Chaosorbit's PFS PbP GameDay VI - #8-18/21: Champion's Chalice (Inactive)

Game Master Chaosorbit

Hey Gang, you all are now at APL 3.5. So you can choose to round up or down.

If round down to 3 - APL 3 with 4 players, you would play lower subtier without any adjustments for party size.

If round up to 4 - APL 4 with 4 players, you would play high subtier with the 4 player adjustment.

Let me know what you prefer.

I prefer going up! But will be happy to stay at low if there is a strong resistant.

I think we will be ok playing up now that we have our gear.

I'm happy playing up!

Yeah, let's do it!

Huzzah! The forums are back!

Well I sort of delayed a day, waiting to see if Bokkah would check in. Hopefully all is well IRL. Nevertheless, we will push forward and bot as needed for a bit.

Gang - not sure what to do about Bokkah. It's been about 2 weeks since she posted. I'm inclined to leave her on delay for now, in hopes she pops back in.

I'm going out of town this weekend, so I probably won't be able to post Friday or Saturday, might give a Bokkah a day or two more to get back engaged.

Any thoughts?

In my limited experience with Bokkah, It's uncharacteristic of her to go a long time out without explanation.

But when it comes to such a long outage, I normally drop the player from the session. I'm okay to as well delay in hopes she gets back so that we're not short handed.

I did an eentsy bit of profile stalking, and they've been AWOL in their other campaigns for the two weeks as well. Hopefully everything's okay, but I think dropping Bokkah would certainly be appropriate if we haven't heard anything by the time you're back.

That's what I was leaning toward as well...thanks.

Agreed.

I don't like the idea of bringing in another player at this point. So I guess technically we should drop a pregen in the mix; but that just seems weird. Perhaps I could play the grippli with a little more vigor. Thoughts?

I also wouldn't object if Purpurrup just happened to heal and buff an awful lot like a level 4 Kyra...

No objections to Purpurrup being our "pre gen".

Shame that Bokkah vanished, and worrying, hopefully she is alright in real life.

Shame that Bokkah vanished, and worrying, hopefully she is alright in real life.

Agreed, it's always hard not knowing.

I agree, @Chaosorbit - we’re too far along to bring someone else in. Running the grippli like a pregen seems like the best option, especially since she seems helpful anyway.

It is definitely worrying that she seems to have stopped posting all at once. Kulga, were you running another PbP that she played in? Did she disappear from that one too?

Yeah she was/did, I hope she's okay. Maybe just Gameday burnout? She's in a lot of other campaigns..

For what it's worth, I am not traveling over Thanksgiving weekend (for those of you outside the U.S., that's the next 4 or 5 days, depending on whether you are taking today off). Other than Thursday afternoon and evening, I am likely to be able to post more frequently than usual.

Aaaand I misremembered the smite rules for celestial summoned creatures. Doesn't bypass DR, but at least Celeste can do a little damage and keep it busy.

Right -- I just double checked that myself. Like you said keep busy will help.

Resources and strategy discussion:

Garduk has a light crossbow and 42 cold iron bolts (which should bypass Karan's DR, if not its fast healing). His attack bonus isn't great, only +3 (+4 with Bless) while this little guy seems to have a pretty high AC, but anyone else has a crossbow he can share the bolts, or if we close ranks we could get a couple of shots at it each round by passing the crossbow around with one or two of us just reloading. Garduk also has two more flasks of holy water (one in the bandolier, one in his pack which would probably take him a round to get back). He has scrolls of Magic Missile, which would hit but wouldn't get past Karan's DR.

If Garduk can get back to the wall without being dropped from Strength damage, he has 4 charges on a CL3 wand of Burning Hands (hooray for The Confirmation! yes, I forgot he had it) and can try that next. Would the enhancement bonus from Bull's Strength absorb the Strength damage if Karan cast Ray of Enfeeblement at Garduk again? If so, are there any potions left, or does Purpurrup have the scroll that the Kyra level 4 pregen has? If not, Garduk may need to wait until the spell wears off, which should be relatively quickly, depending on Karan's caster level.

Any other ideas?

Garduk might know about Ray of Enfeeblement -- A coruscating ray springs from your hand. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack to strike a target. The subject takes a penalty to Strength equal to 1d6+1 per two caster levels (maximum 1d6+5). The subject's Strength score cannot drop below 1. A successful Fortitude save reduces this penalty by half. This penalty does not stack with itself. Apply the highest penalty instead.

And it does wear off once the duration is over...so it isn't actually strength damage...I guess I technically mislabeled that, not on purpose.

Well, that’s a relief. I do think getting the crossbow to someone with a better chance of hitting Karan would still be worthwhile, but Garduk will move back in to the room to try the wand next round, and can drop the crossbow and bolts along the way.

I can do some crossbow work. Also, I don't think DR will protect against magic missiles. As an outsider he might have SR though, which would be bad for scrolls...

Sorry this is so tough gang. I'm running the tactics as written, and this guy is a real pain in the butt.

No worries on my end. It does make it clear we need more capacity at range. Usually Garduk can summon an eagle for that, but Celeste can’t do enough damage to get through the DR and he one-shotted her with fire. We need to kill it, if for no other reason than Garduk clearly needs what must be a CL 3 wand of Magic Missile!

Edit - I had planned to summon an air elemental instead of Marty (Amy? Aurelia? Artie?), but I figured Garduk’s knowledge planes check was high enough to realize that the little jerk was immune to electricity.

All good, I'm just kicking myself for forgetting to actually purchase Kulga's "in case of 3-D fight, break glass" options >:(

How would you feel about some... vaguely unconventional moves GM? Like a certain Str 22 dwarf tossing/hoisting a certain noble up the wall to try to land a grapple?

Wait - Garduk, do you have Grease still? He's climbing, right?

Yes he's climbing, I'm also fine with you tossing/boosting to attempt a grapple. Creative play encouraged!

ooo. Fastball special.

No more grease, unfortunately. I've got one more go with burning hands, then a couple of scrolls of Magic Missile or back to the holy water and alchemist's fire (more damage but requires an attack roll).

Kicking myself for not getting a stupid 25gp scroll of jump.

So what's the DC for tossing a 200 lb half-orc, anyway?

Well if you're Strength 20 you can lift 400 lbs over your head with no special check required, so hopefully not much higher than what I rolled lol.

Garduk gives Kulga the side-eye and hopes she doesn't think he's next...

Toss the grippli! She won't mind, it'll get her away from the flaming sphere!

Don't worry, I have a lot more faith in Brayne's grapple check than Garduk's!

Whew!

Hey Brayne -- reference the comment in the other games discussion...

Were you wanting to play the Blakros Matrimony - where you get to attend a Blakros wedding -or- The Silver Mount Collection - that just might contain a boon to have you own Blakros wedding?

Either way we can do that next, if you all want.

The latter would be more to what I was thinking, but either way I figured this group would want to experience all things blakros for consistency sake.

Works for me!

I'm good for that as well. (Just have to decide if I want to matchmake for someone other than Kulga...)

There's a reason I've never used a folio reroll prior to today. I've never had the folio! I've been contemplating on that last copy near the bookshop at work for months now, and this was the catalyst needed for me! I immediately headed out to buy it to make that reroll. Had a few other run ins I wish I had rerolls for as well, so it made sense.

That's epic Batpony!

Gang -- so going forward we need to decide how to fill Bokkah's spot.

Couple ideas:

1) Replace with 1 person recommended by one of you

2) Replace with up to 3 people recommended by you all

3) 1 or 2 except filled through recruitment on Flaxseed Lodge

I would be okay with any of these.

I think I've mentioned before I prefer running smaller groups in pbp because they tend to move faster, but a larger Pathfinder teams covers more gaps (for example, that last encounter was quite tough for 4). I've also more recently had experiences with 6 person team that moved very fast, so it can happen.

Thoughts?

I'd be happy either way - if we keep going with 4, we can move quickly, but going up to 6 gives us more options for playing up. I probably have less PbP experience than the rest of you, but I would recommend Greymore from the other campaign-style PbP I'm in. Her character there is Analia Frostburn, who is only level 2 and will be otherwise occupied, but she seems to have a lot of PFS characters in the right range to join our group (assuming she has time and would be interested). The last scenario we played was PSS 2-17, Exiles of Winter. I'd recommend any of the other players too, but none of them have an active PFS character in our range.

I've run with and for Greymore in the past and would be a great choice...

will see who others recommend as well.

That was a great second half - thanks for running it, Chaosorbit! Looking forward to the next scenario with this group and whoever we bring in.

I don't have anyone in mind that I'd seek to recruit (though I just finished a scenario with Greymore too and second them as a fun player). I do think that I'd vote against a FCFS from Flaxseed since if we're all still having fun we'll be playing with them for a while, so I'd want to make sure we get a good poster.

I'd prefer to stick with the lower player count if possible; I've been enjoying our speed too.

Thanks again for the great game! Twas a fun scenario, really enjoyed that one.

Had a run once with Greymore in the last special, so no exceptions there. I can think of a few players i would trust to bring a good experience and posting rate otherwise.

Similarly I share Kulga's exact thoughts on recruitment and posting rates. I find four to five players tend to hit a sweet spot.

Works for me - let's keep it to 4. Who should PM Greymore to see if they're interested?

I'll do it..and so Blakros Matrimony right?

Have a few things going on IRL and I think I'll need about a week or so to be ready to start a new one. I'll go ahead and get the thread set up, but likely won't start the game right away.

Going to work on chronicles for this one now.