5-13 Weapon in the Rift (5-9) (Inactive)

Game Master Slothsy

Hello, one and all! Welcome to Weapon in the Rift! Here are my ground rules/expectations.

1: Post Regularly

Regularly will vary person-to-person, but I would like it if people could check in at least once a day. That may not exactly be a posting if, say, we're in combat and your turn isn't up, but please at least see what's going on. If we are in combat, please don't leave things hanging. I will control your characters and do what I believe is the best action in the situation. If that means I use a limited per-day ability, it means that. I'd really like to avoid doing this, though.

2: Rule of Two

One of the harder things about PbP is getting everyone to agree to a plan. In this case, if the party is talking about paths to take, the first path to get two voices of support will be the one done. Of course, if you go rogue and just starting doing stuff, that stuff will still happen.

3: Get Into In!

I love RPGs and I love how immersive PbPs can be. Have fun! Banter with your party members, and just generally view this as an immersive experience.

Formatting, Formatting, Formatting

If you could please format your character according to the guidelines in this thread (esp with the information that shows up next to your name on the boards!), it would be incredibly helpful.

Please Sign In

Please sign in here! Please PM me if you wish to play hard mode or not. I'll keep your answer private, and you're welcome to discuss it among yourselves. In addition, please provide me with some brief tactics in the case that I have to control your character during combat.

You can use this thread to make your day job rolls.

Signed up!

I would love to play!

Dayjob: Intimidate, using Caravan Prestige Purchase: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (3) + 19 = 22

Signed up with my level 8 Magus.

I'll get her info up on her profile sometime after work.

I am still happy to play as Tomas, a Brawler/Warpriest 6th.

Done one mission since i signed up so will get all info updated!

Heal, Using Temple vanity: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27

Tier 5-9, is it? Here's what I can offer at the moment:

Kali Altzairu, LN Human Hungry Ghost Qigong Monk 6 (just received her "Serpent's Rise" Chronicle)

Dr. Zephyrus Vitruvian, CN Elf Reanimator/Chirurgeon Alchemist 7 <--just returned from the dead; my very first Pathfinder Society PC death

The Amazing Vanzetti, CG Emberkin Aasimar Razmiran Priest Sorcerer 6

Zeno Loxley, CG Elf Diviner 3/Archer 3 aspiring Arcane Archer

Sihir Aneh, CG Wayang Illusionist 6 Aspiring Veiled Illusionist

What do you think, sirs?

Should be up to date. Let me know if you see anything I missed.

Hi guys! Definitely interested in playing! Just signed up with the character I would be playing, which conveniently happens to be this fellow. :D

I'd like to talk about hard mode or not openly. Looking at the current signups, we are in the high tier; so do the rest of you folks feel confident enough to tackle high tier hard mode with two lower level characters or not?

If we're going to do the higher tier, I don't want to do Hard Mode. Sound reasonable?

Sounds reasonable to me.

Slightly metagamy: Is there anything special for doing the scenario in the hard mode or is it just a bragging right?

Tier 5-9, is it? Here's what I can offer at the moment:

Kali Altzairu, LN Human Hungry Ghost Qigong Monk 6 (just received her "Serpent's Rise" Chronicle)

Dr. Zephyrus Vitruvian, CN Elf Reanimator/Chirurgeon Alchemist 7 <--just returned from the dead; my very first Pathfinder Society PC death

The Amazing Vanzetti, CG Emberkin Aasimar Razmiran Priest Sorcerer 6

Zeno Loxley, CG Elf Diviner 3/Archer 3 aspiring Arcane Archer

Sihir Aneh, CG Wayang Illusionist 6 Aspiring Veiled Illusionist

What do you think, sirs?

Any thoughts on who looks good here? What have we already got?

Does this adventure favor the playing of any Factions over any others?

The description says that it's a Silver Crusade scenario. Beyond that, it looks like we have a ranger, a divine hunter paladin, a swashbuckler/kensai, and a sorcerer specializing in enchantment spells.

Would any of you happen to be any good with locks and traps? That would be the one remaining question that would influence my decision.

Hard mode is always just for bragging rights. In addition, most of the hard mode scenarios out there are also extremely challenging without hard mode. As it is, I've heard enough "nos" at this point that I can pretty confidently say that hard mode is not in the cards.

It is a Silver Crusade faction mission. Divine casters and similar classes will likely do well, but the scenario supports a well-rounded party.

In addition, we have a potential for a sixth player, but they are currently locked in another PbP and will not be able to join for a week. Are people okay with waiting or did we want to get started sooner?

Waiting sounds wise.

Unless the 6th player's choice is enough of a curveball to change my mind, I'll go with my Illusionist.

Craft (Toymaker): 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (6) + 24 = 30

I have my ranger/archer 8th (he is the one finishing another game) or a gnome summoner-5th (available now). So depending on the party composition and high vs low tier, I could be ready sooner or later.

Oh! It looks like we're now at seven players. With the current characters listed (Ionwe Ver’Ha,Fatima al-Izarin, Imbroglio ‘Vinnie’ Guarini, Tomas Stormborn, Herodotus Vanatir Krezla, Roland Garros, Sihir Aneh Yang Mengembara Alam Semesta) we are at APL 7, so playing up with the 4 player adjustment.

If you already have 6 others ready to go, I am happy to drop out so as not to delay things.

Yay for OoT gold I guess.

I am happy to wait if that is the general consensus ^^. Should have Tomas upto date now.

If you already have 6 others ready to go, I am happy to drop out so as not to delay things.

We do have six players ready to go. If you wish to drop, I hope to see you at another game shortly.

Sihir, do you really plan on playing in a tier 8-9 with only 26 hp? If you're playing up, could you at least bring something a little more durable so you don't end up with another character death?

Alternatively, I could switch to a lower-level character if the we'd rather do the 5-6, since we seem to have 3 characters at level 6.

I did think about that; everyone has their advantages and disadvantages as far as that goes. Sihir's hit points are just about strictly average for a 6th-level Wizard, but in his defense, he's also got:

- the priceless false life spell
- raw Stealth as only a Wayang can pull off
- all kinds of defensive illusions
- the amazing Destiny of the Sands Boon (+3 Constitution for determining threshold of death, and +3 to stabilization rolls)

You have a point, of course, and I am willing to reconsider, but these factors may make him a great deal tougher than he appears (because one does NOT play Wizards for their face-value statistics ;)).

There's also the consideration of Sihir at least being one of my Good-aligned characters in this Silver Crusade-centric Scenario. My Monk and Alchemist aren't Evil (of course), but the Paladin might start *sniffing* loudly in response to some of their proclivities.

My Sorcerer could be a good alternative for several reasons, but some of his skills might be redundant when we've already got Vinnie (and he's got his own survivability problems - tough for his class and level, but easy to hit). I don't think I want to play Zeno when we've already got two good archers and a Magus.

The truth is, most of my characters tend toward the vulnerable, much more so than popular wisdom might consider acceptable - but I think it says something that, rather than losing characters left and right as some may have confidently predicted had they looked at my character lineup, instead not a single one of them died until Dr. V suffered a highly unusual death at the hands of a Harpy hate crime (seriously - he died because, as the DM explained, the encounter specifically required one of the harpy archers we were fighting to hunt down Elves, if there were any in the party, with extreme prejudice).

I feel like I recognize some of these characters names...hey Slothsy how many of these folks are locals??

Vinnie has never had any problems surviving... As long as we don't count that unfortunate devilfish incident. In which Vinnie discovered that sushi bites back...

To my credit, I only died twice...

Thank Desna for Life Oracles with Healer's Gloves!

I did think about that; everyone has their advantages and disadvantages as far as that goes. Sihir's hit points are just about strictly average for a 6th-level Wizard, but in his defense, he's also got:

- the priceless false life spell
- raw Stealth as only a Wayang can pull off
- all kinds of defensive illusions
- the amazing Destiny of the Sands Boon (+3 Constitution for determining threshold of death, and +3 to stabilization rolls)

You have a point, of course, and I am willing to reconsider, but these factors may make him a great deal tougher than he appears (because one does NOT play Wizards for their face-value statistics ;)).

There's also the consideration of Sihir at least being one of my Good-aligned characters in this Silver Crusade-centric Scenario. My Monk and Alchemist aren't Evil (of course), but the Paladin might start *sniffing* loudly in response to some of their proclivities.

My Sorcerer could be a good alternative for several reasons, but some of his skills might be redundant when we've already got Vinnie (and he's got his own survivability problems - tough for his class and level, but easy to hit). I don't think I want to play Zeno when we've already got two good archers and a Magus.

The truth is, most of my characters tend toward the vulnerable, much more so than popular wisdom might consider acceptable - but I think it says something that, rather than losing characters left and right as some may have confidently predicted had they looked at my character lineup, instead not a single one of them died until Dr. V suffered a highly unusual death at the hands of a Harpy hate crime (seriously - he died because, as the DM explained, the encounter specifically required one of the harpy archers we were fighting to hunt down Elves, if there were any in the party, with extreme prejudice).

Well, alright. I'm fine if you are, I suppose. Hopefully I can draw all the aggro.

I feel like I recognize some of these characters names...hey Slothsy how many of these folks are locals??

Actually, as far as I'm aware, none of them are. But they seem like they would fit right in, eh?

Edit: I am ready to begin as soon as you all are. Go ahead and introduce your characters in the gameplay thread when you're ready to start!

While it may be late mentioning it, can we say I bought and scribed a scroll of shadow enchantment, as well as two 2nd-level spells, since I just re-noticed that was a thing, and Sihir would totally have jumped on a spell like that as soon as he became aware of its existence?

Neat, I had no idea! How much would this save me (and how often can I do it? Can I retcon having done this in the past, since I was completely unaware of the option)?

Slothsy wrote:

Quote:

While it may be late mentioning it, can we say I bought and scribed a scroll of shadow enchantment, as well as two 2nd-level spells, since I just re-noticed that was a thing, and Sihir would totally have jumped on a spell like that as soon as he became aware of its existence?

I will be willing to allow you to have bought and scribed the spell before you arrived in Gundrun.. Do keep in mind that you are permitted to purchase access from another wizard in the Pathfinder Society instead of having to purchase the spell, under the part of the FAQ that starts with "In the rare instance...".

Neat, I had no idea! How much would this save me (and how often can I do it? Can I retcon having done this in the past, since I was completely unaware of the option)?

Unfortunately, you don't get refunds since scribing scrolls is a legal way of acquiring the spell. But, do keep in mind that you can scribe any scrolls you find during the adventure into your spellbook for free.

However, going forward, it'll save you a good amount of cash. For example, the spell you want would be 40 gp for scribing cost + 20 gp for access, so a total of 60 GP if you went this way. If you bought the scroll, it would be 150 gp for the scroll and then 40 gp for the scribing cost, so a total of 190 gp.

Help me understand: I've copied spells from the spellbooks of enemies before (just in my last adventure, in fact) - I've never tried asking friendly wizards to share (I don't recall ever being in a party with another Wizard, and it seems like Venture-Captain Wizards would somehow be a bipolar crapshot between Tim Berners-Lee and Ebenezer Scrooge) I spent only the scribing costs, since that's for special inks and such that puissant spells have to be written in. What would I have saved, and what can I save now, and could I have saved some of what I spent on (for instance) the scribing I did in my previous adventure?

However, going forward, it'll save you a good amount of cash. For example, the spell you want would be 40 gp for scribing cost + 20 gp for access, so a total of 60 GP if you went this way. If you bought the scroll, it would be 150 gp for the scroll and then 40 gp for the scribing cost, so a total of 190 gp.

That is a large f&**ing difference, so If I can choose the first method, naturally I will - so does anything stop me from choosing that?

How much would the 3rd-level spell I'm trying to learn cost using this method?

Help me understand: I've copied spells from the spellbooks of enemies before (just in my last adventure, in fact) - I've never tried asking friendly wizards to share (I don't recall ever being in a party with another Wizard, and it seems like Venture-Captain Wizards would somehow be a bipolar crapshot between Tim Berners-Lee and Ebenezer Scrooge) I spent only the scribing costs, since that's for special inks and such that puissant spells have to be written in. What would I have saved, and what can I save now, and could I have saved some of what I spent on (for instance) the scribing I did in my previous adventure?

Slothsy wrote:

However, going forward, it'll save you a good amount of cash. For example, the spell you want would be 40 gp for scribing cost + 20 gp for access, so a total of 60 GP if you went this way. If you bought the scroll, it would be 150 gp for the scroll and then 40 gp for the scribing cost, so a total of 190 gp.

That is a large f%%#ing difference, so If I can choose the first method, naturally I will - so does anything stop me from choosing that?

How much would the 3rd-level spell I'm trying to learn cost using this method?

If you're buying it on this chronicle, I'll be happy to adjust. Otherwise, I don't like to edit other GM's chronicles.

The 3rd level spell will be the scribe cost + 50% of the scribe cost. So, 90 gp + 45 gp = 135 gp for the 3rd-level spell.

And 60 for the other 2 comes to 225. Done (I've already subtracted it from my present finances, so mark the expenditure, but don't take it out of this Scenario's gold)!

Thanks for the information, this will save me quite a bit of money (and right before I reach the level where new spells start to become really expensive)!

I assume this rule applies to Alchemists as well, but what about Witches?

I'm not positive about witches; presumably, they should be able to access it, but they don't spend gold to scribe. At the least, it should cast half of the wizard scribe cost.

Also, as a note, I will be out of the area till Monday, as I'll be organizing and running games at MarsCon.

Brain fart! I don't have a wand of CLW; I have a wand of Infernal Healing.

You do, you say?

Quiet cackling behind the GM screen

Edit: Also, sorry for the longer-than-expected break. I failed a fort save vs Con Crud at some point.

Blargh! I hate having out of character knowledge but no incharacter knowledge. I know the Acts!!

Really? Where did you find them? Inner Sea Gods? I've been meaning to learn more about Iomedae but haven't always found the time or had the right focus.

They were part of Council of Thieves when we played it, right?

I use the wiki and yea Council of Thieves I believe.

I wanted to quickly check in and see what's going on; I'm assuming the snow-addled portions of the US is still recovering (I know my city is!) and we're in the middle of a puzzle segment (which take, approximately, forever). However, I'm a bit concerned that we've lost momentum and things are stalling.

Like I said in-gameplay, I'll let you consult with Ollysta and use your diplomacy check as though you rolled it for Knowledge (Religion). Otherwise, you'll be stuck with... trial and error (duh dun duh).

As long as Herodotus is happy to consult with Ollysta (I think he was?) then thats what we were trying next, just waiting on a roll, Tomas will keep checking for traps to see if messing with the tumblers seemingly disarms it.

I'm in the UK so no Snow here, hope you guys are all doing fine!

Sorry about all that, I meant to post after my local PFS session yesterday but that ended very late.

No worries, just wanted to check in! Seems like we're getting back into the swing of it.

Something wrong with Slide 5: You've got Handout 3 on there twice, no handout 2.

Woops, fixed it.

Okay, important thing for everyone to know: Having tallied up my Faction Card Objective rewards to the best of my abilities, I have discovered that Sihir has reached the level of "Sage Candidate" among the Scarab Sages, and thus has a magical scarab that not only grants him +2 to saving throws vs death effects (on the conservative but unlikely assumption that I have never achieved "retrieve a gem worth x00 gp" in any of my adventures, in which case it is in fact +3), and treats my Constitution as 4 higher than it is for purposes of determining threshold of death, BUT these same benefits radiate out to all allies within 30 feet of me!

Good to know! I hope we don't have to use it though.

Whoops, I just realized I'd been benefitting from a mistake for a long time: My Arcane Bond is a ring, which I'd enchanted to the point of making it a Ring of Protection +2...but had somehow failed to notice that the Forge Ring feat requires a minimum caster level of 7th (something to do with the fact that I'd initially considered an amulet, which as a wondrous item has a much lower CL requirement, and it just crossed over in my injured mind), so I shouldn't have been able to do it. HOWEVER, I notice this only now, when I am 1 experience away from finally qualifying!

What should I do?

I think the best way to handle it would be to treat your ring as a ring of protection +1 for the rest of the game. Once this game is done, it'll revert back to its +2 form.