Beacons of Hope: Wrath of the Righteous!

Game Master GM the Fifth

Arloric Dziergas-Highbough wrote:

I'm a tad stuck figuring out my gear and stuff. How much do I have after copying over the stuff from my profile into HeroLab?

You have 2082.18 gp to spend on Stuff.

And do I remove the cost of the stuff I already have from that amount? Or is that on top of the loot we already have?

GM the Fifth wrote:

You have 2082.18 gp to spend on Stuff.

And do I remove the cost of the stuff I already have from that amount? Or is that on top of the loot we already have?

If you already claimed items from the loot sheet, then yes, deduct the resale value (you're basically buying it at half price). Unless you don't plan to keep it.

I don't remember what, if anything, you asked to use off the list because we've taken years to get through one book. :) But hypothetically speaking, if you had been using the +1 leather armor and you decide you want to keep it, then you'd have 2082.12 (your share in gold) - 580.00 (the resale value of the armor) = 1502.12 left to spend.

Hey, everyone! First, I wanted to say, "thank you" for allowing me the opportunity to GM the game from this point on. You didn't have to, and given the fits and starts we have all had...well...I recognize you could have just as easily called it a day. So, thank you.

Also, hey, it's been over 4 years since the two groups started and the seven of us are still here. That means a lot.

Last, thank you for letting me indulge a bit as part of the intro to book two. I know there were a lot of posts from me over the weekend. We'll be in a more normal pace very soon.

Before setting out, Alexa will purchase two bottles of fine wine: 20 GP gone.

Has it veeb 4 years?

First game post was June 22nd, 2016.

@Arloric. We need to get a hold of a scroll of [url=https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/plant-growth/]Plant Growth[/ooc] Look at the second effect.

Wow!

I think that would be something you could work out with Sario or even Crocis, who maintains (maintained?) Truestone Park and is still alive. He's a 5th level druid.

>> Map showing your route to Drezen <<

I am slowly getting a one-stop-shop together for campaign materials so we don't have to post long lists of links every time something changes.

About the medals: each is awarded for a specific event in the game. It doesn't sound like anyone was really keeping track of this stuff because of course Paizo introduced the medals in book 2, and says to award them for events from book 1. So no one knew to look unless they were reading ahead.

I went through combat logs from the Garrison and I think I found all the events that qualified, but...it's a lot of details to follow, and I could have missed something. If you believe you qualify for one of these, drop me a line.

Here is the breakdown:

Righteous Medal of Agility: This triangular iron medal shows a demonic face surrounded by three swords. It is awarded to a hero who delivers a death blow to a demon in combat before that demon gets a chance to act in the combat. This medal is associated with Dexterity and grants a +1 sacred bonus on Initiative checks.

Righteous Medal of Clarity: This circular blue medal depicts a pair of feminine gray eyes surrounded by a circular silver lightning bolt. It is awarded to a hero who recovers vital information of great use against the Worldwound and delivers this intelligence to the crusaders. This medal is associated with Intelligence and grants a +2 sacred bonus on saves against insanity or confusion effects.

Righteous Medal of Command: This circular medal depicts a leering demon head before two crossed swords. It is awarded to a hero who redeems one of the enemy and convinces the redeemed character to join the crusade. This medal is associated with Charisma and grants a +2 sacred bonus on saves against emotion-based effects (including fear effects).

Righteous Medal of Spirit: This rectangular medal depicts the symbol of Iomedae on a field of red. It is awarded to a hero who becomes possessed or mentally controlled by a demon but escapes from that control before he is forced to do evil. This medal is associated with Wisdom and grants a +2 sacred bonus on saves against charm and possession effects (including dominate effects).

Righteous Medal of Valor: This medal looks like a demonic skull, the top of which has been pierced by four red-hilted swords. It is awarded to a hero who delivers a death blow to a demon whose CR is at least 1 higher than the hero’s character level. This medal is associated with Strength and grants a +2 sacred bonus to CMD.

Righteous Medal of Vigor: This hexagonal medal depicts a white castle on a field of red with gold trim. It is awarded to a hero who is reduced to negative hit points by a demon but survives (or alternately, is restored to life) and rejoins the battle before that demon is defeated. This medal is associated with Constitution and grants a +2 sacred bonus on saves against death effects.

Collect all six, and you get one extra use of mythic power/day.

These are slotless items. They just need to be attached to your clothing or armor.

Regarding the medals, I remember shanking a demon that sought to tempt the party into changing sides at the Garrison: it seemed interested in me specifically. Would I qualify for the Agility medal as well?

@Alexa I'll dig through the logs again. But if you happen to beat me to it and post the link, I would not complain.

Hey, since Aberus is fading into the background, would it be okay for me to switch my weapon of choice from the broken-back seax to the scimitar? I stumbled across this image in the intervening time and thought "Aw man, that'd be PERFECT for a druid!"

Though I understand if you want me to stop being so fickle with my weapon selection every time the game transitions like this...*sheepish grin*

Here's the link, GM.

@Arloric, I am in favor of anything that is easier for me to spell.

Here's the link, GM.

Thank you. And it looks like Kelly qualifies, as well.

Apologies for missing this one. It should have been obvious.

No problem.

We are almost done with exposition, build-up, and introductions. The next segment will have some mass combat intermixed with traditional encounters and some travel/exploration.

If you aren't familiar with it, the mass combat rules are an abstraction of large forces fighting in the field. In the most general, possibly unfair terms, it reduces a conflict between armies to opposing die rolls: one for each army, each turn. In the traditional D&D/PF sense, this is boring because only one person participates. :P

But, there are things you can do to influence the tactics from round-to-round, and we are in a PbP format, which lets me take what's just a bunch of die rolls and interpret them into something a little more cinematic.

Here's what you need to know.

Your army, the Knights of Kenabres has the following stats:

LG Medium army of human (Paladin 4)
hp 16; ACR 3; Morale +1
DV 18; OM +8, ranged
Resources Improved Armor: Masterwork, Improved Weapons: Masterwork, Mounts: Horse, Ranged Weapons
Special Aura of Courage, Channel Positive Energy, Divine Health, Lay on Hands, Mercy, Smite Evil (1/battle), Spellcasting (1st Level)
Speed 3 Hex; Consumption 5 BP

Your army needs a commander. The army can command itself--essentially creating a field commander from the ranks--but it's assumed that commander is "competent but unexceptional", and thus provides no bonuses or boons.

A better decision (hint hint) is to assign a commander. That commander grants bonuses based on their stats. Valuable stats include high Charisma, ranks in profession (soldier), and the Leadership feat.

Ranks in profession (soldier) tell you how many boons your army can learn. New commanders have no boons, so this score sets your ceiling for boons, not your current boons. Boons are learned during the course of play.

Additionally, experts assigned to your army offer additional bonuses. The AP defines what those bonuses are. For example, Aron's skills as a scout adds +1 to your DV, Nurah's bardic skills inspire the troops and grants +1 to OM, and Sosiel grants +1 to Morale.

Of course, a PC can be a commander. The NPC friends that you have made to date are also options for either command and/or accompanying your army as experts (depending on the NPC). Two obvious options, for example, would be Irabeth as a commander, and Anevia as an additional scout, but there are others.

I won't tell you who can do what up front (other than those two). You'll need to talk to them to find out whether they would be willing to come, and what they can offer.

>>> Updated map to Drezen with mileage <<<

Also, I am slowly getting our campaign materials posted here:

GM the V's Wrath of the Righteous

I am using free Wordpress hosting because it's free. And good enough for our purposes.

Mage Armor does not stack with Bracers of Armor correct?

Correct. They are both armor bonuses. An Amulet of Natural Armor would, however.

Those are 1000 or 2000 gp correct?

Yup. A bit pricier because it's a natural armor bonus.

Once you get bracers up to +4 it's worth the free spell slot that you aren't using every day

I am thinking of crafting a wand of mage armor.

This next segment is really just about deciding which of your friends you want to ask to join you. We can play those conversations out, or hand-wave it. I am happy to do either.

Not a bad idea, at your current level it'd be 6 hrs per charge and give you back a spell slot.

Wands use the caster level at which they are crafted (defaulting to lowest level of the spell, costing more if you want to raise it).

Even at CL 1, a wand of Mage Armor will cover several encounters once you cast it. You just end up losing a turn buffing during unexpected encounters.

Personally, when playing a wizard, I don't mind dedicating a spell slot to Mage Armor. A Pearl of Power for 1st level spells--a bargain at 1,000gp and cheaper and more flexible than a Lesser Rod of Extend--will let you recall the spell, and at 6th level you have protection from dawn to dusk with one spell slot.

Get (or craft) two of them, and now the spell slot dedicated to Mage Armor is barely a handicap. Don't end up needing that 2nd Pearl slot at the end of the day? Then use it to recast Mage Armor before bed so you have it up if your campsite is ambushed. Etc.

That is true.

I just could not see an elf bowing down to human authority when she has a Sovereign.

Letting you know that tomorrow (Saturday) is my tabletop (now VTT) group's regularly scheduled PF game, so I may be spotty through Sunday.

Have fun!

We just finished book 2 of Return of the Runelords. I am playing a magus and was astonished today by what you can pull off in a single round of combat, even in the low levels. It's a technically very difficult class to play, though, because there is a lot of bookkeeping from round to round. You can grind the game to a halt if you aren't prepared when your turn comes up. I haven't played a combat-focused character for several years so it took me a few sessions to find the groove. Even my wizard in our last campaign ended up being RP-focused.

This is our third PF campaign since we moved to the game system in 2010. We were on 3.5 before that, starting together in 2002 or 2003. Most of us have been playing the game in one form or another since the AD&D days.

Magus is my absolute favorite class, because of how versatile, or specific you can make them.

With the right action economy, they can have some downright nuclear rounds, especially bladebound.

I had no idea how much fun the class would really be. It takes careful resource management, but I love the breadth of options, and how quickly you can adapt your tactics to a fluid combat.

Though I admit to also being a numbers weirdo that enjoys this sort of thing.

It's definitely up there with Paladin as an advanced class. Not for someone prone to option paralysis for sure.

But who doesn't love a class that lets you be Zorro (Arcane Mark is a touch spell you can cast an unlimited number of times per day....through your blade)

I have PFS magus based off Gambit. He is a lot of fun to play.

So I crafted a wand of mage armor at 1st lvl, scribed scrolls of Summon Monster II and I, and Fireball, bought a 1st lvl pearl of power and got a cloak of resistance from our trove.

Telerin Quenya
Female tower elf riftwarden 1/abjurer (banishment APG) 5/Archmage 1 ( Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Paths
of Prestige , Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 144)
NG Medium humanoid (elf)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +5 —————
Defense —————
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +1 Dex)
hp 39 (6 HD; 5d6+1d8+10)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +8 (+1 Trait bonus to disbelieve illusions); +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities hard to kill, resistance; Immune sleep; Resist fire 5 —————
Offense —————
Speed 0 ft.
Melee mwk cold iron quarterstaff +3 (1d6)
Special Attacks archmage arcana (arcane surge), mythic power (5/day, surge +1d6), unstable bonds
Abjurer Spells Prepared (CL 6th; concentration +12)
3rd—haste, magic circle against evil , magic circle against evil
2nd—acid arrow , lesser angelic aspect , blur, resist energy
1st—magic missile , protection from evil , shield, snowballUW
, summon monster I
0 (at will)— acid splash , detect magic , read magic , resistance
Opposition Schools Enchantment, Necromancy
M mythic spell —————
Statistics —————
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 13
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 15
Feats Combat Casting, Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Craft Wand, Mythic Spell Lore M
, Scribe Scroll, Spell
Focus (abjuration), Spell Penetration
Traits iadaran illusionist, magical knack, riftwarden orphan
Skills Diplomacy +1 (+3 to gather information), Fly +0, Knowledge (arcana) +13, Knowledge (geography)
+8, Knowledge (history) +10, Knowledge (planes) +13, Knowledge (religion) +12, Linguistics +13,
Perception +5, Sense Motive +7 (+9 to read a social situation), Spellcraft +13 (+15 to identify magic item
properties), Survival +4; Racial Modifiers +2 Spellcraft to identify magic item properties
Languages Abyssal, Auran, Celestial, Common, Daemonic, Draconic, Elven, First Speech, Gnome,
Infernal, Shoanti, Sylvan
SQ arcane bond (ring of protection +1), arcane focus ARG, counter-summons, elven magic, harmonious
mageMA, planar guide (favored enemy), urbanite ARG
Combat Gear pearl of power (1st level) , scroll of fireball, summon monster ii (CL 6th), summon monster ii
(CL 5th), wand of mage armor (50 charges) ; Other Gear mwk cold iron quarterstaff, cloak of resistance
+1, ring of protection +1 , wizard starting spellbook, 6,832 gp, 5 sp —————
Special Abilities —————
Arcane Bond (Ring of protection +1) (1/day) (Sp) Use object to cast any spell in your spellbook.
Without it, Concentration required to cast spells (DC20 + spell level).
Arcane Focus +2 to concentration checks to cast arcane spells defensively.
Arcane Surge (Su) Use 1 power, cast known/mem arcane spell for free, non-mythic save 2x (take low) &
roll 2x vs. SR.
Banishment Associated School: Abjuration
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Counter-Summons (Su) Can ready summon spells to counterspell any spell of the (summoning)
subschool.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Elven Magic +2 to spellcraft checks to determine the properties of a magic item.
Energy Resistance, Fire (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Favored Enemy (Evil Outsiders) Gain bonus to att, dam, and various skill checks vs. chosen subtype.
Hard to Kill (Ex) Automatically stabilize when dying, and only die at neg Con x 2.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Mythic Spell Lore [Mythic] Gain mythic spells equal to your mythic tier.
Resistance 5 (Fire) (Ex) When choosing spells, gain Fire resistance 5 until next day.
Spell Focus (Abjuration) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Surge (1d6) (Su) Use 1 power to increase any d20 roll by the listed amount.
Unstable Bonds (2 rounds, 7/day) (Su) Melee touch attack shakes and staggers a sumoned or called
creature.
Urbanite +2 Diplomacy to gather information & Sense Motive to read a social situation.

FYI. When outputting a statblock in HeroLab, the BBCode tab will give you formatting that works on the forums.

We are heading into a holiday weekend here in the U.S., but of course this year is not normal by any stretch.

I'll be fairly busy in Thursday and maybe spotty on Saturday, but otherwise will be available to move the game along.

Telerin Quenya[/b]
Female tower elf riftwarden 1/abjurer (banishment[APG]) 5/Archmage 1 (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Paths of Prestige, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 144)
NG Medium humanoid (elf)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +5
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +1 Dex)
hp 39 (6 HD; 5d6+1d8+10)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +8 (+1 Trait bonus to disbelieve illusions); +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities hard to kill, resistance; Immune sleep; Resist fire 5
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 0 ft.
Melee mwk cold iron quarterstaff +3 (1d6)
Special Attacks archmage arcana (arcane surge), mythic power (5/day, surge +1d6), unstable bonds
Abjurer Spells Prepared (CL 6th; concentration +12)
. . 3rd—haste, magic circle against evil, magic circle against evil
. . 2nd—acid arrow, lesser angelic aspect, blur, resist energy
. . 1st—magic missile, protection from evil, shield, snowball[UW], summon monster I
. . 0 (at will)—acid splash, detect magic, read magic, resistance
. . Opposition Schools Enchantment, Necromancy
. . M mythic spell
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 13
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 15
Feats Combat Casting, Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Craft Wand, Mythic Spell Lore[M], Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (abjuration), Spell Penetration
Traits iadaran illusionist, magical knack, riftwarden orphan
Skills Diplomacy +1 (+3 to gather information), Fly +0, Knowledge (arcana) +13, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (history) +10, Knowledge (planes) +13, Knowledge (religion) +12, Linguistics +13, Perception +5, Sense Motive +7 (+9 to read a social situation), Spellcraft +13 (+15 to identify magic item properties), Survival +4; Racial Modifiers +2 Spellcraft to identify magic item properties
Languages Abyssal, Auran, Celestial, Common, Daemonic, Draconic, Elven, First Speech, Gnome, Infernal, Shoanti, Sylvan
SQ arcane bond (ring of protection +1), arcane focus[ARG], counter-summons, elven magic, harmonious mage[MA], planar guide (favored enemy), urbanite[ARG]
Combat Gear pearl of power (1st level), scroll of fireball, summon monster ii (CL 6th), summon monster ii (CL 5th), wand of mage armor (50 charges); Other Gear mwk cold iron quarterstaff, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, wizard starting spellbook, 6,832 gp, 5 sp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Arcane Bond (Ring of protection +1) (1/day) (Sp) Use object to cast any spell in your spellbook. Without it, Concentration required to cast spells (DC20 + spell level).
Arcane Focus +2 to concentration checks to cast arcane spells defensively.
Arcane Surge (Su) Use 1 power, cast known/mem arcane spell for free, non-mythic save 2x (take low) & roll 2x vs. SR.
Banishment Associated School: Abjuration
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Counter-Summons (Su) Can ready summon spells to counterspell any spell of the (summoning) subschool.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Elven Magic +2 to spellcraft checks to determine the properties of a magic item.
Energy Resistance, Fire (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Favored Enemy (Evil Outsiders) Gain bonus to att, dam, and various skill checks vs. chosen subtype.

This does look much nicer. I did take Harmonious Mage which gives me access to all wizard schools now without the added cost to cast opposition schools but it does not look like it is showing up here.

Would it be possible to craft with mythic abilities a Staff of the Magi?

I am not planning on doing much for the weekend so I should be available to at least role play.

No. Even mythic doesn't allow the creation of artifacts. There is a mythic crafting feat that lets you craft any of the mythic magic items. Note quite in the same league, but there are some impressive items on the list. Provided you have the cash to spend.

BOOO, BOOOO

Yeah, the only way you can MAKE an artifact is selecting the Legendary Item universal path ability three times as you increase in tier, and then you're only making the one item that's important to you an artifact. You can't go and make them for OTHER people.

Interesting.

Happy Thanksgiving