Agents of the Darklands, Part 2: In Company of Forgotten Evils

Game Master thunderbeard

Okay. So... this fight did not go exactly as I expected. Shaorhaz has one last trick up its sleeve, but we'll see if it works as intended.

But I also said I couldn't think of a way you guys could win this fight, and would let you think it up instead. Illia would've been shredded by this guy in a fair fight, but Anaxian's trickery and Drisquar's flanking tipped the scales substantially until he was nothing but sound and fury—while Meredian effectively destroyed his secret death weapon in a single action.

That said, I have plans for exactly how the kingdom-building part of this campaign will move forward next. Stay tuned!

Ugh holy s*** the last 24 hours have been mind-bendingly ridiculous. Tomorrow! Tomorrow I update. :/

Hey guys! We're going to have a bit of time to do this, but:

-Since you beat Shaorhaz quite soundly, everyone goes up three levels
-Total wealth per level as though 17th level + crafting (512,500 gp, with no further crafting discount since at this point you have helpers with all the relevant craft feats—or, if it's easier, gain 281,250 gp in wealth).
-Wealth can also be used to hire mercenary squads. (I think Drisquar already got one).
-Finally, you can construct buildings with gp. This costs 4,000 gp per BP of the building, and can circumvent normal building times, but you get the smug satisfaction of having the building branded with your personal crest, name, etc.

Hey, Dapper, originally, I was going to make my werebat a Nightblade, butI think I'm going to switch that and make him a Harbinger instead. Such a freakin cool class.

Question, at 4th level of Umbral Blade, I get Shadow Consumption, which states:

At 4th level, his vital processes become suspended partially, transmuting his blood into thick, shadowy fluid. He uses his initiation modifier in place of his Constitution modifier for hit points and Fortitude saves.

Does this retroactively give me more HP? I think normally it does, but I also think its usually explicitly stated as doing so.

Ellsuana is unable to bring back the fallen crusaders, unless she too levels up(She would need at least 1 level to get Raise Dead).

Also, could she defect and join us?

Teamwork feats normally require you and your ally to both posses the feat to gain the benefits of the feat.

However, Deadly Pairing includes no such language. It does however say that you or the ally needs to be in a Steel Serpent stance.

Is it just an error that Deadly Pairing left out the need for your ally to also posses the feat? Or does the requirement of being in a a Steel Serpent stance replace that?

@Drisquar: Yeah, I'd assume it retroactively gives more HP, though I think it's only for levels gained through that class.

@Ellsuana: A 10th level witch can cast Reincarnate. It's cheaper, and can work from a single body part. (My TN IRL party always uses reincarnate to save cash, for humorous effect).

Actually taking any of the crusaders with you would take some compelling arguments, and possibly make them a cohort or something—it also might cause very Bad things to happen regarding the Worldwound.

Is our 281k factoring in the 1mil from the druids, or is that gonna be Kingdom Building funds?

Edit: Do our cohorts get WBL gear(even if as an NPC) or must we equip them fully out of our PC wealth??

The 281k comes from the 1 mil from the druids, yeah (crafted into wealth).

Cohort wealth comes from WBL—but you should have plenty.

So, what level and WBL are we now? :D

Level: 15. WBL: 17 + 25%

I'll be able to work on Meridian in the next day or so. I'm a bit too jet lagged to think straight right now.

...this is going to take me a while.

If I make my cohort a 'normal' race, plus the werebat template(+1 CR), how many levels would he get?

Thinking of making him some combination of Harbinger/Mage Hunter(PrC).

Does anyone remember my previous ruling on cohort levels?

ALSO: No rush on leveling. The next bit of the game will be as follows:

1) Finish up with siabrae, etc.
2) Several months (in-game) of kingdom-building. New Roleplaying Challenges™ await!
3) Choosing a next mission. This is what we'll need to be leveled up for.

I believe it was "Monsters get CR-4, Regular cohorts are CR-2", so I'm uncertain where templates would go. I remember being salty about the monster CR thing, because it meant I couldn't have the build I wanted + Harpy.

Ah. Got it. Monster CR is based on HD, not player CR. So cohorts can now be up to CR 13, including templates.

Ugh... Do I want to mess around with having 7th level spells, or granting Illia- extra full actions and 7th level maneuvers.... Choices..

~~

Do you mind me using the custom magic item rules to make a +15 or 20 competence Intimidate item? 22.5 or 40k.

Also, do you think it would make sense for Illia- to already meet the requirements of this feat other than the challenging foe seeking to bring me to justice? http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/story-feats/innocent-blood-story

What if I were to make my cohort a player race that lacks racial HD? Would it still be capped at CR 13?

And... I now have the ability to no save no SR transfer any spell/power or spell/power like ability that is on me onto an enemy if I hit them.

Fun ideas for debuffs we can put on Illia- to transfer them to an enemy? I was excited about Feeblemind, but that's actually instantaneous and I can't.

@Illia: Just max intimidate the old-fashioned way, feats and charisma-boosting. Especially with a PoW benefit to skills.

@Drisquar: Yeah.

Ugh, I wish there was a way to add more maneuvers known to my repertoire.

Dris is pretty much updated, aside from spending all my gold.

@Dapper: I did it the new fashioned way. I searched for intimidate in the magic items sector. I get +15 to Intimidate, and +5 to hit flat-footed or prone enemies for 20k. Wheeeeee.

Ooh, how does this work? What's the magic items sector?

On d20pfsrd, after you do a search, you can refine the results to one sector of things, like, feats, classes, or magic items.

Would it be at all possible to claim these ruins as an outpost settlement?

Maybe broker an agreement tween the druids and crusaders??

You're literally two continents away, and it's just a cooling puddle of magma with some rocks sticking out. So, let's say no.

...sorrynotsorry.

I was actually going to change up my cohort to be somebody we could leave in charge.

Wasn't sure if we utterly wiped out the everything as even ruins can be turned into a settlement. I thought there was still some semi-destroyed buildings left standing.

Regardless of CAN, considering our ample resources, should is another question.

There's no resources. There's no strategic value to us. We'd have to defend it against demons AND crusaders.

I was thinking of working out an agreement tween the druids and crusaders.

After all, both would benefit from having a fortress on/in/near the Worldwound.

If Dapper will allow me, I'd like to make my cohort a Kitsune(Still a shapechanger, keeping with my overall concept of my mercenaries). Even if he disallows the conversion of Greengrave Keep into an outpost for us, I realize we could use a 'party face'. Even if its just an NPC character we utilize in negotiations with places we take over.

Would make use of the Kitsune Trickster archetype as well as being a Enchantment Wizard, with the Manipulator subschool.

We actually have some very impressive face scores already, if I remember correctly. Anaxian did quite impressively at contract negotiation.

Greengrave Keep is technically on Siabrae lands, and they'll probably fight anyone who claims it.

Also, if you're looking for a party face, Psychic Vampires are 100% badass.

* * *

Meanwhile, I ask this regularly—do we want to consider recruiting 1-2 new players?

Also: Anyboy have anything else to do with crusaders/druids, or should we return to the city?

Psychic vampires you say?

*Reconsideres her stance on being undead*

In both terms of power and character dynamic, I'm decently happy with where we are. And recruitment is ALWAYS a risk.

The only thing I see as lacking is actually I feel like I don't bounce off Drisquar very well. But that's not exactly a problem I can ask someone else to fix. :P

I'm fine with returning to base.

~~

Also, speaking of Drisquar, it's a Bralani CR 6, Alactricious CR+2, then Nine class levels. Isn't that a total of 17? am I missing something?

You guys have already met/identified one. Remember the ambassador from Nemret Nektoria who appeared in the form of a flying sheet of paper? (Psychic vampires are essentially more-caster-focused vetalas, built using psychic magic rules, and they get +4 int, +4 wis, +6 cha as well as at-will mental spells and the ability to possess literally anything, including inanimate objects below a certain size)

Are you totally denying us the Keep? I figured we could at least RP out negotiations, and I don't plan on us taking it from them. It would still belong to them, but they would pay us tribute. After all, we did just take out their mortal foe.

As druids, with a focus in earth magicks, they should be able to help restore the Keep.

Also, the psychic vampire is awesome.

If you want it, you can negotiate for it. Illia-'d advise against it though.

You can certainly try to negotiate for it! I'm just saying there's really no good reason.

As for "tribute"—these guys offered you literally all the gems they own. That's around 1 million gp. They're also not *friendly* folks, and you'd have to actually do some convincing to get help with anything else.

I'm not sure the rest of the council will want another keep, but if dris wants to try I say let him RP it.

Psychic vampires you say?

*Reconsideres her stance on being undead*

My door is always open.

Are you totally denying us the Keep?

I did kind of drop a meteor on it twice. There's not a whole lot of "Keep" left. Not much reason for anyone to want it now.

I'd totally be a psychic vampire if i weren't a construct.

EDIT: hmmm... Inubrix could become the cohort of someone else now that we gained 3 levels...

I'd totally be a psychic vampire if i weren't a construct.

I can help you too. It will be more complex, but doable

Inubrix wrote:

I'd totally be a psychic vampire if i weren't a construct.

I can help you too. It will be more complex, but doable

well i'm not sure it would fit with the character, he isn't really the "OBEY ME" sort that is described in the template description.

Meredian Adriatnaic wrote:

Psychic vampires you say?

*Reconsideres her stance on being undead*

My door is always open.

The Lich position seems to be taken. Plus Lich + astra projection seems like overkill. Not to mention the expand. Also, I'd feel the need to try and out Lich you and I'm confident I'd lose. Also, I'd have to make myself vulnerable long enough to make the transformation. Meridian has too many trust issues for that. Also, I like being able to use blood money without jumping through a bunch of hoops.

Thanks though. :-)

Also, I'd feel the need to try and out Lich you and I'm confident I'd lose.

part of why i stopped playing John. he wasn't that great as a lich, or a cleric, or a path of war character. there was a better lich and a better path of war character and the cleric just wasnt doing him any good either.

Last post by Dapper about the state of the fortress. Seems to me like there's still enough left to cannibalize for a fort.

I gotta ask though, why is everybody opposed to claiming this as one of our own? We used to be all over taking whatever we wanted, and have been pretty successful at it. Why the sudden back peddling?

WE won this fortress back, not the Siabrae. We ousted their demon problem, not the Siabrae.

We're building an empire, who said it has to only be underground?

If the party is really against it, and provide reasonable arguments as to why we shouldn't try and claim the fortress, I'll back off. Just seems like a waste.

Dris, we're not backpetaling or particularly opposed to another outpost.

However, this location:

Is thoroughly destroyed
Has no strategic value
Has not intrinsic resources of value
Is in the middle of the world wound (very unfriendly territory)
Is the middle of our semi allies territory (lava liches of all things)
Is very very far away

I'm more curious why you do want it? I don't think anyone is opposed to it. I just don't see the point.

What Meredian said a thousand times over. This fort would be the very definition of a resource sink with no reward.