hard drive crapped out, co-worker walked off. Been a busy couple of days thanks to that.
I'll try to hurry this along.
hard drive crapped out, co-worker walked off. Been a busy couple of days thanks to that.
I'll try to hurry this along.
Wow...sorry. I hope things get better soon Bishop.
Meh. I could have been posting, but I vibrantly hate posting stuff on my smart phone.
Takes three times as long and my samsung doesn't like the paizo forum at all. Formating is basically a lost cause and I just have to cross my fingers and hope that i'm allowed to post at the moment.
Is Brick gone? He hasn't posted on any of his aliases since 8/9
Have you guys lost interest?
This game is sandboxish. Our conversations and actions drive it. I would really like to help get this game active. For that to happen, we really need to start feeding the GM some options.
Just found out that Brick, due to real life, is no longer participating in any games on Paizo. Arkhan in turn is bowing out as he wanted to play his character with Brick.
I'm going to go back to the recruitment thread to fill the spots, but if any here have any opinions on those not originally selected feel free to highlight them here.
Thunderbeard's: Rex Trickshot, the Faceless Assassin
and maybe a melee or divine character?
I'll look in detail later and give my full opinion.
Ouch. Well, I am not sold on him. I just want people who like to RP and are active.
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^
That
I know toxic is reliably active having a game with that one right now.
I've never games with thunderbeard and don't know on that front.
I hesitate to bring it up but the most recent round of errata has significantly changed several of our characters if we are made to follow through with them.
An example would be them making the arcanist ability Consume spell limited to a x/Day of Charisma score. Where as previously you could convert spells freely. A significant and painfully bad nerf.
Completely kills the Occultist archetype and has me ready to jump ship for Wizard.
Oh and them also changing scarred witch doctor to INT based.
which is horse@#$#.
Honestly I think the only change they made in recent errata that I agree with is dropping Divine Protection into the dirt.
Paladin saves (+cha) for every divine caster is unreasonable.
I am fine with rerolling a character so we can have all our roles filled. I built Drovic to be able to pvp because at the time I was told that is what they needed. I think two arcane casters is overkill. If Ascension is OK with it, Bishop and I could rebuild before recruiting to know what we needed.
If Bishop goes Wizard, I would not roll an arcane caster. Thoughts?
See that is just the thing.
We don't need to have all the roles filled because we as a group are not a traditional adventuring party.
I sure as heck don't fill all the traditional roles of a mage with my skill layout.
We are supposed to be thieves and assassins striking from the dark and using underhanded methods to fulfill our needs in a city with an extremely potent mages guild as the leader.
So it makes perfect sense to be Caster heavy we need to fight a lot of them as well.
Also losing our witch means we lose access to the Hide Dweomer spells, which are quite necessary to cloaking our magic items so we don't shine like a Christmas tree to anyone with detect magic/Arcane sight active.
Never mind that Witch's get most of the healing spells and that dumb trick with Hex vulnerability/ Healing hex makes them supremely good at the healing end of stuff anyway.
I suppose there are some decent things in the divine list that we are missing out on but in a massive city like Coran we will likely be able to find someone who can cast most spells we need without it being us.
I would prefer to reroll due to the errata.
Fair, though from what i've seen most people on the boards have just been choosing to selectively ignore parts of the recent errata.
It would be up to GM ascension to decide if he wants to go forward with the current errata or just ignoring it in favor of the original interpretation. Scarred witch doctor being one of the more awesome archetypes I've very sad to see it get gutted.
What is funny is as of now it has become an even more powerful caster type with a stacking boost to intelligence instead of the Con/int flip.
I know I'm sure as heck going to keep the origonal in my home games and ignore the bits they did on daring champion/swashy monk along with the Arcanist nerf.
So long as the rules universally apply in this setting to all PC's it matters very little what the rules of pathfinder at large say.
Oh and them also changing scarred witch doctor to INT based.
which is horse@#$#.
Its a straight buff to Half Orc's though, which can now have a starting INT of 22 if they enter the archtype.
Eyup.one of the best save or die casters in the game now.
but ultimately a Vanilla++ witch rather than an actually interesting witch archetype.
I would not require any character rebuilds based on the errata changes. If a single feat changes, that is one thing, if a whole class changes the pretty much requires a new character to 'fix' it.
To exist is to suffer, reporting in.
I see we are discussing some serious issues. I'd be more than happy to fill a roll if that is still needed. I think Jiduun is an interesting build, and have to agree, we might be better as ambushers and hit and runners. If anything, it sounds exciting to try!
Thanks for the invite GM!
Fun, so we get grandfathered into the game as we are? Cool with me. Means I don't have to dance around figuring out how on earth I can get Alexia a semi-decent Cha score with a racial penalty.
Good to have you Toxic.
Yeah figuring out our path at this point is kind of a big thing. With Brick and Arkan gone we have lost our devoted tank and our single target kill ray.
As it stands we have two Arcane casters and a skill monkey/buffer.
You seem to have a solid handle on a reach abuse build there.
Deeper darkness is not likely to turn out half as useful as it ought to be though. At least not against opposing players, any player with that as an issue will very likely have a heightened item of Continual Flame with them.
And here's the assassin, updated to rely less on poisons (since the abundant ammo trick doesn't do much).
Continual Flame only has the range of a torch, which I think is 30 feet, and thus the deeper darkness would fire outside that radius, letting everyone else hide.
As for roles—we probably need a Silencer if we're going up against wizards (I can do this in two levels, but the inquisitor could do it now).
Also, looks like Jiduun and I together can take at least *some* melee hits, while also dishing out divine support and weapon damage.
Welcome guys!
I am still thinking about rerolling if you guys think we need a specific role covered.
Mmm, yes. Silence, I'd almost forgotten how wrong that spell is.
Although I'd be surprised if wizards we got into a fight with didn't have silent spell rods or metamagic.
That's true. Which is why a silenced tetori is the ultimate anti-caster.
Still, really loving the amount of darkness and darkvision on this team.
(And at level 9, I'll be able to cast silence on myself as a swift action, which is a neat trick).
So should I wait to be introduced or am I at liberty to make my own introduction in game play? One never knows less they simply ask.
I'll introduce you, probably beginning of next week, though it could be this Friday. In the meantime work out any final details for your characters.
Amusingly 3/5ths of the party is now Tiefling.
Also if you are not already aware of the fact GM ascension has allowed us to select our racial boons as tieflings.
(Hence Jidhun can see in the dark and Alexia can browbeat insects.)
You could select something fun from the list provided.
As to silence rods, well that is what the Disarm and sunder maneuvers are for.
Continual flame will mean darkness/deeper darkness only gets used to full effect on NPC's. Though finding a targeted method of destroying that specific spell might be good.
I know there are some spells that kill light sources, might be an idea to look into those for the best option to negate Cont. Flame.
Tetori have a new best friend in the form of [url=http://archivesofnethys.com/MagicWondrousDisplay.aspx?FinalName=Whispering%20Gloves[ The whispering gloves[/url] in that regard.
Darkness/ Dark vision seemed like a good thing to make a theme with a group of thieves and murderers.
As our former player Arkhan suggested it might be better for us all to optimize our powers in running away.
I was thinking of steering the group into collectively purchasing Goz Masks in order to make Smoke/Mist/Silt our combat trick of choice.
But really we don't need to kill people unless that is the job. Just robbing the daylights out of our targets will suffice.
On that topic.
@GM Ascension
What I am thinking here for the Tower event is using this first mission as a shakedown to get our group comfortable with each other. Alexia needs to get into the Tower campus grounds (not the tower) and get into contact with her information source. We can then learn important things from said source, like the towers current lay out. Information Alexia would find desirable and other useful things.
I mad the character with the intention of said information being something like names of people involved in Durain Abu's death. However more concrete information like the towers layout guard patterns and other such things could be possible depending on your opinions of that.
All that's fair and whatnot; but at least one tiefling should be able to throw down darkness, and I figure that's pretty thematic for Rex anyway.
Fair, though both the Soul seer racial trait and the Scent ability could be fun with your concept.
At will death watch is great with your characters desire to ensure he is there for people to breathe their last.
Scent and evil alignment allows access to Scent of fear That bit about fear bonuses is nice but Auto-pinpointing in 30ft is amazing. Thats all you need to trigger the Seeking weapon quality.
Soul Seer I find is most useful for fighting hidden undead. Darkness is the "poof, smoke bomb," though (it's a spell I can learn/swift cast at level 9, but I figure might as well stick with the classic tie fling here, or else replace the boon with another +2 Dex)
I'll be on and off for 3 days. I'm in rural Arkansas hunting dove and wild boar.
Rex and Jidhuun, feel free to make your introductions based on the latest game play post thread, and welcome to the game.
So while our characters posture and introduce ourselves anyone have thoughts on what we can do to assure success against multiple Rakshasa with the resources of:
A run down bar
Five optimized player run character that will likely target us on sight
A few named and many unnamed NPCs.
Oh and whatever we can bring to the table.
-Not sure what to do with the bar
-Do any of us not have a hat of disguise, though?
As for the Rakshasa, we need three things:
1. Knowledge of its DR/good. I don't have the knowledge (planes) for this. Maybe Alexia could spend time in a library to help with finding a weakness?
2. That holy weapon balm, as well as some holy water, because both are neat (but not enough to kill a rakshasa without 3!)
3. A way to overcome DR/good. This is VITAL; without it, we won't be able to damage the thing, and it'll pick us off like appetizers (and we need to achieve 1 to KNOW about it). There are a few ways to go about this:
-3A. A scroll (or three) of bless weapon and someone with the UMD high enough to use it.
-3B. A scroll of Align Weapon, and an inquisitor to cast it (alternately, I can cast it from a scroll as a warpriest, though it'll burn a whole round of combat and my god will be pissed with me)
-3C. A +1 Fiend-bane arrow. These are 360 gp a pop, and I'd probably need, like, 10 of them to kill the thing, so maybe not ideal.
With grit, I can attack 3x/round, and roughly 1/2 of those attacks should hit; with Align Weapon, they pierce its DR completely. Holy Weapon Balm + Raining Bolts means an extra 2d4+2d6 damage per hit (an average of ~25). If the rest of the party throws down spells and smack downs to keep the thing from charging me or fleeing, I might be able to DPS it to death (possibly aided by damage melee or spells)
I was thinking of using the bar in some way to make it a useful hazard.
I have a hat of disguise/sleeve of many garments. Nyx has an astronomical disguise check. Drovic has one. I think Jidhuun has a greater hat of disguise.
I rolled a 29 on a previous knowledge check for what Alexia has on Rakshasa. Thats enough to know some about the "common" CR10 variety but not likely enough to know everything.
Assuming she has numbers equal to most Investigators I've seen Nyx likely knows what pet name the Rakshasa's grandmother called it in childhood along with its entire stat block.
More balm can be made. (Or stolen) The trouble with the balm is the question of if a Rakshasa counts as an (Evil) subtype creature or not.
If the balm works on little "e" evil outsiders, like say us, we have a major problem for the future.
With the number of tieflings we have one Archer with holy arrows and the balm can very easily turn us into tiny chunklets.
the spell Weapons against evil would drop its DR by 5, Angel quill arrows could drop it by a further 5.
We could also have players without a good method to defeat the DR grab some alchemical tools.
Alchmeists fire, Ghast retch flasks and tangle foot bags will all still be somewhat useful and avoid the rakshasa's DR.
Honestly looking at what all we need finding and raiding a militant temple of a good deity would be a wise idea. Iomedae is the one on my list.
I think there had been mention of Demons causing problems to the north. Perhaps we could find/ intercept a caravan loaded with stuff bound for there?
I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow. I am using a hot spot to post this.
Ah. Good call. Rakshasas don't have the evil subtype, which means the bane trick isn't valid (or it would need a different subtype than "evil")
But Align Weapon would be probably the most useful (and a scroll we can get from *any* temple). I don't know if Angel Quill arrows would be useful.
It is in fact something I'm going to ask the DM about.
Fluff wise the Rakshasa are a creature I would argue absolutely fall under the "Evil" subtype.
Rakshasas are born on the Material Plane, but they are not of it. They possess the powers and shapes of fiends, but their fates are inexorably tied to the mortal world, and it is there that they seek to rule. The reincarnations of manipulators, traitors, and tyrants obsessed with earthly pleasures, rakshasas are the embodiments of the very nature of materialistic evil. After dying violent deaths, these spirits are so tied to worldly decadence and selfish concerns that they take shapes that better reflect the baseness of their lives and are reborn as fiends. Thus have sages come to know these beings as the "earthbound evils."
We are also in some degree of trouble if it turns out that the Rakshasa in question is not actually the "Common" breed but one of the more potent ones. There would be no survival against a Maharaja.
I think the best bane for this instance would be "Shape changer" subtype as those are most likely to be found easily. However Native outsider bane would also be incredibly useful as it would be equally useful on Aasimars and Tieflings. Which I have no doubt there is a fair number of in the other teams as optimization wise it is hard to beat the numbers an Aasimars racial stuff can give you.
Confirming that the GM informed me that I know pretty much everything about Rakshasa, and even certain details about a Maharaja. We should prolly assume we know everything i na Rakshasa statblock.
Cool, think you could do an in game post of Nyx breaking down the strengths and weakness of a Rakshasa then?
I'm cool with metagaming a bit to establish how we will progress quickly here, would be god to have it in the game play thread as well though.
Points to mention would be their Good+Piercing DR.
particular elemental resistances. (They don't have any that I can see.)
Nigh invulnerability to spell (SR 25 means I'd have to hit an 18 to touch one with anything.)
Spellcasting, though each Rakshasa would be different in that regard.
Oh and the fact that Rakshasa can shape change into any humanoid form.
(Correlary, As the base ability of the rakshasa shape change is the Alter self spell does that mean that all Rakshasa have an aura of transmutation following them around? It seems counter intuitive that a true master of shape changing is in fact made out to be obviously magical by their own ability that is supposed to hide them.)
Though thats just for the "Common" one. there are others and we have no way of knowing which breed of Rakshasa we will face.
Perhaps give a basic explaination that rather than one creature (the Rakshasa) that there is an entire caste system of different Rakshasa. Without a knowledge check it is unlikely that partiuclar point is well known.
Can anyone else on the team cast silence? That takes spell casting out of the picture.
Looks like its just Jidhuun.
Hmm. Well, I forgot about my Silence Arrow.
Which means (we'll need some scrolls, but...) both Jidhuun and I can cast both Align Weapon and Silence. If holy water arrows damage these things, we should be able to duplicate it with Abundant Ammunition.
...but yeah, we can't fight a Maharaja. Any way we can gather intel on what sort of spells it's capable of—or what its animal form looks like?
Also, Glitterdust will punch through SR, and you've got other spells that could be really useful in a fight (Haste, etc). Jidhuun and Rex are both spec'd for piercing; Drovic's got Black Tentacles, Dispel Magic, and Vomit Swarm as spells especially useful in a caster fight. I'm not sure what combat role, exactly, Nyx has, but her knowledge is going to be the only way we know anything.
That DC 13 save makes me question if the Hushing Arrow is going to do much.
scrolls we can likely steal or perhaps pay for depending on source.
glitterdust would be decent to ensure the Rakshasa doesn't get away with invisibility or something. though if combat breaks out I'll likely start by buffing you all and end with spamming Acid arrow.
The damage isn't great but multiple instances of the spell will stack up to be a significant problem to cast spells with.
It counts as continuous damage for concentration checks after all.
If it turns out to be a Maharaja then we leave the mage team to their fate.
Nyx could see the Rakshasas entourage and tell us what we are up against. At least race wise.
The scroll of Arcane sight Alexia traded her for will also come in handy as Alexia can use that to identify the magic items and spell effects they are under. Can also scan them Scouter style for highest castable spell level in case these rakshasa also happen to have class levels.
Also everything the mage team has equipped. Which could also be useful
Hushing Arrows are useless. Spell Storing arrows, targeted at the floor, work quite well.
The damage output on something like Haste is dozens of times higher than Acid Arrow, though...
Huh, alright.
As to haste, yes that would be why I do it first. As this action is going down tommorrow I doubt Alexia will have time to hunt for a spell. However if she does the spell Snowball would then end up being my go to damage attack for any Rakshasa fight.
The lesser orb of X rides again.
Anything relatively cheap (or low level scrolls, up to 3rd level) is readily purchasable within the city. So if there are any such items you want to buy to prepare you can do so.
It won't be a maharaja. If the team goes wandering off to explore things willy nilly you might encounter something more dangerous, but situations I place you in will fall within general APL guidelines.
It is very odd that rakshasa are not listed with the evil subtype IMO. They should be, so holy weapon balm will work. It would not work against tieflings as all tieflings are not evil by nature. Tieflings qualify for the native outsider, but not evil subtype.
Great if we can afford to buy all of what we need then cool but it would also be cool to get the opportunity to steal some stuff as thieves.
Scrolls of align weapon
Pots of holy weapon balm.
Raining bolts/arrows (going to be expensive at 30gp a pop. Worth it though as it does arrow damage+Holy water and can be a combo with holy weapon balm.)
That should make Rex able to deal with these guys. Will be a nasty trick to hold in reserve for demons and other Evil outsiders as well.
My alternate trick in the case rakshasa didn't qualify for that was to use shrink item to wrap a shrunken (cloth form) pool of lamp oil around an igniting arrow.
Rakshasa burn just as well as anything else.
With an optimized group of players a CR+3 isn't going to be much more than a speed bump. Even less than that assuming the other players will have the chance to buff up before they jump into combat.
We could just sit back and watch if thats all the difficulty we can expect from this.
As to the Evil subtype, glad you agree. It seemed really weird to me as well.
Also, what is your opinion on Arcane sight noting the transmutaion/polymorph effect on a Rakshasa due to its natural shape change effect being based off the alter person spell?
supernatural abilities are still magic after all.
I'm fine with the group robbing a temple or something too.
I would rule against the natural shape shifting ability pinging from detect magic/arcane sight. It is probably RAW that it should, as it is a magical ability, but detect magic and like spells seem to be intended more for actual spells or SLA's (and magic items).
Align Weapon is by far the most important, and it helps Jidhuun a lot as well.