Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

Sorry about the general lack of posting - the house is being redecorated so I can't get to the computer at home, and while I can post at work I'm a bit busy.

Now that Elisile is back, I'm happy to give up Enga; after all, she is Sefayll's minion, and I don't want to tread on any toes.

If, on the other hand you're happy for me to keep running her I'm happy to do so.

Well, you have the alias. I'll probably part run her as well, but for combat you might as well carry on.

Hudak hit points: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Bah. Thankfully, that magically becomes 8 hp. New feat is Dazing Assault.

EDIT: Hudak's done.

Alwyn hit points: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

I’ll have to look at it more closely, but it may be more beneficial for Elisile to level as a wizard rather than Eldritch Knight this level; either way she gets +1 to level of spellcasting, which gives her access to level 5 spells. However, only as a wizard does she automatically gain 2 spells for her spellbook, which is the only way she will actually be able to cast level 5 spells at this point (once she takes time to prepare them). I will miss out on some hit points and a BAB boost this way, but the spells will probably prove more useful.

Alwyn's updated. New feat is Extra Channeling.

I’ll have to look at it more closely, but it may be more beneficial for Elisile to level as a wizard rather than Eldritch Knight this level; either way she gets +1 to level of spellcasting, which gives her access to level 5 spells. However, only as a wizard does she automatically gain 2 spells for her spellbook, which is the only way she will actually be able to cast level 5 spells at this point (once she takes time to prepare them). I will miss out on some hit points and a BAB boost this way, but the spells will probably prove more useful.

If you want, and if you have the funds, you can imagine that Elisile with her 20 INT foresaw this situation and purchased some 5th level scrolls to scribe.

That’s a good plan, but unfortunately I’m low on funds – 5th level scrolls are expensive! I decided to level up as Eldritch Knight anyway; Sefayll can already cast 5th level arcane spells, and I decided to concentrate on being the party archer for this level anyway. If we get an opportunity to rest for 15 minutes or so, Elisile can fill her new 5th level slots with extended 4th level spells using her metamagic feat.

Rolled low on hit points so took average 1d10 ⇒ 2

Took weapon focus (longbow) as 11th level feat.

Camlo leveled. More sneak attack dice and took improved init....

I haven't gotten to the game thread yet, but apparently there is leveling to do. Will get on that as soon as I'm otherwise caught up.

I'm planning on having Sefayll offer Elisile access to the stone giant's spellbook we collected. I don't recall if there are fifth-level spells in it - but your solution with the metamagicked spells is a good one, anyway.

And apparently I did not have Sefayll in HL. Odd. Found some errors, which I have corrected, and have a disagreement with how it calculates some skills points, but oh, well.

Another level of Hellknight Signifier

+5+2 hit points
+1 BAB
+1 Fort & Reflex
+1 CL to Wizard
+1 CL to Oracle with regards to powers - which I assumed would not do anything for my one level of Oracle, but it seems to think I should get my second-level mystery spell now. Not sure that's correct...
Bonus feat: Arcane Armor Mastery + it is now an immediate action to activate
+7 skill points - Know (arcane, dungeoneering, geography, planes), Linguistics (elven), Sense Motive x2

Feat and new spells to be determined

Hps + 2 Con: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
Favored Class: Add one spell known, lower than max level. Undetermined.

Skills: 8 + 1 Human
Perform Sing 7 ranks, Stealth 1 rank, Perform Dance 1 rank

BAB +1 Saves: No change

Bardic:
+2 rounds of performance
+4 inspire competence
+3 inspire courage (becomes +4 via Song of the Heart feat)
Lore Master 2/day

Feat: Traded in for Bardic Masterpiece "The Canticle of Joy"

Spells Known: +1 4th (Break Enchantment)
Spells Per Day: +1 3rd and 4th
11th level spell swap: Trading out the 3.5 Sonic Weapon. I never cast it. Probably replace it with Tongues.

I've memorised Wind walk - I'm all for flying through most, if not all, of this dungeon and hopefully getting the jump on the BBEG. Any thoughts?

I think fighting Mokmurian and all of his muscle who are following a group of windwalking adventurers at the same time sounds rough.

Most definitely. We'll need to block them off, somehow. Does anyone have Wall of stone or something similar available? If nobody likes this idea, I'll memorise something different - probably some sort of summoning spell. How about Planar ally?

Which makes me think... Heathy and I had a discussion ages ago about this:

A couple of questions about Planar binding.

A) I can bind something with up to 12 HD. Some of the more interesting creatures (garuda, lammasu, some archons) have 8-11 HD. Is it OK to summon a creature with some class levels to boost them to 12 HD, or is this terribly cheesy? Some examples are obviously preposterous (i.e. celestial black pudding barbarian 2). However, as an example, a lammasu has 9 HD and casts spells as a level 7 Oracle. Can I summon a lammasu Oracle 3, which would have 12 HD and CL 10?

B) Do bound creatures benefit from my Augment Summoning feat?

Heathy's take was

Aubrey, what do you think (about the ally, that is - it clearly does not benefit from Augment Summoning)?

EDIT: A movanic deva has 12 HD; that's a great candidate for summoning too.

I have stone shape prepared, which we could potentially use to form a wall or blockage in a small passage, but I don’t think Wind Walk is a great option here. Apart from Ith’s point, one casting of the spell won’t be enough to do the whole group, and unless we are encountering a lot of very wide or tall rooms, we won’t necessarily be able to out manoeuvre any guardians we encounter.

Planar Ally could be quite good, but note the relatively long casting time (not an issue if we are resting anyway) and the potential cost (though maybe a divine servant of Gorum will be willing to do lots of fighting for reduced or no cost).

There is precedent in Paizo products for having planar allies with class levels (bad guys in APs seem to get such planar allies all the time). Remember though that the planar ally sent is of the deity’s choice, so Aubrey may rule that you don’t get exactly what you want. I’d say Augment Summoning does not apply to Planar Ally, as it is not a summon spell, which the feat specifically refers to.

I'm not so keen on summoning creatures with class levels, although I'm wavering over the celestial black pudding barbarian 2, I'll be honest. If you want to have something that goes to 12HD, you can simply add monster HD rather than class levels, which will toughen them up without adding annoying, fiddly low level class powers.

As a place to rest, if you drag the corpses into one troll hole, you could rest in the other, and all there will be is blood spatters after the fight and blood smears all over the floor when you drag the bodies out - no one would suspect a thing!

But Alwyn makes a point - strictly, all you need is an hour to fill your new slots.

The added-level thing mainly makes sense for creatures with spellcasting levels, like the garuda or lammasu. Beyond that, HD advancement makes more sense, I agree.

I think a planar ally might be in the works. Are you OK with the movanic deva, or are such creatures not part of Gorum's posse?

I'm sure he has a few knocking about... But do you have something to bargain with?

Enga? ;)

Prestidigitation could take care of the spatter and smears, but I don't have it prepared.

Just making a note for self as I try to determine the last couple decisions. As always, I'm happy to consider suggestions from the party.

Looking at spells for Sefayll:

Baleful Polymorph
Dominate Person (specialist school/spell focus applies)
Feeblemind (specialist school/spell focus applies)
Life Bubble (as a defensive buff)
Telekinesis
Wall of Force

And from the forbidden schools:
Hungry Pit
Teleport
Wall of Stone

All look like good choices, but the latter three would be expensive to memorize.

And looking at feats:

Arcane Blast
Arcane Shield
Dazing Spell
Eldritch Aid - maybe not until I know if Elisile trusts me. ;-)
Elemental Focus (fire)
Empower Spell
Enlarge Spell
Fast Study
Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment)
Greater Spell Penetration
Intensified Spell
Lingering Spell
Merciful Spell
Persistent Spell
Piercing Spell
Preferred Spell
Reach Spell
Selective Spell
Spell Focus (Evocation)
Spell Specialization
Split Slot

Since my specialty has a lot of save-or-die spells, I'm thinking it's in my interest to improve my chances to get through spell resistance or past saving throws. But I also like flexibility and enhancing my non-enchantments seems good - with Elisile in the party again, some of these would be redundant.

Enga? ;)

Hehe. I was thinking of offering the deva the trolls' giant polearms. But I don't think we identified them, as the troll fight bled into the lamia fight. So first we have to make sure they are actually magical...

Elisile has evocation and necromancy as her opposition schools, and tends not to use enchantments that much - if that helps spell or feat selection for Sefayll at all.

Just making a note for self as I try to determine the last couple decisions. As always, I'm happy to consider suggestions from the party.

Feeblemind is a must-have. I like Hungry pit a lot as well; I have had great success with it and it should be very effective against the kind of monsters we seem to meet down here.

Personally, I'd go with GSF (enchantment).

Since Elisile hasn't chosen conjuration as her opposition school, it would be smarter to let her do the pit spells and teleportation effects. That was something I didn't reckon on when I made enchantment her specialty - but I was going for something different, like usual.

Feeblemind is definitely a strong contender. GSF (Enchantment) would apply directly without modifying the spell level. After seeing Elisile's opposition schools - she's a transmuter, right? - I like telekinesis as a choice. I have seen it used to great effect with a quiver full of arrows...

I'm sure he has a few knocking about... But do you have something to bargain with?

The more I look at the bestiaries, the less idea I have of A) what I want, and B) what kind of servants Gorum has. Demons? Angels? Just about any outsider that hungers for battle? I just hope I don't call up six flumphs.

I like telekinesis as a choice. I have seen it used to great effect with a quiver full of arrows...

Telekinesis is my favourite spell in the whole game. We had a lot of fun with it in Heathy's campaign:

Altai Iscarni wrote:

Altai points at the beleaguered archer in the corner before making a shoving motion along the far wall.

That's the "violent thrust" version of Telekinesis - I'm throwing the archer at the duskblade(?) in K1. The archer needs to make a DC 22 Will save or go flying. Attack roll 13+8=touch AC 21 - if I hit, both take damage, if not, the archer presumably splats into the wall at L2 leaving the arcane caster unhurt. Damage is 1d6 per 25 pounds of archer weight. Some sort of bowling pin effect in the corner would be amusing, but that'll be up to the DM. ;D

Altai then moves to D6.

She don't save; they take 20 h.p. in damage. I gave her 175 lbs. of weight; doubt she ways that much but....

Yeah, telekinesis is great - definitely on my wish list for Elisile's 5th level spell selection.

Aubrey the Malformed wrote:

I'm sure he has a few knocking about... But do you have something to bargain with?

The more I look at the bestiaries, the less idea I have of A) what I want, and B) what kind of servants Gorum has. Demons? Angels? Just about any outsider that hungers for battle? I just hope I don't call up six flumphs.

The main chaotic neutral outsiders are the proteans, but I'm not sure that they really fit Gorum's portfolio, despite the matching alignment. I can kind of see him having some angel and some demon followers (presumably he wouldn't keep them in the same room at the same time).

Gods and Magic mentions a few of Gorum's divine minions, though they are all a bit non-standard; there is Blood Hands, a red skinned creature similar to a hezrou demon (I'm thinking red slaad, though they're not officially in pathfinder); Saint Fang, a spike covered, iron coloured dragon with abilities equal to a silver dragon; and Temperbrand, a fire elemental that looks like superheated liquid metal.

Perhaps elementals might be the most appropriate route, I dunno.

You guys have Inner Sea Gods? It has a section on planar allies for each god. Gorum has 4 mentioned as suitable for calling with Planar Ally or other calling spells (no stats). One of them is First Blade which is his Herald and is actually statted out at 18 HD. Another is a unique iron dragon (silver) and would have to be too young to be appropriate at 12 HD. That leaves 2.

Bloody Hands (unique outsider): A red skinned hezrou-like creature, Bloody Hands wears intricate scale mail that fits like a second skin. He enjoys the taste of potions and elixirs, especially those that augment his already formidable physical prowess. Though he cannot fly, he enjoys leaping down upon opponents from high places and charging through their ranks like a slashing wheel of death.

Temperbrand (unique fire elemental): This large fire elemental is made of molten metal and is in a near constant battle rage. She enjoys taking her enemy's weapons and melting them within her fiery form, which heals her and temporarily lends the weapon's magic to her attacks.

Whoops I skipped over MM's post accidentally. Essentially the same info, maybe slightly updated int he newer book.

Also Sef- the Masterpiece I'm taking at this level is pretty damned versatile. Illes can now throw gypsy curses as a bardic performance. Bestow curse is able to do lots of things and one of them is -6 to an ability score. So I can target Will saves for -3 before you want to drop an important save dependent spell. We would just need to coordinate because I can't do it and inspire courage at the same time except by using a 4th level spell slot.

I have the Gods And Magic book. So, what do you think of this hezrou-like creature?

I'm not sure that Gorum would be that happy to send one of his main allies to aid you in this - it's not even a big pitched battle, and you are fighting a "girly wizard " when all is said and done. You can summon Bloody Hands, but bear in mind that (1) given the foe is a bit unworthy he'll charge double and (2) if he gets killed, he's permanently dead, which might annoy your god (though he'd probably be more annoyed with Bloody Hands for being so useless).

This has a reference for planar ally-type creatures, though the list is far from comprehensive.

Points well taken. I'd actually be very happy with a Nessian hellhound.

Also Sef- the Masterpiece I'm taking at this level is pretty damned versatile. Illes can now throw gypsy curses as a bardic performance. Bestow curse is able to do lots of things and one of them is -6 to an ability score. So I can target Will saves for -3 before you want to drop an important save dependent spell. We would just need to coordinate because I can't do it and inspire courage at the same time except by using a 4th level spell slot.

Oh, I like the sound of that. That was part of my intention with selecting mind fog. I don't mind double-penalizing someone before I dominate him into clobbering his buddies.

Yeah, telekinesis is great - definitely on my wish list for Elisile's 5th level spell selection.

I can make you a bargain on adding it to your spellbook so you can pick up something else for your two 'free' spells. I am sure we could find an equitable trade.

Since I chose to advance as level as Eldritch Knight rather than wizard, I don't get the free spells - this is a wizard class feature unfortunately :(

Since I chose to advance as level as Eldritch Knight rather than wizard, I don't get the free spells - this is a wizard class feature unfortunately :(

Oh, I knew it wasn't at this level - but if you are capable of casting fifth-level spells, we should talk. Sefayll really wants Elisile on her side...

Heheh, giving her access to magic is probably a good way to her heart.

I'm going to be off net for 4 days from this evening. Should be back sometime Easter Monday.

See? I knew we could work something out. I'm sure you have a spell that I lack.

You might enjoy this, though the singer is a bit dodgy. Totally safe for work, though maybe a bit too loud.

EDIT: I've been informed this probably won't work if you are outside the UK. Sorry about that.

It seems to play ok for me, but it's a little late in the day (night) here to listen for two hours at this point. I'll aim to check it out tomorrow.

Just to let you know, I will be away for a week on holiday from Saturday. It is highly unlikely I will be updating.

OK, I'm out of here for a week. See you when I get back.