My brother, who's now a "Senior" Windows programmer/installer, basically tells his boss "Yeah, I don't work Fridays after Thanksgiving."
I had over 5 weeks this year (3 + 2+ rollover). I've used 1 week in a row so far, and another 10 or so for feeling sick or taking care of crud I needed to take care of. So, 28 days or so and so far taken a little over half of it.
To properly assess the damage to the incoming fleet, you'll need Kn(Engineering) and Prof(Sailor).
Which means I need to add Knowledge: Engineering to my list. Drat! Just when I thought I could save up the points to advance all my other Knowledge skills to "2" at the same time.
Flann's not very good at the maths. I can technically pick up the skill, but it's not a class skill, and Flann's int is just barely +2... If there's enough time to take 20, though, that is a 23...
I can start taking Engineering as long as I can find a good IC reason to do so.
Kn(Engineering) let's you design ships and diagnose what is wrong with them.
Profession (Sailor) let's you be a sailor, and make routine repairs to a ship.
Combined, they let you determine if the ship just needs a routine repair, or if a more elaborate repair needs to be made (replacing a main spar instead of just rebuilding the portion of the hull that got damaged for example), and to perform both routine and complex repairs.
Appraise allows you to estimate the cost of diagnosed repairs (routine or complex).
Craft(Woodworking) or Craft(Carpentry) can replace Profession(Sailor) for wooden ships for purposes of repairing them or diagnosing them.
Profession(shipwright) allows the character to diagnose and repair both routine and complex ship repairs, as well as estimate costs, however, they cannot design new ships, nor make repairs to non-ships or build houses, nor can they appraise the value of anything other than a ship. (IE: They're getting a very targeted skill that only works on ships, and nothing else).
Your current shipwright has Appraise, Prof(Shipwright), Kn(Engineering), and Prof(Sailor), and can therefore use the other skills as complimentary skills for the Prof(SW) check, giving her a boost, and making her capable of handling an entire shipyard.
I looked up "Sailor" on the PRD. Connor doesn't even match up to a First Mate (Profession: Sailor +12). And as a Captain (+21), Connor doesn't even come close. The First Mate is a CR 8, and a Captain is a CR 11, so Connor's got a few ranks to catch up. There's also the Captain's Diplomacy (+10), Survival (+10), and Swim (+10).
But, as to the above, Connor now has Appraise +6, Knowledge: Engineering: +9, and Profession: Sailor: +10. Add in the psionics-only Autohypnosis: Memorization +8, and with some blueprints, Connor should be able to estimate cost of diagnosed repairs, at least until we make it to a shipyard.
Yep, that works.
And yes, Connor is not the best captain in the world. :P He's barely First Mate material.
All right, all right, I know where to put the skill points next level. I did jump from a +6 to a +10. It's the same with Diplomacy. Connor's going to have to start crafting a (floating) Companion Stone of Diplomacy (1,700 gp, +4 to Diplomacy) and add Friendly to Hero the psicrystal next level (+3 to Diplomacy) so he can put the skill points in Pro:Sailor instead.
If you do have a trainer, we'll say Psychic Reformation lets you retrain in half the time. That ought to make the power worth having. Basically, you create a 'vacuum' of knowledge, and it's easier to learn something for a bit as your brain tries to fill that void.
mdt, is it possible for Connor to visit all the temples around the city without causing an incident like the last time? Connor needs his 1 rank of Knowledge: Religion, and I'm curious about the colors the temples have with Connor's adjusted eye. Does this color-seeing ability also extend to divine-magic items, or just temples? No visitations as intricate as Flann's or as long as Adran's, needing roleplay, just a walk-up and glance-around to learn the different alignments. Hopefully the lesser priests and followers won't "recognize" Connor as he walks up.
Connor still has no plans on visiting the temple to Tenfa outside the city - like he told Flann, why read up on a "girfriend" when you can talk to her directly? But I wonder if Connor could make an astral construct of Tenfa, in her likeness, and have Tenfa control Connor to make the construct walk around and speak through Connor. That gets into the divine-critic critique of "is Connor really possessed, or is it a figment of his imagination?".
But Connor wouldn't want to overwhelm/embarrass the priests and priestesses of Tenfa's temple if they do "recognize" him. If Flann describes the temple to Connor, Connor will find it interesting, however.
Just divine stuff. Arcane stuff doesn't register.
Good Temples : Have a golden hue
Neutral Temples : Have a whitish hue
Evil Temples : Have a purplish hue
Lawful Temples : Have very precise auras with sharp edges.
Neutral Temples : Have soft fuzzy auras.
Chaotic temples : Have wildly shifting auras.
Each god seems to have a slightly different 'tone' in their aura, that is, like a secondary color overlaid over the gold, white, purple. Tenfa's is blue, so her temple has a blue-white aura that's constantly shifting. Alcinea's temple has the palest white of any temple, making it look almost ghostly. Listrana's temple is gold, sharp edged aura, with red swords scattered throughout the aura. Finally, Sobet's temple's aura has a sharp well defined scale pattern throughout it, with metallic colors showing through the gold underglow.
Attn new players: your healer can only heal four other characters at a time. Let me know if you're a front-line fighter type, so I can be sure your healthcare provider is in-network.
Hello new and future teammates; I'm looking forward to joining in. I have a summary of Vim at the bottom of his profile, but feel free to ask any question about him if you have them.
RE: fighting & front lines
Vim is grapple-based, so in combat scenarios he'll be doing his level best to be up front and personal with the enemies.
Hola everybody!
Kotsi is ranged based, though passable at best. She's mainly a skill monkey and vague utility caster.
Hello, Vim (and others)!
Yes, healing is our weak point, even with Flann specializing in it. We have found with Dreamscarred Press that psionics uses the "one ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" rule. Thus get Vigor, Gladiator's Gauze, Inertial Armor, and loads of healing tattoos and dojres of healing.
If you haven't spent some of your 8th Level WBL amount on healing tattoos at a minimum, I would suggest loading up. The average Medium body can hold up to 20 psionic tattoos before going "blooey". Tattoos of Natural Healing are cheap (50 gp for 3 hp), and combined with Gladiator's Gauze (35 gp), will keep you from the "bleeding out" problem in battles. If you have a psicrystal, put a tattoo on the psicrystal as backup. If you want to "take one for the team" and get a 11,250 gp dorjes of Body Adjustment, that's even better. Because it's going to be hard to get psionic tattoos or dorjes when we leave Atalantia.
Right now out of the four only Connor and Flann use psionic power points. Adran is a powerful Aegis, and Telv is a non-psionic Ooze. Connor can craft, but for some reason everybody wants Connor on deck playing Ship's Captain instead of crafting in the hold. Using touch-telepathy on Connor or Flann can get you access to more powers, and vice-versa.
Connor should be in the back, sending wave after wave of astral constructs and long-range powers like Energy Wall and Concussive Onslaught at targets. Adran loves being point as a scout, and Flann has that pistol of his. We haven't seen Telv yet, but I suspect he is front-line melee as well.
And "Vim" is the name of a 0th-level power that gives 1 temporary hit point. So be ready for the ribbing! :)
Would anyone mind giving me a short synopsis of where you guys are at the moment (or a page where the current "story arc" begins)? I plan to catch up on the thread at some point but 108 pages is a bit much right now.
You'll be starting a new story arc when you're brought in. However, Connor has a nice spreadsheet that gives a basic time flow and synopsis.
Connor's Log link at top.
Argh. You would mention my log! I need to update that. Gimmie a day or two.
Hello, Kotsi!
Flann's healing network also grants telepathy, and allows for power sharing without the touch requirement. If you have a really good psicraft skill it's something to look at if you want access to a bunch of 0-level powers. (Since nobody else uses PP)
Synopsis from Flann's perspective:
A demon/dragon/pirate blew up our ship and salsa'd Teath, whom we shall all remember in our hearts.
We visited a town with reptilian people. They lay eggs! Flann spent several hours alone with a small, male lizardfolk, but insists it was purely academic.
This town is all full of mercinaries. They're getting ready for war, and we were sent to get a wish to tie up a dragon who was bothering the city.
It... did not go as planned, and Flann doesn't like to talk about it. On the bright side, everyone got new dye jobs and the ship's getting fixed.
Welcome new folks! I'm a Southern Elf!
As Connor has surmised, Telv is a reasonably powerful melee combatant. I'm the other new addition to the group, having recently met the group in a certain place (Telv is not allowed to say more about it).
Hello, Vim (and others)!
...
And "Vim" is the name of a 0th-level power that gives 1 temporary hit point. So be ready for the ribbing! :)
Haha, yeah, I'm ready! It was a tongue-in-cheek backstory choice for a character whose family is rather exclusively made of up successful Vitalists. I liked the idea of his folks naming him Vim and then being rather....disappointed when he was absolutely NOT a Vitalist.
I did manage to hold onto some extra gold, so I'll grab a tattoo or two as insurance.
For those following the Rules As Written, Connor may have shot himself in the foot, as the psionic power Call Item (found in a D&D 3.0 list on Wizards of the Coast's web site and graciously allowed by our GM) states the following: "This power cannot call weapons, armor, psionic items, masterwork items... The item is made of ordinary materials appropriate for its kind." So making a psionic all tools vest with it may seem counter-intuitive, as Connor has now lost the +2 bonus due to masterwork artisan's tools.
It's a sacrifice for weight vs. masterwork bonus. This frees up 5-10 lbs Connor carries in his psionic handy haversack. Also, in the last dungeon crawl through the Prison of the Elements, Connor was using his MW tools as improvised hammers and ice picks. I think the all tools vest will be better at giving "the right tool for the job".
Connor's still at a +16 for crafting using sculpting and a +14 for jewelry. His Psicraft is a +16, in case there's any discrepancy. For making astral constructs Connor typically uses his ungloved hands & fingers like a potter.
Can I ask why you didn't just go buy a vest when you get back, or in town? There are people who can make custom clothes in town.
I keep hoping Flann or Adran will need something crafted on the way back. Also, half price if you craft it yourself.
I got the cords, which fixed my carrying woes, and fixed flying with the level ups...
I guess I could do with armor or resistances, though I hope to continue avoiding damage.
If we're a bit light on healing, maybe we could chip in for a mind stone of 'Natural Healing' for Flann to use. It's not sustainable all day (what is?) but when in a crunch, an ML 6 Vitalist should be able to make 36 HP for 6 pp. Pretty decent if someone takes a big hit, in my experience.
Sorry, I missed the notification. My bad. I'm finally here. Though the alias isn't letting me search pictures so I'm going to have to find a strix picture later.
I'm a ranged character who doesn't face AoO's in melee, so I'm a good switch hitter. I can do piercing or cold (with a chance of slowing people). I've god good perception and stealth, especially when using chameleon
I've played around a little with my character to make me a backup healer (very backup as I only have 22 pp and it's 3+ pp for Body Adjustment). I also took psychic warrior which gives me Vigor and a better AC, so I hopefully won't need so much healing. I got a dorje of natural healing and one of vigor each at ML2. I also get to join the collective without taking up a slot.
Actually, the cool thing about vitalists is that they can spend 1 pp to add another person in their collective to a power. Then they can shift around the healing as needed. This is usually more efficient than other forms of augmentation.
I use my 30 days of Vacation time a year on 4 day weekends. I take 1 or two a month normally.
I do a 3 day weekend every three weeks. I haven't worked more than two 40-hour weeks in a row in over five years.
Actually, the cool thing about vitalists is that they can spend 1 pp to add another person in their collective to a power. Then they can shift around the healing as needed. This is usually more efficient than other forms of augmentation.
This is why I'm not too worried about being able to cover us on the healing front. 3+2+1+1PP is 2d12x3 healing with one full round action. (Why Flann was a little fussy about healing bumps and scrapes.)
Hence all the amateur gunslinging.
Flann and Ishthraxa should be good friends. Flann can manifest chameleon on his collective. Should help make stealth missions possible.
If we're a bit light on healing, maybe we could chip in for a mind stone of 'Natural Healing' for Flann to use. It's not sustainable all day (what is?) but when in a crunch, an ML 6 Vitalist should be able to make 36 HP for 6 pp. Pretty decent if someone takes a big hit, in my experience.
That's an option, but only Flann could use it, and at Level 8 we're already seeing 40+ hp in a single hit. Even with 63 pp Connor can drain that pretty quickly with mental barrier every round in a fight, or if he's touched the whole party individually with energy adaptation, specified. We just got off of a dungeon crawl where Connor was down to his last 4 psionic points, and got hit for his max hp in a single round. That's the reason for gladiator's gauze and tattoos of healing.
The most cost-efficient answer is to cover everybody in 50 to 300-gp tattoos of augmented natural healing, or if Mr. Dicebot is kind, body adjustment. Add in one or two fully loaded dorjes of body adjustment and Flann's transferring network, and I could be a lot less paranoid in battle. Of course, maximizing vigor before battle is the best, but you don't always get 1-5 rounds to buff up in this game.
Okay, I'm new here, so I hope this doesn't come across badly. I've played a vitalist before and learned some lessons the hard way.
Mathematically, we should not buy a dorje of body adjustment ever. For 11,250, we get 1d12 of healing x50. It's 6.5 on average, and we risk getting 1's. For the same price we can get 7 dorjes of natural healing at ML2 and one at ML1. The ones at 2 give us 6 points of healing per charge. We don't have the chance to roll high, but we never fumble.
If everybody spends 1,500 on one than we have 2,100 points of healing on tap. Instead of an average of 325 for the same money. Even if we roll max all the time it's only 600.
Or we could do a Dorje of natural healing at caster level 4. This costs 6,000 because of the weird scaling rule, but it does 12 at a shot. It's like a maximized body adjustment for 53% of the price of the normal one.
If you insist on spending 11,250 on one item, then a dorje of natural healing will give us 15 points per shot.
This is why I'm not too worried about being able to cover us on the healing front. 3+2+1+1PP is 2d12x3 healing with one full round action. (Why Flann was a little fussy about healing bumps and scrapes.)
If retraining is an option for Flann, I'd suggest changing out psigifted for psionic knack(vitalist). This puts you at ML 8 for all powers instead of ML 7 for one power.
Then Flann could do natural healing instead of body adjustment.
3+2+1+1 (7)PP is 2d12x3 - average 39, and risks a 6 when we need 72
4+1+1+1 (7)PP is 12x4 - 48, and no chance of crapping out.
Flann and Ishthraxa should be good friends. Flann can manifest chameleon on his collective. Should help make stealth missions possible.
Very true. Stealth missions usually involve most of the party sitting around waiting to spend three rounds running after the stealth group gets ambushed.
Doh! I forgot another way we can get a metric crapload of healing.
I can do nonlethal damage without a penalty, and I even get an extra point of damage. So I just knock out foes instead of killing them.
Then after the battle, Flann uses steal health to vampire up all of their hit points and give them to us. The bad guys expire while unconscious, so they never suffer.
(Yes, I realize that some people may have issues with this)
Same disclaimer on being new and not stepping in toes:
I generally prefer taking the potentially-lower-but-guaranteed HP from Natural Healing as opposed to gambling with the dice, as I'm relatively convinced I offended the dice gods in a previous life.
Changing gears a bit:
Should we be giving thought to Mythic paths? If so, is the Dreamscarred Press mythic material allowed?
I don't have the DP Mythic material, and it hasn't been put up on d20PFSRD yet, so unfortunately, I can't allow it in the game yet. Until it's on d20PFSRD, we'll have to leave it out.
You should be giving it a thought, however, you'll have to wait until in game events occur to provide you your mythic levels. SO keep it in mind, but the newbies won't have them yet.
Doh! I forgot another way we can get a metric crapload of healing.
I can do nonlethal damage without a penalty, and I even get an extra point of damage. So I just knock out foes instead of killing them.
Then after the battle, Flann uses steal health to vampire up all of their hit points and give them to us. The bad guys expire while unconscious, so they never suffer.
(Yes, I realize that some people may have issues with this)
That will be evil, fyi, and your alignment will change... you may have other issues with certain in game entities.
That's an option, but only Flann could use it, and at Level 8 we're already seeing 40+ hp in a single hit.
If it's a weapon attack Flann can use Cushion the Blow
If retraining is an option for Flann, I'd suggest changing out psigifted for psionic knack(vitalist). This puts you at ML 8 for all powers instead of ML 7 for one power.
Then Flann could do natural healing instead of body adjustment.
Willing to do it if I've got the time. I'm not very good at splat sifting, and I've been avoiding too much optimization because Vitalist can dish out stupid amounts of healing if optimized. At the same time, we haven't been in a regular combat encounter since I joined. Closest we got was a rain of cannon fire on the ship crew.
Soulthief Pulse sounds fun with allies who do multiple attacks per round. Everyone's attacks steal 2hp. Five of us with a total of 10 attacks is 20ish HP for 1PP.
I don't have the DP Mythic material, and it hasn't been put up on d20PFSRD yet, so unfortunately, I can't allow it in the game yet. Until it's on d20PFSRD, we'll have to leave it out.
...
I gave Vim the 'Superior Psicrystal' feat which is also not on d20pfsrd (I'd previously bought the PDF; it's really good and did a nice job skating then from familiars). Should I change it out, or do you want me to summarize it in a spoiler or something else?
Summarize it in a spoiler on your character please. If they put it on d20pfsrd, then let me know and you guys can start using that.
Some of the mythic psionics stuff is on the Spheres of Power wiki page.
The mythic stuff is at the bottom. Superior psicrystal still isn't on that one, but much of the other stuff is.
Should I change Kotsi's surname to Tel'Metsaka on her alias?
You can if you want, elvavian's typically use Tel as a clan denotation, similar to how the humans use 'of'. So Connor is 'Of' McIntyre. Generally, Kotsi is Kotsi Tel'Metsaka to indicate she's of Clan Metsaka. Even if she left the clan, unless they strip her of her clan-name, she'd still probably use it. Very few people in Atalantia choose to drop a clan name if they have one, even if they don't like the clan in question. Those who are clanless are usually quick fodder, and no Resellian would drop a clan name unless forced to by her clan.
Vim - if we've been working together for a while, then I probably learned about being a meditant from you.
While retraining, I rearranged my standard Power loadout. I can't wait to try Battlesense / Soulthief's Pulse.
Any other advice is more than welcome. I'm not used to systems as dense as Pathfinder. I'm using PCGen 6 to help with all the maths and options.
Same disclaimer on being new and not stepping in toes:
I generally prefer taking the potentially-lower-but-guaranteed HP from Natural Healing as opposed to gambling with the dice, as I'm relatively convinced I offended the dice gods in a previous life.
Connor looks surprised as he hears a distant voice on the wind, a brother-in-arms against the Dreaded Foe: Mr. Dicebot.
Okay, I'm new here, so I hope this doesn't come across badly. I've played a vitalist before and learned some lessons the hard way.
Mathematically, we should not buy a dorje of body adjustment ever...If you insist on spending 11,250 on one item, then a dorje of natural healing will give us 15 points per shot.
I'm not objecting to your math, but only Vitalists/Egotists can manifest natural healing. The rules are very, very stringent about powers: if you don't have it on your list or from the Expanded Knowledge feat, you're not manifesting it, ever.
So I don't mind shopping to get Flann Swallowtail a mind stone of natural healing (2,000 gp), in fact, it's cheap enough at Level 8 for me to buy Flann one, just to have natural healing available on Flann's telepathic network. I might just do that if/when we get some cash. The manifester level (ML) for a mind stone is 17, which means Connor is barely ever going to be able to craft it in the first place. Buy it in Atalantia while we can.
But my recommendation about tattoos of natural healing, if you buy them in Atalantia, stands. Connor's also keeping his body adjustment on his powers list, just in case. Flann can "spread the wealth" for healing with his telepathic network all he wants, but if the team gets separated or Flann gets hit and goes down, we need a non-Vitalist way of healing him. So I'm willing to be a backup healer, with a healer's kit, if necessary. It sounds like others on the team are as well.
What's our best standard use of Share Pain?
Who wants to be damage buddies with whom?
109 - Adraniel
96 - Telv
82 - Ishthraxa
61 - Flann
51 - Vim
42 - Kotsi
41 - Connor
One character might have to opt out of the Collective if only Ishthraxa can opt in for free.
That's a point. I have body adjustment for the same reason. But spending a lot of money on a dorje for the case where we're separated is not a good idea. We have tattoos and a couple of backup healers for that. Or to bring Flann up.
What's our best standard use of Share Pain?
Who wants to be damage buddies with whom?
109 - Adraniel
96 - Telv
82 - Ishthraxa
61 - Flann
51 - Vim
42 - Kotsi
41 - ConnorOne character might have to opt out of the Collective if only Ishthraxa can opt in for free.
Adran looks like he can share with everybody.
Connor's going to start buffing with vigor (yes, I know how that sounds) regularly before battles. Since he produces expendable meat-shields, what's the rules for Flann to dump all the damage into an astral construct?
If we're talking about a ten-foot-wide corridor, it looks like Adran and Vim up front, then Telv and Kotsi, Flann and Connor in the middle, with Ishthraxa in the rear? With Connor filling holes with astral constructs to make flank-buddies.
Circle or teardrop-wise, Connor in the middle, Adran at point, Vim and Telv on front-left and front-right, with our gunners Flann and Kotsi on the sides, Ishthraxa covering our rear.
Flann's got the only network, no Tacticians here, so as long as Connor doesn't get singled out, he's the most protected if you need to drop a person.