GM Xavier Kahlvet's Hell's Rebels 2e

Game Master KingTreyIII

So, unless somebody really wants the poisoner's staff or the horribly creepy secret keeper's mask, the loot from our dearly departed friend Shurshogot (minus the costs of the exorcism and not including the dagger) nets us 310gp, which covers the repair cost of the pump.

The dagger is worth 155.2gp and so would sell for 77.6gp. I think it's a straight upgrade for the silver dagger Chance already has, so we could sell that one instead for 50.1gp.

Looking at everyone's stat block, it looks like Edrakk has the highest Stealth modifier, thanks to the shadow rune on his armor.

Some other stuff on the inventory sheet I see we haven't assigned to anyone:

1) A ring of discretion, which makes weapons and armor you're wearing invisible or look like ordinary clothes. Weapons become visible as soon as you actively wield them. I think this would be good for Vitalis, since he's the one who's always the most visibly armed and armored.
2) A clandestine cloak, +1 item bonus to Stealth checks and Deception checks to impersonate a nondescript background character, -1 penalty to Diplomacy and Intimidate, both when the hood is up. Additionally, it can be activated once per day (also by raising the hood) to cast nondetection on you for 1 hour or until you lower the hood again. Good for any of us.
3) A minor healing potion.
4) A scroll of undetectable alignment. I can't use this, but it's an Uncommon occult spell so Chance could learn it to gain access.
5) A scroll of restore senses. Common occult spell.
6) A scroll of remove disease. Divine/primal, so none of us can use it, but it might be good to keep on hand anyway. One of us might get Trick Magic Device, or it could save us some money if we have a friendly divine/primal spellcaster NPC cast it for us.
7) A scroll of fear.
8) A scroll of share lore. I've taught this to Thatch, but it would be good for Chance to have as well, since he could use it to give everyone Bardic Lore for 10 minutes.
9) Scroll of silence. Common occult spell.
10) Scroll of hypercognition. Common occult spell.
11) Scroll of glibness!! Uncommon occult spell! +4 status bonus to checks to Deception checks to lie, and you add your level even if you're untrained!
12) Quick runner's shirt. Once per hour, activate with 2 actions to Stride twice with a +10 status bonus to your speed for those actions. Also good for Vitalis with his speed penalty.
13) Bottled air. Not sure what to do with this one. I can carry it around in my sleeves for emergencies.
14) +1 chain shirt. Chance? It would remove the armor penalty to your Acrobatics, Athletics, and Thievery skills, and would net you a +1 increase to your armor without having to spend a day and some money transferring runes.

I think that's everything! It also looks like we have a second wand of heal to sell, so that's nice.

Thanks for putting together this list Jisara.

I'll take the Quick Runner's Shirt. Vitalis' speed sucks.

I'll also reluctantly take the Ring of Discretion. For the most part, Vitalis views using illusions as a form of lying and thus goes against his champion's code. However, he would use it sparingly in a situation where being conspicuous would prevent harm to others.

Hi, all - starting to recover from the family stuff over the past few days and to get through inconvenient work deadlines. I'll finish figuring out reviewing the loot list and downtime activities in the morning and get a post up. I'll check in with Edrakk's player as well.

The dagger is worth 155.2gp and so would sell for 77.6gp. I think it's a straight upgrade for the silver dagger Chance already has, so we could sell that one instead for 50.1gp.

I was actually wondering if maybe Edrakk could use the dagger, if it's ok with Chance? Mainly cause it would give a good ranged option for poison, since his hand crossbow is a pain action-wise. We could then transfer/sell the runes from his gale blade and crossbow. I don't think Edrakk needs anything else.

He will cast sigil for any of the Silver Ravens and Order of the Torrent Hellknights who want it.

Vitalis wants his as a tramp-stamp.

Day 3:

Chance spends a day on the party's buying and selling (once we finalize those decisions). Among the purchases, he borrows 15gp against his share of the proceeds and buys an assortment of precious metals, rare incense, and herbs.

Alright, since someone did it, if I could get folks to take a look through the inventory sheet (and make a subsequent post here in Discussion once they do so) and mark off anything their character would keep so I can properly do some selling.

Also, a couple of things about Chance's downtime stuff: You would need to switch the buying/selling with the Exorcise Lorelu (so that the latter would be on the same days as Vitalis doing it).

Learn a Spell actually takes hours per spell level, so if you wanted to do it during downtime you could do up to 8 levels of spells during a single day of downtime. Additionally, because you're a spontaneous caster, Learn a Spell doesn't do as much as it does for, say, Jisara. YOU would only need to Learn a Spell for non-common spells so that you could be able to add it to your repertoire at future levels; Learning a Spell on a common spell (like share lore) does literally nothing for you.

Yeah, I apologize if I was unclear: I think Chance should take the scroll so that he can cast from it if we need to do a sudden consultation on something.

With regards to aiding me on the crafting check, it doesn't matter because I just barely made the DC, so even a crit on the aid action wouldn't be enough to improve the degree of success. I think even if I rolled a 19 that would only get me to a 34, so only a crit success from a master in crafting would give me the +3 I would need to critically succeed.

I am still waiting on everybody looking through the inventory as well as clarification on Chance’s downtime stuff. But with the Lucky Bones moved into, that means that the rebellion's maximum level now increases to 15!

I went through the inventory. But if you still need something from me, let me know.

“Chance” Ravennablitz wrote:

Day 3:

Chance spends a day on the party's buying and selling (once we finalize those decisions). Among the purchases, he borrows 15gp against his share of the proceeds and buys an assortment of precious metals, rare incense, and herbs.

Alright, since someone did it, if I could get folks to take a look through the inventory sheet (and make a subsequent post here in Discussion once they do so) and mark off anything their character would keep so I can properly do some selling.

Also, a couple of things about Chance's downtime stuff: You would need to switch the buying/selling with the Exorcise Lorelu (so that the latter would be on the same days as Vitalis doing it).

Learn a Spell actually takes hours per spell level, so if you wanted to do it during downtime you could do up to 8 levels of spells during a single day of downtime. Additionally, because you're a spontaneous caster, Learn a Spell doesn't do as much as it does for, say, Jisara. YOU would only need to Learn a Spell for non-common spells so that you could be able to add it to your repertoire at future levels; Learning a Spell on a common spell (like share lore) does literally nothing for you.

Switching which day Chance goes to market is fine. Learning the spell - that was my mistake; I wrote that long downtime post on my phone, in fits and starts over the course of a loooong day with a lot of interruptions. I just misremembered which spell was the uncommon occult spell we had on a scroll. Undetectable alignment is the level 2 uncommon spell Chance learns from a scroll during that day.

On the inventory:

It’s fine with me if Edrakk takes the +1 silver striking returning dagger.

If there’s no objection, Chance will take the +1 chain mail. And I don’t think I knew that the +1 armor potency rune removed the ACP - that’s great!

I assume we’re going to keep the bag of holding? The only reason I even ask is that we’re sticking mostly to Kintargo and we have a base, but I still think we ought to keep it. Maybe someone with more than an 8 Strength can carry it without being encumbered just by the weight of the bag?

Clandestine cloak - I agree it’s worth keeping. Let’s stick it in the bag of holding.

As Jisara says, Chance can use all of the scrolls that Jisara didn’t take except for remove disease. I agree with her suggestion to keep that one as well.

Jisara, do you want to take the fear scroll? It’s turning out to be more your thing than Chance’s.

Assuming we’re selling the poisoner’s staff and secret-keeper’s mask and everything else now marked off on the spreadsheet, the “Sell Value” column now shows total sale proceeds of 380.95. Jisara's calculations showed proceeds of 310gp after the cost of the exorcist, but as far as I can see that only cost 40gp, so we should be at 340.95. Fixing the pump cost 200gp, taking us to 140.95. Chance will also sell his studded leather armor for 1.5gp, resulting in a total of 142.45. Does that look right?

I’ll get Chance’s statblock updated shortly.

If there’s no objection, Chance will take the +1 chain mail. And I don’t think I knew that the +1 armor potency rune removed the ACP - that’s great!

It...doesn't. Does it? I don't remember ever seeing that.

“Chance” Ravennablitz wrote:

If there’s no objection, Chance will take the +1 chain mail. And I don’t think I knew that the +1 armor potency rune removed the ACP - that’s great!

It...doesn't. Does it? I don't remember ever seeing that.

I don’t remember seeing it anywhere either (and I looked again yesterday), but when I equipped Chance with the +1 chain shirt in HeroLab, sure enough the ACP was gone. I know HeroLab isn’t definitive, but it’s a pretty good starting point. Jisara, did you see this in the rules someplace?

I think we should keep the Bag of Holding. Unfortunately, despite my strength, my character is near encumbered as is. I'm currently at 8.7 bulk out of 10. If I carry the bag around with me, I'd only have room left for 3 light, which isn't much. Stupid armor and weapon take up 6 of that 8 bulk.

It's the chain shirt's Flexible trait that removes the armor check penalty, but only for Acrobatics and Athletics, not Thievery like I initially thought. The counterbalance is that it's also Noisy, which means it applies to Stealth even if you meet the Strength requirement.

GM, you wrote that fixing the pump would take 3 days of work, so I think I should only be at 4/7 days of retraining.

I'm only at 1.3 bulk currently, so I can carry the bag of holding. Between that, my sleeves of storage, and my own 10 Strength, I can haul around up to 40 bulk of items before being encumbered. I've created a spoiler for the bag at the top of my profile, but it might be better to create a spreadsheet (or add a tab for it to the inventory sheet?). Good items for the bag are things that we won't need in a fight, since it takes two hands (and I think at least 2 actions) to get something out of it. Those history books we have but haven't been hauling around because they're so huge might be useful.

Also, I'm back!

Even more stuff: it looks like we have two owlbear claw talismans, both held by Vitalis. Vitalis, do you have those affixed to anything? You already get the critical specialization of whichever weapon your blade ally is in (your glaive, I assume) but they might be handy on your other weapons.

I do. I have the owlbear claw talismans affixed to my gauntlets. But the likelihood of them ever getting used is very low. I took them at level 1 from some loot pile when no one else wanted them and I never had the opportunity to put them to good use. If anyone else wants them, I am more than happy to part with them. Like you said, I have the specialization for my glaive.

Aaaaaand I’m sick. Again. Not COVID this time, but I now have a nasty cough and am congested as hell. So apologies if I’m not posting in a timely manner.

(Should I post more downtime for another week, or for one day if we want to attend this ceremony?)

One day.

GM, you wrote that fixing the pump would take 3 days of work, so I think I should only be at 4/7 days of retraining.

You are correct.

Chance gets the other Ravens together in one of the rooms they've taken for using for small group meetings.

Chance, who exactly did you mean when you said “other Ravens” here? The other PCs? Anyone you can get?

In that case, I will spend the bonus day retraining and end up at 5/7 anyway, lol. I put it in parentheses next to the feat on my profile as I couldn't think of a better place to track it. Sorry you're not feeling well, that sounds like what I had a little while back.

I think pairs of gauntlets are usually treated as a single item (except for when they're not, like with dual wielding feats), so you would only be able to affix one talisman at a time. That said, the claws are cheap enough and still stay useful that I think it might be worth having enough for everybody, particularly with how rare weapon crits are for us non-paladins.

GM, is the reason we tend to keep losing money on Earn Income due to some factor we're ignoring? If so, that might be something we want to look into, since there's only one shadowy, arguably criminal organization that Jisara is interested in funding.

Ok. So take them. I'll take them off my character sheet.

No, sorry! I was thinking of getting more of them when we go shopping, not taking yours! I apologize for being unclear.

Ok. Well you can still take mine and then purchase any more you'd use. Like I said, they are being wasted on me.

GM, is the reason we tend to keep losing money on Earn Income due to some factor we're ignoring? If so, that might be something we want to look into, since there's only one shadowy, arguably criminal organization that Jisara is interested in funding.

Since this is something I'm 85% sure y'all won't really make the connection for: it's Norgorber. Y'all are sorta-desecrating a Norgorborite location (the Lucky Bones) by taking it for yourself and discovering both the building's secrets and the secrets that the Gray Spiders kept locked inside. And if there's one thing the god of secrets detests, it's secrets being easily revealed. As such, you were all affected by Norgorber's minor curse.

Y'all didn't do something so blatantly blasphemous that you're on Norgorber's radar for the rest of your lives, but you DID do enough for him to want to make your lives slightly more difficult for a bit (I actually wrote down a date in which this curse ends).

I did kinda want to write a whole spoiler thing about how the gods do not interfere in mortal agency but do not totally separate themselves from it, but I decided against it because I wanted you guys to at least have the small bit of confusion as to what was going on since mortals don't always know when the gods are enacting their powers. Gods work in mysterious ways and all that.

Basically, this is a long-winded way of saying that if you decide to desecrate a place dedicated to a god, don't expect the god to just sit back and accept it.

I'm fine with it.

Oh also, until I think we are going to be facing undead again, I'm going to change my default for Blade Ally from Disrupting to Shifting for now.

Neat! I think from our side it's more that the Gray Spiders failed to protect their secrets from us, but he's a god and we're not. As you said, they are mysterious and can be vindictive little bastards.

I really like the boons and curses, so I'm glad to see one (with the potential for more!). I do worry about what Asmodeus will do to us when we really start causing trouble for his minions, though! Thanks for the detailed answer. :)

I am mostly waiting for Chance to answer questions posed to him (both in-character from PCs and out-of-character from me), as well as waiting to see what others do with that one day of downtime.

I'm also leaving time to react to the news of Barzillai's announcement.

I am mostly waiting for Chance to answer questions posed to him (both in-character from PCs and out-of-character from me), as well as waiting to see what others do with that one day of downtime.

I'm also leaving time to react to the news of Barzillai's announcement.

Thanks - had a filing today and a little less help than expected, so yesterday and today were tight. I'm putting together responses for the in-character questions now (although the real answer to Jisara's second question is "By private message").

“Chance” Ravennablitz wrote:

Chance gets the other Ravens together in one of the rooms they've taken for using for small group meetings.

Chance, who exactly did you mean when you said “other Ravens” here? The other PCs? Anyone you can get?

Sorry - that was ambiguous. I meant the other PCs. Generally I think of the Order of the Torrent (other than Vitalis) as allies, and the followers as followers, as opposed to Silver Ravens. Now that I'm thinking about it, though, that's probably not accurate, at least as to the followers. Which gives me an idea for my next Gameplay post...

Well we are not the only Silver Ravens at this point. We may be the 'leaders' but we've recruited 95 followers who are also Silver Ravens.

I think we should go to this event in force. Disguises are a good idea. We could also be surrounded by followers who'd help keep scrutinizing eyes from getting too close.

Did some quick math and I can crank out hats of disguise at a decent discount, particularly if our Earn Income checks are still cursed while I'm crafting. I critically succeed on an 11 and only fail (but not critically) on a nat 1. If someone can Aid me then I crit on a 9 or 10.

On a crit success (the most likely result) I get the full 50% discount at 10 days of work, while a regular success takes 12 days (though part of that effort is wasted, so I'd stop at 11), meaning I can make one for 15 or 16gp instead of 30. Saves us 42-45gp vs just buying them.

Earn Income for the same period of 30-33 days:
Success (Cursed): 15-16.5gp
Crit Success (Cursed): 24-26.4gp
Success: 30-33gp
Crit Success: 60-66gp

Basically, the only situation where it would be cheaper to just do Earn Income and then buy the hats would be if we weren't cursed for any of the relevant period and if all my rolls are 15 or higher. As we get further and further past Kintargo's settlement level of 5, the math gets better and better for us Crafting stuff. Now we just need more formulas!

As a bonus, we certainly draw less attention this way than buying a bunch of these all at once would be.

Doesn't affect Crafting, only Earn Income (even though both are based on the same table)

Okay, I'm going to move things along because I'm impatient, but there are several things that do need to be retconned in:

First, there is a single day of downtime that everyone needs to resolve (Jisara already did). ACTUALLY, somewhere along the way I messed up dates and stuff. 19 Neth, 4715 (November 19, 2015) was actually an Oathday (Thursday). That's the last date I obviously listed and it was pre-downtime, SO the conversation from Chance about the whole ceremony thing is actually happening, like, the night before the ceremony itself. Oddly enough that works out in my favor for convenience. And yes, it being on an Oathday was intentional.

Second, Chance, in this post (as well as a retcon later) said that you Learned a Spell to learn undetectable alignment. That only took two hours and didn't necessarily need an entire day of downtime to do. During that same time, would you also like to attempt to Learn a Spell with that scroll of glibness? (It would require a separate check to do, however).

Third, as I understand it, y'all are going to go to the celebration in disguise. Is there anything ELSE y'all would like to do in anticipation of this ceremony?

I was looking at stuff I could spend my money on. I see there is a Bane weapon property rune but it is listed as Uncommon. Would a Fiend-Bane rune for my weapon be something I could purchase?

Second, Chance, in this post (as well as a retcon later) said that you Learned a Spell to learn undetectable alignment. That only took two hours and didn't necessarily need an entire day of downtime to do. During that same time, would you also like to attempt to Learn a Spell with that scroll of glibness? (It would require a separate check to do, however).

Third, as I understand it, y'all are going to go to the celebration in disguise. Is there anything ELSE y'all would like to do in anticipation of this ceremony?

Sorry, I should have been clearer about that partial day. The problem with learning glibness from the scroll is that as a level 4 spell, it requires 36gp of materials. Before the sales, chance had 16.98 gp. With the final proceeds from market day (+35.24), less the initial cost of materials* for Jisara to craft him a hat of disguise (-15.00), that leaves him with a total 37.22 gp. I could probably think of something else to buy, but I don't believe there is anything critical for him to have.

So yes, Chance will spend 4 hours and 36 gp to attempt to learn glibness from the scroll (I'll post his roll in the Gameplay thread).

*I know she won't be starting for a while, but accounting for it now means I don't have to track it to remember later.

I'm not sure how much prep time we have if we only really learned about the ceremony the night before. If he has time to both prepare a disguise (subject to discussion in character about what kind of disguise) and Gather Information, he will take another two hours that evening to specifically hunt for information about the ceremony. He is willing to spend every last copper of his remaining 1.22 gp to buy drinks for people, if that will help.

I'd like formulas for 1st and 2nd level wands, plus an elite disguise kit which should be a total of 51 gp. Do I need to get a formula for Chance's staff? If so, it would be an additional 8 gp for the base level 5 version.

Thatch's abilities for the day:
1. Speech (Common)
2. Independent
3. Cantrip Connection
4. Familiar Focus
5. Fast Movement (Land)
6. Tough

I was looking at stuff I could spend my money on. I see there is a Bane weapon property rune but it is listed as Uncommon. Would a Fiend-Bane rune for my weapon be something I could purchase?

For that one I’ll say no. An argument could be made about other kinds of bane runes, but with Barzillai having a stranglehold on the city, I’m almost certain he would prevent any devil- and/or fiend-bane runes from being in the market to be able to be used against him. I’m usually sorta lenient about uncommon stuff, but every now and then I do kinda have to put my foot down.

(I'll post his roll in the Gameplay thread).

DC 25 Occultism, FYI.

I'm not sure how much prep time we have if we only really learned about the ceremony the night before. If he has time to both prepare a disguise (subject to discussion in character about what kind of disguise) and Gather Information, he will take another two hours that evening to specifically hunt for information about the ceremony. He is willing to spend every last copper of his remaining 1.22 gp to buy drinks for people, if that will help.

(Save your money).

Do I need to get a formula for Chance's staff? If so, it would be an additional 8 gp for the base level 5 version.

I would say no. The whole point of a personal staff is that it’s meant to be unique and created to one’s own specifications, so needing a “recipe” to follow for making it seems odd. I’d say that any costs like that would be included in the usual costs to Craft the staff (specifically in this circumstance with the personal staff; you’d still need to somehow get the formula for Crafting other things).

Chance: My plan is to start on those after I finish retraining my skill feat. Making a disguise using a disguise kit takes about 10 minutes. As for the money required to learn glibness, Jisara can easily spot you the cash until after we sell our loot, so the timing isn't important.

GM: Thanks! Maybe we can find a formula for bane runes someplace, even if we can't find any fiend bane runes already on the market.

Based on my understanding of the elite disguise kit, it should also give a +1 item bonus to our Deception DCs for the purposes of Impersonate, in addition to the bonus on the secret check when we directly interact with someone while disguised.

Earlier in the week:
Chance attempts to learn glibness from the scroll.
Learn a Spell (Occultism): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34

Last night (Wealday 25 Neth 4715):
Chance runs back into the Lucky Bones, pulling up his sleeve and waving the magical tattoo on his forearm in the general direction of the fireplace so that his elemental watchdog won't start barking in his brain to warn him that he has entered his new home.

"JisaraEdrakkVitalis! Thrune's people have been telling people - other people, not themselves - that the Silver Ravens agreed to be the guests of honor at the ceremony! But we didn't agree - we didn't even get an invitation before we drowned! I mean we didn't really drown but you know what I mean! Anyway, if we didn't get the invitation and we didn't agree to show up then who did Barzillai invite and who agreed to show up and what are they going to do now that they've drowned? I mean, we drowned? I mean, nobody drowned drowned, but whatever - who in the Hells is Barzillai giving his award to?!?"

OATHDAY, FINALLY!
Walking over to Aria Park, Chance brims over with nervous energy and too much coffee. "I wonder what the fake Silver Ravens will look like! Edrakk, do you think they'll have a tengu? I hope they have a gnome, that would be neat. I'm sure they'll have a tiefling, Jisara, and certainly one of ... what are you again, Vitalis? Ha! Just kidding, I know you're a longshanks. What about mustaches? I bet they'll all have mustaches and goatees, even the women. So people can tell them apart from the real us. Maybe we should find a fake Barzillai! We could have a big ceremony and he could issue fake proclamations, like 'Hi, everybody, I'm the real Barzillai Thrune! I like to drink minty sweet tea at night, with my mongrel dog and my best friend, a ship's captain from someplace far away who's wearing fancy embroidered trousers! Without a license!" He pulls his journal and a stick of charcoal out of a pocket and starts scribbling notes as he walks. "That was pretty good! I've gotta write that down to use it in this play I'm writing in my spare time! "

Waiting for something to happen, probably something horrible:
"That... is a lot of nasty Hellknights. Why can't Barzillai surround himself with the nice kind of Hellknights, like your friends, Vitalis?"

Dunno why you also put that in Discussion, but I'll go with the one in Gameplay. Also, you ninja'd me; VERY important thing happened right before you posted, Chance.

Sorry for the confusion - seeing that I put that post in the Discussion thread explains why I thought it had gotten eaten by the Gameplay thread (and this is why I rarely type anything directly into the Add New Post window in the browser). I had to post it again (not realizing I had posted it here already), and then was taken by surprise when your post appeared ahead of it. I must have had tabs with both threads open at the Add New Post section and pasted it into the wrong one.

Quick question as I try to update Chance's character sheet on HeroLab - the staff Barzillai gave to Chance looks like a level 9 personal staff with the illusion or evocation staff train and the auditory spells trait, is that how you built it?

Quick question as I try to update Chance's character sheet on HeroLab - the staff Barzillai gave to Chance looks like a level 9 personal staff with the illusion or evocation staff train and the auditory spells trait, is that how you built it?

Level 9 and auditory trait. As for the school trait, I’ll leave that to you to decide (since it’s eerily created how you would have liked it to be made).

Though, slight retcon with the staff on my part:
Replace the 2nd-level biting words with blistering invective (to add some variety, since you don’t HAVE to speak the same language as the target like you do for biting words).
The staff itself is inlaid with silver embellishments in the shape of ravens.

So The Dischordance is ACTUALLY

Cantrip: bullhorn
1st: biting words, ventriloquism
2nd: blistering invective, sonata span
3rd: biting words, distracting chatter

“Chance” Ravennablitz wrote:

Quick question as I try to update Chance's character sheet on HeroLab - the staff Barzillai gave to Chance looks like a level 9 personal staff with the illusion or evocation staff train and the auditory spells trait, is that how you built it?

Level 9 and auditory trait. As for the school trait, I’ll leave that to you to decide (since it’s eerily created how you would have liked it to be made).

Though, slight retcon with the staff on my part:
Replace the 2nd-level biting words with blistering invective (to add some variety, since you don’t HAVE to speak the same language as the target like you do for biting words).
The staff itself is inlaid with silver embellishments in the shape of ravens.

So The Dischordance is ACTUALLY

Cantrip: bullhorn
1st: biting words, ventriloquism
2nd: blistering invective, sonata span
3rd: biting words, distracting chatter

Got it, thanks. And yes, "eerie" describes it pretty well!

Also, as I struggle to keep Chance from being encumbered without stashing items he might need in combat in the bag of holding or otherwise out of reach, this feels like an appropriate place to whine about scrolls having light bulk in 2E (as opposed to being weightless in 1E). Chance is definitely going to have to pick up a set of sleeves of storage soon.

Edited to add: Just realized that I forgot to deduct the 15gp Chance borrowed from his share of the loot sale proceeds for the components for elemental sentinel, meaning that he has not put away 15gp for the initial 50% of the materials cost for the hat of disguise. He’ll need to do that later. On a positive note, it looks as we will be able to sell the staff of enchantment or staff of divination without needing the proceeds for crafting Chance’s personal staff after all.

Ok, so I got a bunch of stuff at level 7.

HP increased 13 from 86 to 99.

Gained Armor Expertise increasing my AC to 28 and giving DR 3 slashing.

Gained Weapon Specialization increasing damage with all my attacks by +2.

Increased my Athletics skill from Expert to Master.

Took the Wall Jump general feat.

My devotion spells got heightened +1 more level.

(So if I'm understanding correctly, Vitalis can now jump a 40 foot gap as long as there is a wall adjacent to him and would only need to roll a 2+ for each jump, since the DC would be 20 and his Athletics is now +18. Which is pretty cool.)

I think it would be a 35 foot gap, since you still need to land on the other side, but yeah. It's pretty cool.

I get 4th-level spells, Expert spellcasting(!), Master in Arcana, and Toughness.

My new spells are Dimensional Anchor and Phantasmal Killer.

I'm flying to Canada in the morning for a conference, and I need to pack. I'll try to get Chance leveled up in the morning while I'm stuck waiting at the airport. Which reminds me, two things about my schedule this week and next:

1. I'll be at a conference for the rest of the week (Wednesday through Saturday). I should still be able to keep up, but may post a little slowly or at odd hours.
2. The final battle of the Rise of the Runelords campaign I’ve been running since 12/31/2014 for my wife, daughter, and son, and the kids' buddy who lives up the street, is set for June 29. Now that two of the kids are in college and the third is about to start, we’ve had so much trouble scheduling that I’m taking the day off of work. So don’t expect too much from me after I get home from the conference on 6/25 until 6/30 or 7/1. I'll post when I can, but will probably either be jammed at work (recovering from the conference, making up for my day off and the coming long holiday weekend) or making final preparations for the big finale.

I already love this book. We're going to fight Thrune with a DANCE-OFF!

Dance off, bro!

I do feel I need to clarify this: Barzillai's event is a masquerade ball in the opera house, and the Dance of the Damned is a portion of the ball.

Have fun with that, Chance! I recently finished a RotRL campaign as a kineticist, and that last fight was brutal for me. I nearly knocked myself out at the very beginning of the fight by rolling a nat 20 on a composite blast, except the bad guy had spell turning so I blasted myself for 18d6+58 bludgeoning/electricity. My luck did not get any better after that, either!

Unrelated: Does anyone want my hat of the magi? Its primary benefit is that +1 item bonus to Arcana checks, but that's superseded by my ring of wizardry now. As a bonus, you get prestidigitation as an arcane innate spell.

Only if I can pull a rabbit out of it.

Have fun with that, Chance! I recently finished a RotRL campaign as a kineticist, and that last fight was brutal for me. I nearly knocked myself out at the very beginning of the fight by rolling a nat 20 on a composite blast, except the bad guy had spell turning so I blasted myself for 18d6+58 bludgeoning/electricity. My luck did not get any better after that, either!

Unrelated: Does anyone want my hat of the magi? Its primary benefit is that +1 item bonus to Arcana checks, but that's superseded by my ring of wizardry now. As a bonus, you get prestidigitation as an arcane innate spell.

Thanks, Jisara! I'm really looking forward to it.

And Chance would happily wear Jisara's hat of the magi if nobody else wants it more.

Chance at level 7:

HP: +11 (+8 Bard, +3 Con), 85 max total
4th-level spells*: pernicious poltergeist (signature spell), tortoise and the hare (I know I'm going to regret not taking dimension door or fly, but some of these spells from Secrets of Magic are just too flavorful to pass up.)
Swap out spells: Replace sound burst from level 2 and replace it with invisibility. Next time we have some downtime, Chance will start retraining to exchange curse of lost time with sound burst at level 3 (which will be his signature spell for level 3); I don't think Chance can do both as part of the leveling up.
Expert spellcaster (DC 25, spell attack +15)
Skill increase: Occultism to master
General feat: Consult the Spirits (APG), which I adore and have been waiting to take since the APG came out.

Question about uncommon spells: If there is a specific uncommon spell Chance would like to learn, how should he go about it in game? Occult research, asking around, trial and error ("Oops! I summoned a hound of Tindalos!")? Chance would happily use a level 4 spell slot every day to cast private sanctum in an appropriate section of the Lucky Bones, if he can learn it.

Level 7 stuff!

Perpetual Infusions: Giant Centipede Venom, Spear Frog Poison. I was a bit confused about what the full range of options were, since the rules just say "1st-level alchemical poisons", which implies just those two plus Arsenic, but HeroLab (which I know is not always trustworthy) seems to think pesh and blood sap also count, but not anything else with the poison tag. I was kind of hoping 1st-level blight bombs would qualify, but I don't think they do.

Alchemical Formulas: Juggernaut mutagen (moderate), giant wasp venom

General feat: Advanced First Aid

Skill Increase: Medicine

I'll post in Gameplay and update the character sheet tomorrow.

Also, I know the description says it's a cloak, but I'm absolutely imagining the backfire mantle as a red mad scientist's lab coat.

Question about uncommon spells: If there is a specific uncommon spell Chance would like to learn, how should he go about it in game? Occult research, asking around, trial and error ("Oops! I summoned a hound of Tindalos!")? Chance would happily use a level 4 spell slot every day to cast private sanctum in an appropriate section of the Lucky Bones, if he can learn it.

Um…The very first thing I thought of was cashing in a favor to Captain Sargaeta for a handful (for the sake of argument, let’s say 3) scrolls of uncommon spells. Otherwise I’d maybe say using downtime to ask around and try to find some. For that spell in particular, though, it would create some weirdness due to the fact that it’s ambiguous whether or not it would extend around corners/through walls (it only says “100-foot burst”). I think what you’re thinking of is more in the realm of ward domain

I was a bit confused about what the full range of options were, since the rules just say "1st-level alchemical poisons", which implies just those two plus Arsenic

Giant centipede venom, spear frog poison, and arsenic. Those are the options. Never use Hero Lab as a definitive rules source.

Also, I know the description says it's a cloak, but I'm absolutely imagining the backfire mantle as a red mad scientist's lab coat.

I love it! Here’s the thing, though, it’s likely not going to be worn by you, but rather the person most likely to be in the fray of combat where accidental friendly fire is more likely (AKA Vitalis).