Clebsch GM Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path

Game Master Clebsch73

I feel like liberating command is a good 1st level spell to put off until later because the bonus isn't that great at low levels, and party members likely don't have many/any ranks in escape artist yet. Protection from Evil is really good imo.

Radiant Dawn of the Inheritor is absolutely going to be Avelina's second level spell. It's her signature spell, so much so that some of my friends groan when I do it on her PFS version :)

Ah, the joys of empowered, intensified DC 22 Burst of Radiance :3

Third and fourth level is pretty good for our party.

Three I get dex to damage and increased sneak attack dice, our cleric and wizard get second level spells.

Fourth I get debuff on sneaks, our sorcerer get second level spells, our paladin and bloodrager get first level casting.

What a great series of levels these will be for the party.

Third level is a GODSEND for Anarya (since she's an oracle, that's true literally). Selective Channel just makes the entire character work.

I cant wait for spellcasting. I may even take the feat to allow my to use spellcraft while raging at some point lol.

Sidenote, I will be going dark from Thursday to Sunday for a long weekend. I should be back in the action sunday night.

Be sure to update your profile with your third level changes. Let me know when you are ready. Below are some particulars to update as you get time. Sorry if some seem kind of picky, but as characters advance in level, it becomes more important to standardize the information pertaining to your characters. Having things in a particular format saves me time when I need to know how a particular spell, trait, special ability, or magic item works. So strive to have your profile contain all relevant details either in links to the SRD or under spoilers. It's a minor thing, but it also helps to have some keywords bolded to help find things faster.

Anarya: Your profile looks good. Don't forget to update the dice rolls spoiler at the bottom.

Avelina: Looking at your special ability Heroic Echo, that means when Bless is cast on the party, Avelina will get an extra +1. Don't forget to add it in when you attack. As you get time, would you add links to the SRD for each of your spells, feats, and traits. Alternately, you can copy and paste the texts for these into spoilers for easy reference. That saves me time when I need a reminder of what any of these do. Also add a spoiler with your dice rolls (see Franti's page for an example).

Ellena: When you get a chance, would you adjust the melee and ranged entries to follow the format in the Pathfinder Statistics blocks.
Example:
Radiance +1 cold iron Longsword +9 (1d8+5/19-20)
When I see "+8 Longsword, 1d8+4 (19-20/x2)," at first glance, it appears that you have a +8 Longsword. Eventually, as everyone gets magic weapons, it will help to have these in the standard format. The rest of the profile looks fine. Still need the spoiler with the rolls formatted so I can quickly copy/paste when I need to make a skill roll or save for Ellena.

Franti: As you get time, add the standard Statistics block in the format of the Paizo bestiary as topmost portion of the profile. That helps me find important stats quickly. Use an entry like this as a model. Any special abilities, feats, traits, etc. should either link to the SRD entry or have the text from the SRD copied and pasted under a spoiler.

Karas: Looks like you haven't updated the profile for 3rd level. When you do, change the abbreviation for masterwork to MWK. It took me a few moments to part out that MST stood for Masterwork. Picky I know, but it helps speed things up for me when things are in standard format.

You may want to split your special abilities into separate spoilers to make it easier to find things quickly. Maybe one spoiler for feats, one for traits, one for rage abilities, etc. Or make links to the SRD where they are mentioned in the main profile.

Tauni: Your profile looks good. As you get a chance, I'd like you to add links to the spells in your spellbook to the SRD entry to make it faster to look up spells. Same goes for any special abilities, traits, feats, etc.

Everyone: Since Karas will be AFK until the end of the weekend, take a break if you need one or use the time to update your profiles. I'll post the narrative for what the group finds when emerging from the underground into the city sometime on the weekend, with possible melee encounters starting once everyone is back.

Tauni is ready to proceed, and I will work on some linkages as time allows. Do you prefer links to the paizo.com srd or the one at d20pfsrd.com?

Also, Friday I will likely be offline completely, and then sporadic on Saturday and Sunday.

Should be able to get something up for today or tomorrow. Have all the bookkeeping around, just need to put it in stat block form.

I got all the shortcuts posted, DM. I'll fix the weapon listing as well.

I recently purchased the book Inner Sea Gods. It has detailed information about each of the main deities of Golarian. It also has a feat some of you may want to consider: Deific Obediance. The specific benefits of the feat depends on which god/goddess a character worships and each requires a different action to maintain the benefit.

For example, Iomedae requires the following: "Hold your primary weapon in front of you and hang a holy symbol of Iomedae from it. Kneel while focusing on the holy symbol, pray for guidance and protection from the Inheritor, and swear to follow her teachings. Gain a +4 sacred bonus on Diplomacy and Knowledge (nobility) checks."

At higher levels, additional benefits accrue. If anyone wants this feat but doesn't find information on what obedience to perform or what benefits result, I can make something up if I can't find anything in the source material.

There are also some prestige classes which grant these boons at earlier levels. See Evangelist, Exalted, and Sentinel prestige classes for details.

Avelina actually just took Deific Obedience (Iomedae) this level! She's going to be taking the Evangelist prestige class later :)

Tell me how this looks. If good, I'll add it to Franti the Fool / Capello page. If you want a small one (I'll be small often, after all) give me the word and I'll make it.

I leveled and changed everything but the top of the stay block lol I'll fix that at home with the rest and will break up the special abilities block

Necessary Edits complete.

Also I'm back from the wastes! Sorry for the Delay!

Just FYI, I finally stopped being a forgetful, lazy bum and remembered to put all those rolls into my profile as requested.

Request for profiles: Please see to it that there is either a link or a spoiler with the same information for each trait, feat, class, and/or race ability. Saves me from having to do a search to find out what the rules say about something your character has access to.

No need to do this for really common feats like dodge or a Skill Focus, but it is particularly important for anything that has special situations that provide a different save or attack bonus or AC and the like.

Same goes for spells. For characters who can cast a limited number of spells without preparation, I'd create links to the spell descriptions where the spells are mentioned in the profile, such as under the "spells known" section. For casters who prepare spells daily, I'd have a spoiler with all the spells commonly used with links to the spell descriptions.

If a spell has a saving throw, make sure the DC is listed somewhere. Calculating spell DCs can be complicated, particularly when feats or class abilities provide different DCs for different schools of spells.

Thanks.

I've been copying and pasting into my profile for the class features. Is this something youd prefer in links?

Either is fine. When I make my PBP character profiles, I prefer putting the text under spoilers so I don't have to open so many pages and have all the information in one view, but as GM it mainly is so I have a quick way to review the details of an ability or spell I may not be familiar with.

As players get higher in level, it will be more and more important to have this kind of info well organized and quickly accessible. In the current melee, I had an enemy cast Bane and I had to review each profile to see if any special abilities changed the save bonus.

I may ask for more particularized profile formats as things get more complicated. Once folks have mythic abilities on top of multiple classes, lots of spells, etc., I expect my own time as GM of complicated melees to go up. So it may save me time if I always know where to look for information. Thanks for your continued cooperation.

DM:

I've updated my profile with the correct die rolls and fixed a number of small errors in my statblock. I've also added in the text of Anarya's new revelation, See Sin.

Ellena: What confused me in your initial attack roll was that you were using the magic sword, but the attack rolls was indicated as:

Power Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Damage 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

My request is that the weapon making the attack be specified in the attack roll, such as "+1 Longsword" or "Radiance". If you are doing a power attack, add that after the the weapon name and make the bonus separate from that.

+1 Longsword, power attack: 1d20 + 9 - 1 ⇒ (13) + 9 - 1 = 21

It just helps me understand the weapon being used and the types of bonuses/penalties being applied, instead of having to make assumptions.

I would encourage all players to make attack rolls in this manner:

[dice=weapon, bonus, penalty]1d20 + 4 + 1 - 2[/dice ....

I will do the same, so we can more easily understand all the details of the attack.

Ok, I understand what you are asking. I can do that.

Franti has a dex of 20 when he is small, adding five to his damage rather than 4. This does not affect his offhand damage which only adds half dex.

I spent about an hour last night trying to figure out Franti's to hit and damage bonus. It was obvious he was adding his dexterity bonus to his attack and damage with the sap but when I looked at the list of feats on his profile (here), I did not see weapon finesse or anything that specified getting dex bonus added to damage.

Eventually, it caught my eye that Franti is using the unchained rogue, which has a number of class features that includes weapon finesse and a provision for one weapon that gets dexterity bonus to damage.

I mention this just as an example of why I'm asking for the profile to include certain things. The unchained rogue, for example, should include the feat weapon finesse somewhere either under feats, perhaps with a parenthetical note that it is a bonus feat, or in the SQ (special qualities) or SA (special attacks) section. It should also link to or quote the text of the Finesse training which includes the part about one weapon adding the dex modifier instead of strength. If these had be included in the profile, I would have understood the bonuses Franti was getting and saved myself some trouble.

Oracles should list their revelations and any benefits from their chosen mystery. Any non-human should include whatever special benefits their race gives him/her. Paladins should have their paladin special abilities, mercies, etc. listed. Bloodragers and sorcerers should list their bloodline and the special abilities that they get.

Every character should have their traits listed with a link to the SRD entry or a spoiler with the text quoting the rules for that trait.

Please work these into the profiles as you get a chance. We're only at third level now, so things are only going to get more complicated as we go on. Thanks.

Drop: On its turn, the subject drops whatever it is holding. It can't pick up any dropped item until its next turn.

The barbarian drops his sword this turn (not when I cast the spell). He can't pick it up until his next turn. The "drop" command would be pretty useless if he got the item back immediately.

Also: Isn't Avelnia's caster level 3? She should get only one die until level four, by my count.

First, I'm sorry that there are so many glitches this melee. I'm not sure if I'm just off my game or just dealing with a lot of issues I've never had to GM before.

The wording on command is somewhat contradictory when it comes to the drop command. At the start of the description it says, "You give the subject a single command, which it obeys to the best of its ability at its earliest opportunity." I agree that it would be less useful if the target could recover the weapon at the start of it's next turn, although in that respect it would be similar to using the disarm combat maneuver.

But it would mean that the target would have the weapon in hand and that it could be used for attacks of opportunity until the start of it's turn. In this case, although Franti made his acrobatics check to avoid the attack, he could have failed the roll and taken an AOO before the spell's effect began.

I guess in this case, they are using the fact that technically, the "drop an item" action is a free action, which has to be taken during the character's turn, unlike an immediate action which can be taken outside the turn. There are other spells, like burning disarm which take effect immediately and if the target doesn't make its saving throw, the weapon is dropped immediately, not at the start of the next turn.

I have a somewhat similar issue with the stun component of the Ear-Piercing Scream spell. I interpret the stun as taking effect as soon as the saving throw is failed, but that also implies that the stun only lasts until the start of the caster's next turn. So Trent can't act this turn, since he is stunned, but after Avelina's turn, he could make attacks of opportunity. If that interpretation is wrong, let me know.

If anyone knows of a rule discussion or another reference that deals in a general way with this issue, let me know as well.

As for the damage of the Ear-Piercing Scream, the spell states "You unleash a powerful scream, inaudible to all but a single target. The target is dazed for 1 round and takes 1d6 points of sonic damage per two caster levels (maximum 5d6)." I now realize my mistake. Again, the wording is a little confusing.

Would it also be true that when casting the spell as a 1st level caster, there would be no damage? I think we gave it damage back when Avelina used it at first level. But I'm now thinking that technically, the spell wording would have to be "... and takes 1d6 points of sonic damage per two caster levels (minimum 1d6)..." Otherwise, 1/2 usually rounds down, implying that when cast at 1st level, the spell would only stun the target if it failed the save, but would do nothing otherwise.

Sorry about the trouble, DM. My fault in this regard, I primarily rely on my custom Gear/Rolls Spreadsheet to track everything.

I think the below should do it in conjuction with my rolls sheet.

Karas: while working out Karas' CMD for the grapple attempt on him, I figured out that his CMD should go up by +2 while raging. Also his CMB goes up +2. Please note these in the "common effects" spoiler.

I dobt mind all the getting mechanics in-order at all. It's good to get it out of the way now!

Along that line, rage doesnt make his CMD go up. The +2 he gets from his strength going up is canceled out by the -2 AC penalty from raging as AC penalties are applied to CMD.

HOWEVER, he still wouldnt be grappled, when someone provokes an AoO for doing a combat maneuver and they take damage, they take a penalty on the combat maneuver equal to ther damage they take. So with a -12, that would put the grapple attempt at 5.

Good to know. Yet another learning experience this melee. I based my decision on the gameplay post based on the example I found in the NPC Codex for Amiri, the iconic barbarian, level 7 and 12, where the stats when not raging list the CMD when not raging as two lower than when raging.

I suspect this is due to some particular rage power, since, now that I look elsewhere, none of the other barbarian NPCs in the NPC Codex contain a different CMD when not raging.

I suppose somewhere in the rules it specifies that a penalty to AC also always applies to CMD, although if so, it's one of those annoying attempts by Paizo to reduce word counts by burying a default rule somewhere to save words when specifying bonuses in other locations.

It would be simpler and clearer, IMHO, to list in the rage power for barbarians and bloodragers that they take a -2 to AC and CMD and save GMs and players the trouble of having to search the Internet or word-of-mouth to find these things out.

@Karas: To bring Karas' profile in line with the Paizo method of listing PC statistics, please make all the stats in the main stat block be for when he is raging.

Then include a spoiler for what changes when he's not raging. Here is an example from the NPC Codex:
Base Statistics When not raging, the barbarian's statistics are AC
17, touch 11, flat-footed 16; hp 34; Fort +5, Will +1; Melee mwk
greataxe +7 (1d12+4/x3); Ranged mwk sling +5 (1d4+3); Str 17,
Con 14; CMB +6; Skills Climb +5, Intimidate +12, Swim +3.

Since most of the time a fighting barbarian or bloodrager will be raging, this makes sense.

@ Franti: If Franti is going to continue shifting his form to a small humanoid during fights, go ahead and list his main stats as they will be when he is in small form, with a spoiler indicating what changes when he is normal. Sorry if this makes more work for you after making other changes.

I know this side of the game is not very sexy, getting the profiles to synch up with a standard format, but as I'm finding out increasingly, it really helps me when I go to review actions in melee or make a post for an AOO or save or whatever. Once everyone has six levels and starts to have mythic abilities, it will get even more complicated.

My advice is to find the closest example of a Paizo stat block to your own character and set up the profile to mirror the format in the stat blocks. That's what I've been doing with my PBP characters.

I will make the proposed changes later tomorrow. I'm on vacation in Florida until then and profile changes are annoying on my phone lol

I really appreciate you having him go for a grapple rather than just grabbing another weapon and making my spell useless. :) If I were to rewrite the spell in homebrew, I'd say they can't pick up anything for a full round. "Drop" is usually the weakest of the commands, but it felt very appropriate to use it on the guy with the gigantic sword.

I know this side of the game is not very sexy, getting the profiles to synch up with a standard format,

Au contraire! I thrive on stat blocks/formatting. It's very satisfying for me to look at Anarya's page and see everything aligned together, with hyperlinks right where they need to be.

Clebsch GM wrote:

I know this side of the game is not very sexy, getting the profiles to synch up with a standard format,

Au contraire! I thrive on stat blocks/formatting. It's very satisfying for me to look at Anarya's page and see everything aligned together, with hyperlinks right where they need to be.

Agreed, but for different reasons. Seeing the third level advancement take the second level's? Wow, the changes had me blushing when I plugged in the damage difference. Early level power growth always brings a grin to my face.

I really appreciate you having him go for a grapple rather than just grabbing another weapon and making my spell useless. :) If I were to rewrite the spell in homebrew, I'd say they can't pick up anything for a full round. "Drop" is usually the weakest of the commands, but it felt very appropriate to use it on the guy with the gigantic sword.

A typical fighter will have alternate weapons and some can even make unarmed attacks, so its effectiveness depends on the item dropped. If a wizard has a bonded item he is holding that he must hold to cast spells and he has to drop it, he can't just pull out another bonded item. Someone with a single ranged weapon wouldn't be able to make ranged attacks. And it could be humorous if used on a snotty barmaid as she carried a tray of beers to a table of half-orcs getting restless for their drinks.

So I wouldn't house rule it. It's a very powerful spell that has been used several times this AP to good effect. It's just not that effective at disarming a typical fighter with several back-up weapons.

Anarya wrote:

I really appreciate you having him go for a grapple rather than just grabbing another weapon and making my spell useless. :) If I were to rewrite the spell in homebrew, I'd say they can't pick up anything for a full round. "Drop" is usually the weakest of the commands, but it felt very appropriate to use it on the guy with the gigantic sword.

A typical fighter will have alternate weapons and some can even make unarmed attacks, so its effectiveness depends on the item dropped. If a wizard has a bonded item he is holding that he must hold to cast spells and he has to drop it, he can't just pull out another bonded item. Someone with a single ranged weapon wouldn't be able to make ranged attacks. And it could be humorous if used on a snotty barmaid as she carried a tray of beers to a table of half-orcs getting restless for their drinks.

So I wouldn't house rule it. It's a very powerful spell that has been used several times this AP to good effect. It's just not that effective at disarming a typical fighter with several back-up weapons.

Fair points. The other commands which can be issued certainly have no issues with power level - the spell is an absolute favorite of mine (Anarya even has a trait specifically for command). My Mesmerist specializes in that spell as well - he's particularly fond of casting greater command and commanding an entire room to fall to their knees and "KNEEL!" (fall prone).

Makes me wonder what Franti would do with it?

I'm actually seldom a caster, so I would need to give it a good look over. I'd probably use is as a readied action to make assailants drop down if they go near one of our melee types. Or "Drop weapon when they attack," or play Red-Light Green-Light with approach, flee and halt. Maybe have me cast flee, Anarya use approach, and see what happens during their turn.

I wonder how it would have affected Franti if I had a Command Terendelev scale rather than Alter Self. The Allter Self has been pretty integrated in my play so far, possibly more so than anyone else's scale.

I like being the recurring target of Command spells. I was thinking about running from the giant-woman anyway, good to see that you locked in my option for me, DM ;) . Is this punishment for wanting to leave the city?

Should be able to get my Small stats as default up later tonight.

Regarding the below: Eh, I'll take it. I'm assuming she speaks common, I see it as flavor more than anything else.

Just FYI, Command is language-dependant, so if that's what she cast on Franti with that bit in Abyssal, it would only work if he understood Abyssal too.

This giant woman is totally going to kill Ellena. Ah well, it's been a good run. Let's do it!

Don't worry, will join you in a minute.

Also sorry, I slept the odinsleep last night and didn't update my star block. Will get that done tonight.

When we leveled up, I put Tauni's new second level spell slots as being empty. I am assuming she couldn't fill them until she could rest. And we haven't rested between leveling and this encounter, right?

I am working on updating Tauni's profile with links and combat details. I'll get the new one posted later this week.

Profile updated. Stat line above my posts has also been set to my raging stats.

Added a few URL links. Let me know what you think DM and any changes you would suggest.

No big rush on the profile updates. It's a long-term goal to make things go a little faster for me. No need to delay posting in the current encounter to get the profiles done first.

As for the woman killing Ellena, that is her goal, but keep in mind that her big damaging attacks come from her glaive, and she can't attack up close with that. And her visible armor is just a chain shirt, so Ellena is better armored. Also keep in mind that enlarge person doesn't grant any extra hit points, so the big challenge is getting close to her.

Of course she has allies to make things difficult. This battle seems evenly matched so far. Team crusader got a couple of critical hits early on which have given them some breathing room, but team Baphomet is not out of tricks.

As for Tauni's new level of spells, she would not need rest so much extra time to prepare them. There has been nothing to prevent to group from pausing along the way to the surface long enough for Tauni to pour over her spellbook (or commune with her hare) to prepare those new spell slots. So fill the slots and let's see what new goodies she has to put into the battle.

That big baphomet bee-with-an-itch is gonna learn why you dont curse out a Galfrey :P

Volley of Holy Arrows Magic Missiles are gonna be coming her way.

Yeah, Ultimate Intrigue is something else. I've been waiting almost two years or so for this, ever since it was first announced. I have a home brewed nobility game that will benefit from this book, can't wait to really dig into it.

There is a Magical Girl class! That is all I've ever needed!

Oh god.... Does Avelina know?

Haha, oh god. Avelina's Alter Ego would just be an Inheritor Cosplay. Her animal guide is a little pseudo-dragon familiar pretending to be Peace-Through-Vigilance. Best yet, she is still an arcane caster who insists she is divine. Her transformation sequence would be a prayer, a twirl, and bam, The Radiant Heroine appears.

We need to all take a one level dip into Magical Child. I'll be the Puny Prankster, a chaotic good goblin who laughs in the face of danger (or maybe laughs from his own antics).

That's...actually a brilliant idea. I might need to rebuild....

In all seriousness, I've been checking Ultimate Intrigue out for a week now, and I have had my magical child all planned-out for a few days now :3

She is super friendly and cutesy in her social identity, a traveling performer who worships Desna and has a cute black cat named Stella. When she flips her holy symbol necklace around, revealing the symbol of the Black Butterfly, she turns into The Beautiful Dragonfly, Black Midknight (with her sidekick, the silvanshee agathion Silver Starlight). She's super melodramatic and maudlin in her vigilante persona, kinda like a cross between Avelina and Lego Batman. Like, she will lament her cursed blood and uncontrollable powers and her parents' violent death in front of her, none of which is true (unlike Avelina, she knows that and is just playing a role).

Another way I describe her is Magical BatGirl (and she's the daughter of my Batman/Green Arrow character, so it works out).

I hadn't planned on picking up the book, but you guys are really piquing my interest here! Grumble, grumble, ....heads to Amazon.com.

This is Anarya.

I've been playing a magical girl in PFS for years now - she's level 10 and is a Skald/Paladin. When her theme song begins to play, her gaudy, pink-and-gold wayfinder transforms into the mighty composite songbow - a glamered longbow strung with six bowstrings she can play like a harp even while firing heart-tipped love arrows. Meanwhile, the mild-mannered "Pretty Idol Girl Vanessa" transforms into the fabulous Magical Princess Warrior Vanessa, with the power of the Ruby Princess Jewel and the Power of Friendship. And by "friendship" I mean "party-wide Amplified Rage feat" and "Raging Song."

Absolutely.

Glorious.

Magical girls everywhere!