of this part of the adventure*? 0/0/0/0
4. How many times did your character critically fail the check while overspending Resonance Points during play of this part of the adventure*? 0/0/0/0
5. How many times did your character run out of spell slots during play of this part of the adventure*? 0/0/1/1
6. How many times did your character run out of Spell Points during play of this part of the adventure*? 0/0/0/1
7. How many Hero Points did you use during this part of the adventure? 0/0/0/0
Question: Can players use crafting to reduce the price of objects during character creation in the playtest? What about if they have Alchemical or Magical Crafting?
Below is a list of all of the healing classes and methods of healing ranked from best to worst, at least in my eyes.
Cleric:
By far the best healer in the game. Channel energy allowing you to use your max heals 3 + CHA times a day, along with the variou spell slots allows for a goodly amount. If you choose a goddess with the healing domain (which means Pharasma or Saranae currently), Healer's Blessing and Healing font especially (use your spell points to heal) adds even more healing. Healing hands adds an extra 1d8 (2d8 at 10th) to targeted heals. Sadly, Paizo got rid of spontaneous heals, so if you want to use the spell slots for healing.
Paladin:
Paladin, you say? Ranked just below cleric? Yes. For one reason, lay on hands and channel life (turning your spell points into full heals). Hospice knight is good until you get channel life, but be sure to retrain it afterwards. Mercies are nice to get rid of status effects, although not as well as a divine caster. That said, you could multiclass into cleric eventually to get actual spells, and if you want to be the main healer you will want to.
Sorcerer (Divine or Primal):
The choice between sorcerer and drud was close, but eventually I went with sorcerer being the slightly better healer. The sorcerer can be the main healer... eventually. Both Divine and Primal has heal on its list, and sorcerer edges out druid simply because of the spontaneous heighten. Thus, unlike druids, sorcerers don't have to fill their spell slots with heals to use them. I would choose Primal over divine, just so that you have actually useful cantrips you can use.
Sorcerers do have one advantage over cleric, however. Sorcerers have the class feat Wellspring Spell, allowing a 20th level sorcerer to cast up to 5th level heals all day, every day.
Druid:
Druid does get heal on their spell list, so they can heal. The big issue is since they are prepared casters, they have to actually choose their heal spells at the beginning of the day, so are much less flexible than the sorcerer. The reason they are close to sorcerers is the plant druid ability of goodberry, adding extra healing (although not much, admittedly) per day. The druid aso doesn't get much class feat support for healing, although like sorcerers at 20th they do get unlimited heals wth Leyline conduit.
Bard:
In most ways as far as healing is concerned Bard is a worse Sorcerer. They don't get heal, they get Soothe, which works like heal, but not as well. They do get the heightened spell and at 14th they can take Soothing Ballad, which helps, but in general the sorcerer is a better healer. However, bards are the superior buffing class, so if you want a class that buffs and heals as a secondary ability, Bards might cover your healing needs.
Alchemist:
As a main healer, Alchemist is at the bottom of the heap. Yes, an alchemist can create elixirs of life, but they heal d6 vs d8 for the heal spells. If you don't want to spend bunches of gp (see items below), they also cost resonance. Worse, they cost the alchemist resonance to make, and the user resonance to drink. Since your primary class feature (bombs) also takes resonance, along with any invested items you are wearing, you won't have that much left over for those elixirs. Very few of your class feats work with elixers of life, and the few that do requires you use quick alchemy. I'd advise against using an alchemist as the primary healer.
Multiclass Cleric:
You can attempt to supplement your healing abilities by multiclassing into cleric. This will take a lot of feats, and for non-healing classes will not make you a primary healer. The first feat, cleric dedication doesn't even get you the heal spell, just a couple of cantrips. Once you take Basic Cleric Spellcasting, you will get a first level spell slot at 4th, a second level slot at 6th, and a third level slot at 8th. So, that is 1d8+wisdom once at 4th, and at 6th a single 3d8+wisdom. At 6th you can take Basic Dogma to get healing hands for an additional 1d8. At 8th, you can take Divine Breadth to get 1 more spell slot not counting your 2 highest spell levels (which at this point means 1 cantrip and 1 first level spell). Expert cleric spellcasting at 12th gets you a 4th level slot at 12th, a 5th level slot at 14th and a 6th level slot at 16th. Master level spelcasting at 18th gets you a 7th level slot at 18th and an 8th level slot at 20th. So if you are willing to sacrifice all of your class feats except your 10th, 14th, 16th and 20th, you can almost be a marginal healer. Note that if you are primary spellcaster, you don't get a 12th or 16th level class feat.
That said, if you are a Paladin or primary caster and are trying to supplement your healing, it might be worth it. In addition, you do get to use divine spellcasting items.
Item Healing:
This option is for those without another source of healing or to help relieve the pressure on the primary healer. Note that this option is expensive and costly in terms of resonance.
First off, thanks to resonance, you will be wanting to use the highest healing you can afford. There are five sources of item healing: Elixirs of life, healing potions, scrolls of heal, wands of heal and a staff of healing.
Elixirs of life is usually the worst deal since they only heal d6 damage instead of d8 damage of the other methods. However for alchemists or those with alchemical crafting, they can often be created cheaper and easier than others, significantly saving money.
In PF2, potions and scrolls cost the same amount, so the big difference is who is paying the resonance cost. (Potions, the user pays, scrolls the caster pays.) Wands now only have 10 charges, and the price savings per cast is marginal, so they are not as good a deal as before.
Staffs of healing, on the other hand, are very much worth it. They can be recharged and most importantly, the user can sacrifice a spell slot to cast from it instead of using charges from the staff (use still need to use resonance). For prepared casters, this allows them to memorize spells other than heal in their spell slots.
Medicine skill:
A brief menton of the medicine skill. The only way you can use it to heal others is if you have the skill feat battlefield medic. This allows you the chance to heal 1d10+Wis HP once per day (2d10+Wis on a critcal success). Note that the DC to do so is 20, and healer's tools do not help. Interestingly, it looks like they aren't needed either, or at least they are not listed. This is almost certainly an oversight, so expect this to be fixed. Master of medicine gets 2d10+wisdom with a DC 25 check, and Legendary gets 4d10+wisdom on a DC 30 check.
The big issue is that if you critcally fail, the subject loses 1d10 damage. This means it makes it much less of an option at low levels. Since it is currently only once per day per person, this means a party could not rely on it as a primary source of healing.
If I want to play a fighter and take the gladiator background, it gives the skill feat "Fascinating performance". What happens if I don't take Perform as one of my few trained skills?
I have a player who wants to try Kinetic Chirurgeon, but it has several issues, so I've made a few changes. Gather power, for instance, is useless until 7th, at which point it can only be used for composite blast. But if I replace gather power, it makes composite blast harder to use. In addition, metakinetic master does nothing, and Omnikinesis, the capstone power, does very little for a Kinetic Chirurgeon.
With that in mind here are some of the changes I am considering:
Additional Utility talents: Starting at first level and every two levels afterwards, the Kinetic Chirurgeon gain a utility wild talent that they qualify for. This replaces Gather Power and Supercharge.
Blast Focus: At 7th level, the Kinetic Chirurgeon does not get composite blasts. Instead they gain the feats Weapon Focus (Blast) and Weapon Specialization (Blast). If the Kinetic Chirurgeon already had Weapon focus (Blast), they can replace it with another feat they qualified for. At 16th level, the Kinetic Chirurgeon gains greater weapon focus (Blast) and Greater Weapon specialization (Blast). When using Kinetic Healer, the bonuses for weapon specialization and greater weapon specialization are doubled. This replaces composite blast and Composite Specialization.
Maximized Healing: At 19th level, when using Kinetic Healer, the Kinetic Chirurgeon can accept an additional point of burn to maximize the healing done with Kinetic Healer. This replaces Metakinetic Master.
Master Chirurgeon: At 20th level, a Kinetic Chirurgeon can reduce the cost of any utility wild talent by one, minimum zero. This replaces Omnikinesis.
What these changes do actually reduces the amount of damage the Kinetic chirurgeon does, but improves their utility greatly. Opinions?
One of my players came up with an idea, and I just wanted to check that there are no rules against it.
Since slings are both free and weightless, take your sling bullets and put them in the pouches of a sling (1 for each bullet) then wrap them like a yo-yo. Pull them out one-handed and let them unwind, having the sling ready to fire.
I'm tempted to let him do it, especially if he picks up quick draw.
Sorry if this had been answered before but I couldn't find it.
Greater whip mastery allows you to grapple someone with your whip out to 15', while living shield allows you to use a grappled target as protection from another enemy's attack.
So, if someone is attacking the avenger, do you basically pull the grappled victim into the same square as you? In front of you? Does it not work at all unless they happen to already be in the way? (How I'm ruling it until I hear differently.)
For stalkers, Hidden strike states "Starting at 1st level, the stalker vigilante gains the ability to deal 1d6 extra precision damage on melee attacks (or ranged attacks from within 30 feet) against foes who are unaware of his presence (or who consider him an ally)."
Now, sniper allows you to use hidden strike at any distance. So if someone was using a distance composite longbow firing from the dark at, say, a thousand feet, how long is the target considered unaware of his presence? The target knows that there is somebody out in the darkness firing arrows in his direction, but he cannot know where the archer is shooting from or who he is.
So, does unaware mean the target not knowing he is being attacked, or does unaware mean not knowing where or who is attacking him?
We went through Hollow's last hope this afternoon to playtest the Vigilante class. We had four vigilantes, each taking one of the types (Avenger, Stalker, Warlock, Zealot). It... didn't go well.
Characters:
We went with the same array for convience: 14, 14, 14, 13, 12, 10, and all humans (3 brothers and a sister). Avenger had a 16 str, Stalker had a 16 dex, Warlock had a 16 int and Zealot had a 16 Cha. Everyone took the teamwork feat stealth synergy. Other feats were EWP: Falcata (Avenger), Weapon Finesse (Stalker), Point blank shot (Warlock, who was also the archer), and weapon focus: longsword (Zealot, who couldn't think of any other feat for her). Skills and equipment were obvious (3 chain shirts with studded leather for the warlock, along with heavy shields for all but the warlock.) Their social identity was 4 aristocrats travelling.
The Adventure
In Town:
The characters pretty much rolled over the social part, easily dealing with the herbalist and the lumber camp. This, however, was not due to either dual identity or social grace, but the fact that all 4 characters had good diplomacy, bluff, percpetion and sense motive skills. Dual identity didn't matter in the least, since the town didn't care who the characters were, and social grace doesn't really kick in until 2nd level.
In the Wilderness:
Grung was easily taken care of, due to the fact that the warlock both spotted the hobgolbin and then critted him with his longbow before he reacted. The crows fell quickly.
The Tatzlwyrm was harder, with everyone rolling lousy (including the wyrm). It took 5 rounds, but it finally went down. They found the moss easily and the treasure (due to having good perception rolls)
The witches hut was kinda rough. The cauldron swallowed the stalker, who was knocked silly inside, and it was hard to break through the hardness of the cauldron, but again searching the hut was trivial.
The Fortress:
They reached it in daylight, so the party didn't encounter the outside wolves. They found the body and got the loot in the courtyard. They investigated the tower, easily dispatching the giant spider (where the stalker exchanged his rapier for the masterwork shortsword). They searched both the waiting room and cloak room (finding the mushroom) and then went into the desecrated shrine. It wasn't too bad a fight, although the stalke got injured and the zealot used a cure light to get him healthy. Then they went straight into the wolves den.
Round 1, wolves when initiative but no surprise round: Rolls well, and drops the zealot before anyone can act. Players miss.
Round 2, one of the wolves hit and trip the warlock, knocking him down. When he tries to get up, 2 Attack of opportunties drop him. players miss (dice are not going well for the players)
Round 3, both wolves miss, stalker gets a hit, but doesn't do a lot of damage.
Round 4, stalker is hit and tripped, tries to attack from the ground but misses, as does the avenger.
End of 4, I decide that Greypelt would be attracted by all the noise, and joins the party.
Round 5, stalker is finished off, avenger misses
Round 6, avenger is finished off.
TPK.
Comments:
While the TPK was bad, it was more the fault of the dice than anything else. (The avenger never rolled better than a 8 the entire fight.) The warlock never cast a spell, since wearing armor and fighting with a bow was far more effective at this level, and stealth synergy didn't do much for this adventure. Granted, this was a pretty straightforward adventure with not a lot of stealth opportunities (Hard to be stealthy when opening doors.) Better builds might have helped (3 of the 4 players going sword and shield, everyone taking stealth synergy, no stat higher than 16), but I don't think it would have helped that much.
On the class: The class desperately needs something useful at first level. Everything they did could have been done much better by a pair of slayers, a bard and an inquisitor. Also, why does arcane training get to cast 2 spells at first level (not counting stats) while divine training only casts 1 spell at first level?
For warlock, please, please, please remove the level restriction from mystic bolt? The warlock was looking at where he wanted to go if he advanced and we played again, and the fact that at 4th he would have had to choose between mystic bolt (which he really wanted) and Arcane training 2 (which gives him 2nd level spells) made him very sad.
We may try again at a higher level but so far the players were underwhelmed by the Vigilante.
Question: Does the Warpriest's sacred weapon ability to override the damage of a weapon mean that a whip can do 1d6 lethal damage to armored foes? If so, as a first level human warpriest, being able to do weapon focus (whip), weapon finesse and slashing grace just became awesome.
A woodland skirmisher also learns to draw upon druidic magic. Each day when the ranger prepares spells, he may choose one druid spell and prepare it as if it were on the ranger spell list as a ranger spell of its druid spell level.
I'm trying to decide if this means that the woodland skirmisher can use druid wands. Right now, I'm leaning towards no, or at least a "only if you currently have the spell selected", but I'm interested in other people's opinions.
Since it looks like we won't get to play again until January, I want to get my impressions of the latest encounter for our playtest.
Players:
Dwarf cleric 12/Hierophant 6
Human Sorcerer 12/Archmage 6
Human Superstitious Barbarian 12/dual path champion/guardian 6
Human monk 12/Champion 6
Human fighter (Lore Warden) 12/ Guardian 6
Elven Urban ranger 12/Trickster 6
Human Paladin 12/Marshall 6
After entering the Forest of evil, the party was attacked by a half dozen Trackers of death:
6 wargs with advanced template, ranger 9/ML 4 CR 16 (Full encounter was CR 21).
Important notes: The wargs had power attack, furious focus, greater vital strike and both mythic power attack and mythic vital strike. They also had magic collars which gave them bonuses to strength, constitution, natural attack, defenses and allowed to talk amongst themselves telepathically.
The Wargs snuck up on the party. With their superior stealth the only party member who had a chance of detecting them before they attacked was the ranger, and he failed. Suprirse round: 4 wargs attacked the elf (their main preferred enemy), while 2 went after the human barbarian (their other preferred enemy). The 4 wargs tore the elf apart, doing more than 300 points of damage. The barbarian had DR 10/epic, and absorbed one of the wolves' blows, but still took nearly 100, and was tripped.
Round 1: Initiative: For amazing initiative, I decided to just give +2 per tier, with no bonus round. Still, that gave the party +12 before other bonuses. No surprise, the party went first. The sorcerer rolled highest. I had successfully scared the party, so the sorcerer went all out, casting a mythic magic missile, with dazing metamastery, and also adding persistant and heightened, firing off 10 magic missiles, with the wargs needing to hit DC 26 twice with their will saves or be dazed for 4 rounds. Two of the wargs saved, although one had to use a mythic power roll to make it. The barbarian used a fleet charge to stand up, eating a opportunity attack, and ripped into the one warg that still could act near him. The monk, paladin and fighter finished off the other one which could still act. 3 rounds later, the other Wargs were down. Encounter over. Cleric cast mythic raise dead* on the ranger, used his unlimited cure light wounds to heal up the injured, and they continued.
*The cleric had asked for a mythic raise dead spell, which we worked on making. First point meant no negative level, 2 more mythic points meant no need for diamonds. I'm not sure it was balanced, but for the encounter it really made no difference.
Final cost to the party: Sorcerer down 4 mythic points. Barbarian down 1 mythic point. Cleric down 3 mythic points. 1 sorcerer 6th level slot, 1 cleric 5th level slot. Experience earned over 400,000 total.
Feelings about the fight: Mythic tiers need to add to saving throws for monsters. +10 will for a CR 16 creature is a joke. If we were doing fast track experience, they would have levelled from this fight. The mythic raise dead didn't really make a difference, as they could have just carried some diamonds instead. Metamastery might be broken.
Okay, ran my first home created adventure using mythic rules. Here is a summing up of what happened.
Adventure: Players are granted mythic powers by a strange individual they meet and are charged to save a nearby village from destruction.
Characters:
Characters:
All characters were 8th level, made using a 33 point buy with no stats less than 10 or more than 17 before racial mods. All of them took one mythic tier, choosing different mythic paths.
Boren heavyhand, human guardian fighter using falchion, mythic options were fleet chage, path ability always a chance, mythic feat was mythic power attack
Sir Gaul, human defender fighter, dagger and shield specialist, mythic options were sudden block, path ability ally defense, mythic feat dual focus.
Thistle the gnome hierophant oracle of flame, mythic options were inspired spell, path ability faith's reach and mythic feat mythic spells (fireball)
Prudence the human marshal bard, mythic options were decisive strike, path ability was additional order (surprise strike), mythic feat was mythic weapon finesse
Min Na the human trickster ninja, mythit options were surpise strike, path ability was feat of dexterity and mythic weapon finesse
Player notes/questions: Does abundent casting affect magic missile? GM ruled that if you could either have an extra magic missile that affect a different target, or if all missiles targeted one enemy a mythic point lets you target a second individual with all missiles. If mythic powers are granted to you, why do you suddenly have mythic flaws? GM answer: There is always a cost for great powers. Mythic power attack: If you use a 2 handed weapon, is the bonus +3, +4, or +4.5? GM ruled +4.5, round down. There ae not a lot of feats for either the archmage or the hierophant, but hopefully that ill be fixed later. There were also no bard mythic spells besides cure light wounds, again this will hopefully be added later.
GM notes during character creation: Not all flaws are created equal. One character had to eat a sunflower seed every day, while another character took double damage from electricity. one took penalties to saves from the conjuration school, while another took material weakness: silver, so silver weapons automatically confirm crits, and the crit mutliplier was +1. The players hated having to decide befofehand about lesser trials. I suggested everyone take improbable victory and mythic challenge, as if they succeeded in the adventure (a great trial), they would get those anyway, so they only had to choose one other trial. The character who took the dual focus feat got an additional +5 mythic points, vs the additional mythic power feat which only grants +2.
Encounter One:
Encounter one: The village
The party enters the village, to find out about what threatens the village. The bard, oracle and ninja just destroyed this non-combat encounter with the bonus +1d6 from skill checks. They easily found the spy and discover the danger in the forest. The villagers confirm that anybody who goes into the forest for a ways doesn't come back out, and no one goes in at night. One worrisome detail: The bard got the guardian to have a fight with a bar patron and make it last at least 8 rounds while she inspired him, to get one of her trials (performance victory) out of the way. I allowed it, but was uncomfortable about the implications.
Encounter Two:
Encounter two: The forest
The hellipede test of destruction: The party faces hellipedes (4 HD large giant centipedes with the giant, advanced and fiendish templates added, but no mythic powers). They start with 10, +1d4/ round added to board. The encounter was designed to continue until either one member drops or they defeat 30 hellipedes, although the party didn't know that.
Surprise round: guardian and oracle were suprised, but the hellipedes rolled lousy in initiative. Everyone held for buffs, wizard cast haste, bard cast good hope. The champion fleet charged, rolled well and cleaved two hellipedes in one round, dropping them both, fulfuilling his devastating swipe trial (The champion had a question about whether adding 1d6 to a roll meant he could use it for critting. I said I'd allow it, but he critted both anyway.) The ninja charged regularly, also critted a pede dropping it. The hellipedes charged. The one on the ninja missed, the two on the guardian needed a 20 and also missed. One managed to score a hit on the champion, but made the poison save (barely, thanks to the good hope).
round 1: The wizard used a mythic point to fire off his mythic magic missile spell at the nearest creature. Thanks to my ruling on the abundent casting, he used a second point to fire also hit another one with them. both were injured but neither was killed. the guardian moved up next to the champion, triggering 4 AOOs, but all missed. He also used sudden block on one, (one of the ones injured by the wizard), and killed it. He then stabbed at the other one the wizard injured, killing that one as well. The bard used a swift action to give a decisive strike order to the champion, who critted again, killing another pede. The ninja used a surprising strike, then full attacked the pede which attacked him, hitting 4 more times, killing it. The oracle burned a point to use his mythic fireball. All 3 remaining pedes failed their save, and they were all killed, which also completed his deliver soul trial. At that point, no pedes were left, so I decided that another couple of pedes per round weren't going to be slowing them down any, so ended the encounter. (The ninja did ask for a couple more, so he could finish his unexpected strikes trial. I hand-waved that one as well.) 3 shots of a clw wand to the champion, and we kept going.
Notes: Interestingly, the haste only benefited them once (the ninja's full attack), while the mythic fireball pretty much ended the battle. Decisive strike using the biggest hitter the party has looks like it is going to be one of the most effect things the bard is going to be able to use. The mythic magic missile is not as effective as the wizard hoped.
encounter three:
encounter 3: trap
The party reach the entrance to the cave, and enter. at the back of the cave was a locked door. the ninja easily picks the lock, and they open the door. There is a loud puff of air, and the gas trapped in the chamber ignites by the lantern. The damage is minimal (12 points), but the guardian rolls a 1, so he burns a point to keep any of his items from possibly being destroyed (by adding 1d6 to the result). A couple of shots of clw, and they check the 20' chamber behind the door. There is another door on the other side, and the ninja determines that it can only be opened if the first door is closed. Quick perception checks are made, and they discover the chamber is also trapped. Using his feat of dexterity to add +20, the ninja clears the trap easily, and the party goes on.
Notes: there are no rules for mythic traps. There really should be.
encounter four:
encounter 4: mythic driders
The party enters a cavern, and spots 4 mythic driders! The driders spot them as well. Fight!
Surprise round: No one is surprised. The mythic driders are using the agile template, plus the mythic subtype bonuses, so it is unsurprising they rolled high on their initiative. The ninja asked if he could use the feat of dexterity to add 20 to his initiative. I allowed it, so he actually got to go first, charging and hitting one. The one the ninja hit took a step back, and all 4 driders fired off lightning bolts. Since the ninja didn't have evasion, and takes double damage from lightning, he wasn't pleased, but at least auto-saved vs the attack. The wizard took 3 of the 4 bolts to the face, and dropped to -1. The others got pretty pounded too, with only the champion getting lucky in placement, and only taking one bolt, that he saved on. The guardian charged, but missed the drider he attacked. The bard took a step forward, and cast good hope, to help on those saves. The wizard laid there, but since was hard to kill automatically stabilized. The champion charged as well, and critted (he's being the crit machine today). Didn't kill it in one shot, but badly hurt it, and definitely got it's attention. The oracle was torn between throwing a mythic fireball or healing the wizard, and the fireball won out, catching all four driders. One saved, but three did not. The one that the champion pounded drops, and two are on fire. The driders got their second action, two of them tried to put themselves out, one failed to do so. I ruled that the burning magic revalation added to the fireball's damage as well. The one that saved fire off a web, catching the wizard, oracle, bard and ninja, but only the wizard (being unconscious) failed the save.
Round 1: The ninja steps out of the webbing, and attacks the drider with a surprise attack, but misses. The drider still on fire keeps on trying to put himself out, but failed again. One slides over to attack the champion, but the guardian uses shield ally, so he misses (well, he would have missed anyway) and the guardian misses on the counterstrike. The other one, being a little smarter decides to fire off another lightning bolt, catching the ninja and the bard. Both save, but the ninja is really bad off, and the bard isn't too happy either. The guardian full attacks, but misses all four times (the drider's AC is 30, after all). The bard carefully works his way through the webbing, and gives a decisive strike order to the champion. The champion gleefully swings, but misses. The champion takes his action, and full attacks, hitting both times. (He didn't crit, but he did have a possible one at least.) This kills the drider, dropping it. The oracle decides now is good time to heal the wizard, cast a cure moderate. The driders take their second action. The one on fire decides he has had enough, and flees (since they move 60' after all). The other drider moves away, but fires off a string of magic missiles at the ninja who has really annoyed him. (He may also be the only one who can catch them.) This drops the ninja, but doesn't come close to killing him.
Round 2: The other drider flees. encounter over. The party burns through most of a wand getting themselves back up and running. This also gave them the mythic challenge trial compltion.
Notes: Although the driders were more defensively oriented, this was a much nastier fight. I'm still not sure whether dual initiative should be able to be used on surprise rounds, but allowed it. I also realized I made a mistake afterwards, since it takes a full round action to put out the fire, but on a surprise round, they only have standard actions. Didn't make much of a difference in the end. I'm also not sure I built the driders correctly. The rules for monster creation may need to be cleaned up and improved a bit.
Encounter Five:
Encounter 5: The necromancer
While the party is a bit tired, they push on. They don't find the driders, but they do find at the end of the cave a necromancer and his little friends. At the back of the cave is a glowing disk, throbbing with strange energies.
No surprise round. (okay, technically there was, but it involved a beastie running away warning the boss that the bad guys were coming. ) 6 ghasts with the savage template added, plus a level 10 MR 3 priest of Urgathoa (built using PC rules. I know amazing initiative is going to change, but I'm using those rules for now.) The party spent a round buffing before they went in, the bard casting his last good hope, the wizard casting haste and the ninja vanishes. Of course, that gave the priest a couple of rounds of buffing too. The entire cave is desecrated, with an altar to Urgthoa set up in the corner. Initiative is rolled, the guardian burns a point to boost his initiative, but only rolls a 1.
Round 1:
The priest with his amazing initiative goes first, casting unholy blight on the party. The champion and the ninja are both neutral at least, but everyone else is of good alignment. Only the champion and the guardian failed their saves, and only the guardian was sickened for 1 round. (the champion burned a point to try to make the save, cause he was close, but rolled a 2 on his d6 and didn't get it. The guardian's save was low enough not to bother.) The ninja goes next, and moves after the nearest ghast. While doing so, he walks over a mythic glyph of warding, which explodes. Fortunately, no one else is nearby. Unfortunately, he fails his save. He does take out the ghast. The wizard rolled well on his initiative, and goes next. He decides to use his class ability to put up an ice wall, blocking the priest from the rest of the battle for a few rounds, hopefully. Priest burns a mythic point to take a second action (He also rolled well), And decides to summon in a bearded devil with a mythic template (from his mighty summons path ability). I was unsure how the full round casting interacted with the amazing initiative, so I ruled while it took his entire action to cast, and the bearded devil would appear at his second initiative point, he would still act next round on his first point. Oracle uses faith's reach to hit the ninja with a cure critical. The champion uses a fleet charge, attacking one of the ghasts and killing it, then takes a 5 foot step full attacks another, killing it as well. The guardian moves up, but mins his roll and is sickend, so doesn't kill the ghast. (The ninja, champion and guardian all made their saves vs stench.) The bard fires sound burst, catching two of the ghasts, including the injured one. low damage, but both ghasts failed their save. Only one ghast remains that can act on this round. It full moves and dives through the portal. He had previous orders.
Round 2:
The priest casts dispel magic, getting rid of the wall of ice. This may not have been his best choice. The ninja steps up, full attacks the injured, stunned ghast and finishes him. The wizard moves and casts a spray of mythic magic missiles, killing the final ghast. The bearded devil shows up, and the priest does not look pleased at how things are going. The devil leaps at the the champion, swinging its glaive, but misses. The priest moves next to his altar and casts slay living on the champion using faith's reach, hitting the champion. The champion survives the slay living... barely. The oracle fires off another mythic fireball, but the priest had cast spell resistance, and the oracle's fireball does not penetrate, and the bearded devil is immune to fire. The champion full attacks the bearded devil, killing it, then asks if he could fleet charge after the full attack. I didn't see any rules against it, so I allowed it. He moved at the priest... and walks right over another mythic glyph of warding. The champion drops to -19, but thanks to hard to kill (and a good con score), is not dead. Yet, anyway. The guardian chooses to move up next to the priest, choosing to carefully step through the square where the champion was, and hits the priest. The bard casts detect magic, and spots two other glyphs, letting the party know where they are.
Round 3: The priest takes a 5' step, and casts defensively. He casts hold person on the guardian, but the guardian rolls a 20, and saves. The ninja carefully picks his way past the wards, and tries a surprising strike on the priest. The wizard runs up, touches the champion, and teleports them both back to the oracle. The priest casts defensively again, and touches the ninja with a mythic inflict critical. The ninja fails the save and is dropped to -15 (and sickened for 10 rounds.) The oracle casts a cure critical on the champion, healing him enough to wake him back up. The champion stands up, and moves out to go pick up his sword. the guardian full attacks, hitting 3 times. The bard pulls his rapier, moves towards the fight and gives an advance order, allowing everyone to make a move. (This is mostly to get the champion to his sword, but it does move the spellcasters closer to the fight.)
Round 4: The priest is nearly surrounded and injured, so he uses a channel energy to injure others and heal himself. This drops the champion (again) and sadly kills the ninja. The wizard fires a battery of magic missiles, punching through the spell resistance and hitting the priest hard. The priest goes again, and casts greater command, giving the command to flee. The remaining party all saved, although the guardian had to burn a mythic point to not flee. Fortunately, this wasn't an actual fear effect, so the bard's hubris didn't kick in. The oracle pulls out a scroll and moves up, casting breath of life on the ninja, bringing him back to life, but still unconscous. The guardian full attacks, hitting three times again, and finally the priest drops. massing clw wanding later, everyone is back up.
Notes: I'm not too sure how summoning is supposed to worth in amazing initiative, especially if it summons somthing that also has dual initiative. The priest casting twice a round was brutal. The ghasts never got a chance to show off, oh well. Also, there doesn't seem to be a way of detecting mythic flaws. The priest had one, but there was no way for the party to find that out.
encounter six:
Encounter 6: Final batte
The party decides to push through the gate to the other side, even though they are low on mythic points. There they discover a mythic ice devil! There is also a large crystal holding the gate open.
Round 1: I decide both parties are surprised, so we skip the surprise round. The good hope buff is still running, which helps a little bit, but still... Ninja goes first, suffering from a negative level. He charges, going for a surprise stike which since the devil is flat-footed, hits. The champion does a fleet charge, then full attacks. He misses on the fleet charge attack, but still hits twice on the full attack. The guardian moves up next to the champion, hits but mins the damage, and only gets a few points past the epic DR. The oracle readies a to counterspell (with dispel magic) in case the ice devil uses a spell-like ability. The wizard makes a knowledge check, figures out that all they need to do is break the crystal to destroy the gate and then escape back before it closes, informs the rest of the party about this. The ice devil goes, and goes for the champion. The guardian uses his ally defense to try to keep the champion alive. While all 3 attacks with the spear hits, this still really helped since the first attack would have been a critical otherwise, which almost certainly would have killed him. The champion still loses over 3/4 of his hp, and is slowed. The bard goes, and gives an advance order, trying to get the champion back next to the crystal. The champion moves back to the crystal, but eat an AoO which drops him to single digit hps, and not many of those.
Round 2: The ninja uses his last mythic point to try to surprise strike the ice devil again. but misses. His follow up full attack, one of his attacks hits, but barely breaks the epic DR, doing like 2 pts of damage. The champion attempts to sunder the crystal, and succeeds easily (yay mythic power attack!) The Oracle hits the champion with a cure crit, then dives through the gate. The guardian full attacks, but misses all attacks (now that it is no longer ff, only 20s are able to hit the ice devil). The ice devil attacks the guardian, but only hits with his first two attacks (The guardian has a higher AC.) The guardian tries using sudden block, but it doesn't help with the miss, and the counter strike also misses. The guardian is slowed. The oracle gives another advance (well, retreat) order, and everyone dives through the portal, which closes on the next round.
Game over.
Notes: Fortunately, the party didn't have to kill the ice devil, as there is no way they could have survived that. I wasn't sure if the advance order could be used on a slowed target, but I allowed it. I'm not sure if I ran everything correctly, there were some confusing bits here and there.
Final thoughts: The players had a lot of fun, although there are still some issues that needs to be cleared up. We may try again in a week or two, after a rebuild and see about trying higher tiers.
Can an Intelligent ring of telekinesis use the telekinetic power? It obviously knows its own command word, but it can't wield itself.
Also, if it can, if it also has the power of a ring of regeneration (CL 15) does it use the higher caster level to use the telekinetic power or the caster level for the telekinesis (CL 9)?
I was working on a house rule where you gain abilites as your ranks in the skill increases. These abilites come at 6, 12 and 18 ranks. You only get these abilites if the skill is a class skill for your class. I tried to make is so the rank 6 ability is worth about a trait, the rank 12 ability is somewhere between a trait and a feat, and the rank 18 ability is worth about a feat.
If you don't mind, please let me know if any of the abilites are too strong or too weak.
Skill Abilities:
Acrobatics:
6 ranks: +2 to climb skill.
12 ranks: +2 to reflex save when you jump, but missed the DC by less than 5.
18 ranks: When you fall, you can ignore the first 15 feet with an acrobatics feat
Appraise:
6 ranks: You must fail the action by 10 or more to get a wildly inacurate result.
12 ranks: You can appraise as a move action, or a standard action if you are scanning a treasure horde.
18 ranks: If you succeed the check on a magic item by 10 or more, you know the magic properties of the item.
Bluff:
6 ranks: Delivering a secret message only takes 1.5 times as long as normal.
12 ranks: Circumstantial penalties are halved when you bluff.
18 ranks: When you feint, your opponent does not get their wisdom bonus on the sense motive check.
Climb:
6 ranks: Armor Check penalties are reduced by 1 when climbing
12 ranks: You gain a +5 to the check when attempting to catch yourself or another person when falling.
18 ranks: You may move at half speed when climbing.
Craft:
6 ranks: You gain +2 to diplomacy when dealing with people who have your craft subskill. The skill is +4 at 12 ranks and +6 at 18 ranks.
12 ranks: +10% to price for items you craft. This increases to +25% at 18 ranks.
18 ranks: When calcuating time per week, The DC is considered 10 higher.
Diplomacy:
6 ranks: If you fail the diplomacy check by 9 or less, the attitude is unchanged.
12 ranks: When you are gathering information, it takes half the time as normal.
18 ranks: You can shift a creature's attitude by up to 3 steps.
Disable Device:
6 ranks: You can disable a simple device or open a simple lock as a standard action.
12 ranks: If you do not have a set of thieves' tools but do have a knife or similar item, the DC is only increased by 5.
18 ranks: You can disarm magical traps as though you have trapfinding. If you already have trapfinding, You gain a +5 to disarming magical traps.
Disguise:
6 ranks: Choose either gender, race or age (1 step). When disguising yourself, you do not take a penalty when you choose to disguise yourself by your choice. You gain a second choice at 12 ranks, and all three at 18 ranks.
12 ranks: You gain +2 to your bluff skill when telling a lie. This increases to +4 at 18 ranks.
18 ranks: It only takes 1d6 minutes of work to create your disguise.
Escape Artist:
6 ranks: If the time to escape is a minute or greater, reduce the time by half. At rank 12, if it takes a full round, you can perform it as a standard action. At rank 18, if it takes a standard action, you can escape as a move action.
12 ranks: If the binding material is made of a pliable substance (ropes, nets, weeds, etc.) you gan a +5 bonus to the check.
18 ranks: You gain +5 to your escape artist attempt when escaping from grapples.
Fly:
6 ranks: Wind speed is considered 10 mph less with regards to penalties to the fly skill.
12 ranks: Your maneuverability is considered to be one higher.
18 ranks: Your flight speed is 10' faster.
Handle Animal:
6 ranks: The time to teach an animal a trick is halved.
12 ranks: You can teach an animal one additional trick beyond what they can already learn.
18 ranks: There is no penalty for teaching creatures with one or two intelligence but not an animal.
Heal:
6 ranks: You may perform first aid as a move action.
12 ranks: When treating deadly wounds, your wisdom is considered 2 higher. At 18 ranks, it is considered 4 higher.
18 ranks: When performing long-term care, you can treat as many patients as your ranks in healing.
Intimidate:
6 ranks: You gain a +2 to skill checks when influencing attitudes. This increases to +4 at 12 ranks, and +6 at 18 ranks.
12 ranks: When you demoralize an opponent, the success is considered 5 higher for purposes of how long they are shaken.
18 ranks: You can demoralize as a move action.
Knowledge:
6 ranks: You automatically succeed at "common knowledge" (DC 10 or lower) checks.
12 ranks: You have a +2 to diplomacy checks to people who have your knowledge subskill. This increases to +4 at 18 ranks.
18 ranks: When you successfully identify a creature, you gain +1 to hit and damage against that particular creature.
Linguistics:
6 ranks: You gain +2 on use magic device checks with regards to scrolls.
12 ranks: When you fail a decipher an unfamiliar writing, your wisdom is considered to be four higher.
18 ranks: You understand languages as if under the effects of a comprehend languages spell.
Perception:
6 ranks: choose one sense. You gain a +2 when using that sense.
12 ranks: You gain +2 to detect an invisible foe. This increases to +4 at 18 ranks.
18 ranks: You gain the trap-spotter rogue talent. If you already have this talent, you gain +5 to your peception when finding traps.
Perform:
6 ranks: You gain +2 to diplomacy when dealing with people who have your perform subskill. This increases to +4 at 12 ranks and +6 at 18 ranks.
12 ranks: You can earn an additional 10% when performing for money. This increases to 25% at 18 ranks.
18 ranks: You gain two additional rounds of bardic performance. If you do not have bardic performance, you can inspire courage as a 1st level bard for two rounds/day.
Profession:
6 ranks: You gain +2 to diplomacy when dealing with people who have your profession subskill. This increases to +4 at 12 ranks and +6 at 18 ranks.
12 ranks: You earn an additional 10% per week of using your profession. This increases to +25% at 18 ranks.
18 ranks: You gain +5 to your profession check with regards to knowledge checks regarding your profession.
Ride:
6 ranks: You gain +2 on handle animal checks involving riding animals. This increases to +4 at 12 ranks, and +6 at 18 ranks.
12 ranks: You can ride bareback without penalty. At 18 ranks, there is no penalty for riding an ill-suited mount.
18 ranks: You gain the mounted combat feat. If you already have mounted combat, you may use the mounted combat feat twice per round.
Sense Motive:
6 ranks: You gain +2 to all diplomacy checks.
12 ranks: You gain +2 on attempts to avoid being feinted. This increases to +4 at 18 ranks.
18 ranks: You can detect lies as the detect lies spell.
Sleight of Hand:
6 ranks: You can draw a hidden weapon as a move action.
12 ranks: When using sleight of hand for performance purposes, You earn 10% higher the listed amount. At 18 ranks this increases to 25%
18 ranks: You gain +5 on the opposed perception roll for attempts to take something from a person.
Spellcraft:
6 ranks: When crafting magic items, you are considered at +2 to the skill. This increases to +4 at 12 ranks, and +6 at 18 ranks.
12 ranks: You gain +5 to identify the properties of magic items.
18 ranks: You can identify magic items without using detect magic. It only takes 1 round to identity magic items.
Stealth:
6 ranks: You gain +2 to bluff skill when attempting a diversion to hide. This increases to +4 at 12 ranks, and +6 at 18 ranks.
12 ranks: The penalty for moving your normal speed while stealthed is -2. At 18 ranks, there is no penalty.
18 ranks: When sniping, you only take a -10 to your stealth check.
Survival:
6 ranks: When getting along in the wild, you can provide for a addtional person for every one point by which your check exceeds 10.
12 ranks: You gain +4 on all fortitude saves against severe whether when moving at half overland speed, or +8 when stationary.
18 ranks: You gain swift tracker. If you already have swift tracker, you can track at twice normal speed without penalty.
Swim:
6 ranks: Armor check penalties is reduced by 1 when swimming.
12 ranks: You can hold your breath for twice as long.
18 ranks: Your swim speed is half of your normal speed as a move action, or your speed as a full-round action.
Use Magic Device:
6 ranks: Choose a task. You are +2 with the skill when performing this task. Choose another task at 12 ranks, and another at 18 ranks.
12 ranks: When activating blindly, you never suffer a mishap.
18 ranks: When using a scroll, if you succeed by 10 higher than the DC, the writing on the scroll does not disappear.
Level 12 adventure: 20 pt buld, standard gold, 2/3 hp. GM also allowed players who took item creation feats to buy anything they could make themselves at crafting cost.
Level 12 Human Samurai (Str 26, Dex 12 Con 14 Int 10 wis 10 Cha 10 Feats: WF: Katana, Power Attack, Imp. Sunder, WS: Katana, Vital Strike Greater Sunder Improved Critical, Critical Focus, GWF: Katana Gear: Adamantine Katana+3 Adamantine Full Plate +3, Belt of giant strengh +4, Ring of Sustenance, Haversack, Cloak of resistance +3, Ring of Protection +2, Amulet of natural armor +2, winged boots)
Level 12 Elven Ninja -Silent hunter option (Str 24, Dex 17 Con 10 Int 10 wis 10 Cha 10 Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting, WF: Wakisashi, Double Slice, Two weapon defense, dodge, Imp. Two weapon fighting, Imp Crit: Wakisashi Ninja Talents: Weapon Training, Pressure secrets, Vanishing trick, shadow clone, Evasion, Invisible Blade Gear:Paired Wakisashi+3 Ring of Sustenance, haversack, winged boots, mithril Chain shirt+3, Cloak of resistance+3, Ring of protection+2, Amulet of Natural armor +2, Belt of giant strength+4 )
Level 12 Human Gunslinger (Str 10, Dex 26 Con 10 Int 10 wis 16 Cha 12 Feats: Weapon Finesse, Rapid Reload, WF: Musket, Lightning Reload deed, Extra Grit, Vital Strike, Improved Crit: Musket, Skill Focus (Use Magic Device), Improved Vital Strike, Signature Deed (Lightning Reload deed) Gear: Musket +1, Steadfast ammo: 50 shots (5 holy, 10 fire, 5 frost, 5 shock, 10 merciful, 5 ghost touch, 10 bane(3 Undead, 4 outsider, 3 dragon)) 50 special material (25 silver, 10 adamantine, 15 cold iron) +50 normal bullets, Haversack, Ring of sustenance, Ring of protection +1 Mithril Chain Shirt+3 Amulet of natural armor+1, Cloak of resistance+2, Rapier+1, Belt of Dex+4, Headband of wisdom+2, wand of enlarge person (cl 2)) Note: Gunslinger has maxed Use Magic Device Skill
Level 12 Elven Wizard (Conjurer) (Str 8, Dex 16 Con 14 Int 28 wis 12 Cha 10 Feats: Combat Casting, Scribe Scroll, spell focus conjuration, augment summoning, craft wonderous items, extend spell, quicken spell, Spell penetration, Greater spell penetration Gear: Haversack, Blessed Book, Headband of intellect +6 Bonded item (Ring of protection +3) ring of sustenance, cloak of resistance+4, bracers of armor +6, Peripet of proof against poison+adaption, Belt of Con+4, pearls of power (3 1st, 1 3rd) Scrolls (1st detect secret doors, feather fall 2nd: Knock, Arcane lock, see invisibility 3rd tongues, water breathing 4th Scrying, stone shape 5th break enchantment, teleport 6th stone to flesh, true seeing) )
Level 12 Gnome Oracle of Life (Str 5, Dex 12 Con 20 Int 12 wis 12 Cha 28 Feats: Selective Channeling, Toughness, craft wand Reach spell, Expanded arcana (2 3rd) expanded arcana (2 4th) Gear:)
Adventure: The team's Daiymo is asked by an ally to assist with a problem in the ally's city, located at the edge of a desert. The team teleports out, talks to various people, and discover that the city is plagued by night attacks every few weeks to months. The creatures attack from the sky, but are rarely if ever seen. A divination from the oracle says to head into the desert until they encounter the pillar of stone. The locals also mention that they have lost some caravans in the desert, but they don't know if it is the winged creatures or something else.
The team rent some camels, and head out. A few days out, they encounter their first cause of missing carvans, a purple worm:
Encounter 1: Purple Worm
suprise Round: Purple Worm emerges from the sand, attacking the Samurai's Camel. The camel is easily hit, grabbed and killed. The Samurai is thrown Clear, easily making his soft fall roll.
Round 1: Team wins initiative, goes first. Samurai Closes, Gunslinger fast dismounts, move away from worm. the other team members dismount as their move. Gunslinger uses enlarge wand to enlarge himself (autosuccess with wands for use magic device), Samurai power attacks and uses vital strike and ninja attack, Wizard uses his standard action to move away from the worm, firing a quickened magic missile while doing so. Oracle tries a sound burst, but it is not stunned. worm drops the camel from its mouth, attacks the samurai, biting him and easily grabbing him. It also stings the ninja, who fails the fort save, and can feel himself getting weaker.
Round 2: Gunslinger fires at the big worm using vital strike and a fire bullet, (Doing 10 dice of damage), and takes off nearly a quarter of the worm's hit points. Oracle absorbs damage, burns a 5th level slot to cast freedom of movement at close range, Samurai drops from the mouth of the worm with his standard, challenges the worm and moves to flank with the ninja, taking the attack of opportunity. The ninja, weakened by the poison, burns a ki point to take an additional attack and hits 3 times, (once because of the samurai's challenge). Killing the worm. Oracle casts neutralze poison, then restoration on the ninja. They cut the worm open, and find some treasure. The ninja also milks the purple worm for its poison. They continue on, with the samurai riding with the oracle.
Comments: Bit of a scare with the purple worm grabbing and nearly swallowing the samurai, but ended up a fairly easy fight. The ninja was the big star, doing 21d6+27 damage. The gunslinger feels he is at least competent now, what with the signature deed (lightning reload), the steadfast gun, the two levels of vital strike and the ability to enlarge himself means he is doing 9d6 (not counting the special bullets)+9 every round after the first without fail. A crit (19-20) wound do another 9 dice plus 27. He is looking forward to his first crit. (note, from here on out, assume lightning reload and vital strike each round.)
The next day, the group approaches the ruined keep, and discovers a warband has taken it over. Just inside the front gate is with 8 level 1 hobgoblin fighters, slightly better armored with scale mail and heavy shields. The ninja scouts first, comes back and a plan is made. The team closes to as far as they can before discovered, then attacks.
Surprise round: Sorcerer casts flaming sphere to block escape route so they can't warn comrades. oracle casts bless. Samurai and ninja close, drawing weapons, Gunslinger fires at hobgoblin, hitting but not dropping him.
Round 1: Hobgoblins lose initiative to everyone but Oracle. Samurai and Ninja charge, gunslinger lightning reloads and fires at hobgoblins. Samurai remembers power attack this time, hits and drops a hobgoblin. The ninja misses, Gunslinger hits injured hobgoblin, dropping him and getting the grit point back. Sorcerer decides to not waste any more spells on a bunch of low level hobgoblins, fires his crossbow and barely hits. hobs go after samurai and ninja 3 and 3. 2 hit the samurai, one hits the ninja. Oracle closes to sight of fight, absorbs damage from samurai and ninja
Round 2: Samurai and ninja move to flank on a hobgoblin, ninja hits with both wakisashi, turning hobgoblin into paste. Samurai swings at different target, dropping it easily. Gunslinger decides to not waste any more grit, pulls his rapier and moves in, but misses. The sorcerer dazes one of the hobgoblins. 3 hobgoblins act, each taking a different target. Rolling well, they hit the samurai and gets a possible crit on the ninja, but does not confirm. Oracle transfers 10 more points. moves close and fires on a channeling.
Round 3: Ninja flanks again, but only hits with the off-hand wakisashi, injuring the hobgoblin. Samurai turns another hobgoblin into chum. Gunslinger stabs his target, and manages to crit, killing his. Sorcerer dazes the hobgoblin again, and moves the flaming sphere to the last hobgoblin to act, who fails his reflex, killing him. Next round, they finish off the remaining hobgoblin. Oracle burns 2 charges of her wand.
Comments: The gunslinger kinda wished he could get grit back when using the rapier, but understood why not. This was more of a speed-bump, but could have turned nasty if they weren't prepared. The ninja has decided that using the poisoned shurikin is a waste of time, and will likely retrain those feats if we keep playing.
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Encounter 3 - Seargent
Moving quickly, not bothering to search beyond a quick detect magic, the team enters the keep. They easily avoid the pit trap with weakened boards and encounters a hobgoblin leader armed with a greatsword and breastplate, plus four regular hobgoblins. Neither group is surprised. By moving quickly, the bless is still active from the first battle.
Round 1: Seargent is a level 3 fighter, armed with a masterwork greatsword. Initiative order is ninja, oracle, sargent, rest of team, hobgoblins. Ninja goes after closest hobgoblin, criting him, and dropping him. Oracle drops shield of faith on Samurai. Sargent attacks ninja, hitting for a fair amount of damage. Gunslinger fires at another hobgoblin, hitting but almost minned damage. Sorcerer steps up, casts burning hands, making sure to not hit the ninja, catching the 3 remaining hobgoblins, but not able to get the seargent. One makes the saving throw, one is dazzled, the one the gunslinger hit goes down. Samurai issues a challenge to the sargent, charges and power attacks, hitting the seargent and dropping him from uninjured to nearly dead. Hobgoblins go after sorcerer, one of which hits for max damage.
Round 2. Oracle absorbs hp from ninja and sorcerer, fires a cure light on self. Ninja flanks sargent, hitting once and dropping him. Samurai chooses to try to cleave, but misses. Gunslinger lightning reloads, blasts badly injured hobgoblin into dust, and gets the grit point back. Sorcerer tries to daze last hobgoblin, but it makes the saving throw. It decides it isn't worth it try try to run, takes another swing at the sorcerer, but misses. Next round, the last hobgoblin is easily dispatched. Oracle burns a channel to top everyone off, plus a couple of clw wand charges to to herself off.
Comments: Samurai's challenge turned a somewhat dangerous fight into a cakewalk. Burning a challenge early may come back to haunt him, if he isn't careful. Gunslinger is getting a little annoyed on the low damage rolls, would prefer the musket to be 2d6 instead of 1d12.
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Encounter 4: The Shaman
While the sorcerer detected magic and found the breastplate to be +1, decides to not worry about it for now and they move on. At a T section, they see a door with 2 hobgoblins in front of it. Both easily spot each other, no surprise.
Round 1: Group wins initiative (or so they think), and samurai and ninja charge. Samurai power attacks, and hits hobgoblin killing it. Ninja also hits, taking him down. The group hears a voice through the door, which the sorcerer thinks is infernal.
Round 2: The door opens, group sees a skeleton plus another hobgoblin inside. The hobgoblin is a level 4 oracle of bones, who just called his skeleton friend. The oracle won initiative. The 4 HD skeleton attacks the samurai, but misses. Oracle casts cause fear on the ninja, who fails the save. ninja flees for the next two rounds. Gunslinger shoots at skeleton, hitting, but not doing a lot of damage. Samurai moves past skeleton, who misses on the attack of opportunity (Bless has worn off, but the shield of faith is still up) and attacks the oracle, hurting him. The sorcerer fires a couple of magic missiles at the skeleton, while the oracle fires a channel. The ninja flees.
Round 3: The skeleton flanks the samurai, but still misses. The oracle casts defensively, succeeding, and attempts to touch the samurai, also succeeding, hitting him with an inflict moderate wounds. The wound also starts bleeding. The oracle absorbs 5 damage, stopping the bleeding. Samurai steps out of flank, swinging at oracle. easily hitting him, and droppping him. The sorcerer fires off two more magic missiles, and the gunslinger lightning reloads, hit the skeleton, and finishing him off, regaining the grit. the ninja flees for one more round, but then starts heading back next round.
Comments: We weren't sure whether the skeleton's DR counted, but as the musket claims both blugeeoning and piercing, GM stated the DR didn't count. There was a bit of discussion about whether it should or not, but went with the rules. GM also decided to allow life link to stop bleeding, although there was a bit of discussion about that.
Encounter 5: The boss.
After gathering up the ninja, and another charge of the wand for the oracle, the team moved on feeling pretty confident. The oracle fires off another bless right before they enter the main area, where the hobgoblin leader, his lieutenant, and 4 more hobgoblins were located. Neither side was surprised:
Round 1: The boss was a level 5 samurai (Ronin) and the lieutenant was a level 3 ninja. The initiatve order is Sorcerer, Gunslinger, ninja, boss, samurai, rest of hobgoblins, oracle. Sorcerer casts enlarge on the samurai. Gunslinger takes shot at one of the hobgoblins, hits but does not drop him. The ninja charges another one of the hobgoblins, hits but rolls lousy on damage, hobgoblin is still up. Boss fires at the (now really big) samurai but misses. Samurai issues challenge to boss, and steps forward to do battle. Hits, taking a big chunk out of the samurai. lieutenant moves to flank samurai, other hobgoblins goes after ninja. One of the hobgoblins hits the ninja, Lieutenant hits samurai, hitting and using pressure secrets to drop samurai a point of strength. Oracle absorbs damage, moves forwards and drops a sound burst catching 3 of the four hobgoblins. 1 saves, so 2 are stunned next round.
Round 2: Sorcerer gets brilliant idea, casts enlarge person on the gunslinger. Gunslinger lightning reloads shoots at unstunned hobgoblin, easily killing him with his new 3d6 musket. Ninja moves into flanking position for lieutenant, burns a ki point to attack twice, hitting both times and dropping him. Boss counter-challenges, hits for a heck of a lot of damage, nearly taking samurai out, although the two points of DR helps. Samurai counterstrikes, crits, boss goe into negative points, but uses resolve to stay up. 1 Hobgoblin able to act charges the samurai but misses. Oracle absorbs damage, moves next to samurai and does a CMW, but mins the heal.
Round 3. Sorcerer waits. Gunslinger lightning reloads, shoots at hobgoblin, but misfires (rolls a 2). Ninja moves to flank hobgoblin next to samurai, hits and kills him. Sorcerer fires two magic missiles at boss. Boss falls. Samurai moves to take out hobgoblin, but misses. Last two hobgoblins focus on samurai, one of which crits him, but Samurai is still up. Oracles absorbs 5, casts a CLW on Samurai. Next round, they wrap of the two remaining hobgoblins.
Comments: This was supposed to be the big, nasty battle, and it was. The samurai would have dropped a couple of times if it wasn't for the hp battery of the oracle. The gunslinger was really happy about being able to do real damage with his weapon via enlarge, but nearly through the gun down in disgust with the misfire. Burning that ki point to take out the enemy ninja really saved the day, as the combo of the samurai and ninja flanking the team's samurai would have put an end to him pretty quickly. It was kinda anti-climatic for the boss to finally be dropped by the sorcerer's magic missiles, but so such things go. The crit came at really the perfect time.
Final comments: The samurai was mostly happy with his character, his main comment was he wanted something to replace mount, and was curious what Katana would end up looking like. The ninja was also fairly happy, although he wanted trapfinding as a ninja trick, and the poisoned shurikin turned out to be a bad, bad idea. Applying poison to his blades would have been more effective, although he isn't sure how much. The gunslinger was the least happy, although with lightning reload he was doing mostly ok. He is also concerned that most musket builds are going to look really similar (Rapid Reload, lightning reload, extra grit, vital strike chain). He also wanted an easier way to regain grit. With a 20x4 crit, he was having to target nearly dead opponents to regain grit. The enlarge spell was really nice, going from 1d12 to 3d6 damage, and the -2 to hit was mostly ignorable when targeting touch. Final comment was about ammo cost. He jokingly asked that instead of paying 1 gp per bullet could he instead use sling bullets, which were 10 per silver piece.
So for the playtest, you can only be a Conjuration or Evocation specialist wizard? While it doesn't specifically state that out of your two bonus words per level, 1 has to be from the school, Can you really be an illusion specialist if there are only two illusion words in the entire game?
(I assume that there will be more words of power than what is listed in the final book.)
Also, if you combine words with one of them being from your specialist school, can you use it in your specialist slot? For example a spell that does both acid (conjuration) + fire (evocation). Can you use the spell in your evocation specialist slot?
