[AP] Curse of the Crimson Throne by GMs Rutseg, Zek and Snowheart (Inactive)

Game Master Balacertar

All,

I'll be travelling Friday through Sunday. I may be able to get on and post sporadically, but please bot me as necessary.

I am unsure if the wall of ice would block the bardic performance here. Living in Spain I do not have much experience with ice constructions xD

I guess having into account there are small windows in the tower the sound would pour enough through there to maintain the singing effect.

Sorry, I don't know the rules on melting ice... would Burning Hands melt it, or what else do I need to take into account?

... I see in the spell that there are rules for breaking it, but the only thing that seems applicable to melting it instead are the 3 hp per inch... so if I do 36 damage to it by melting, would it be down? Also, if you melt it rather than break it is the frigid air part still applicable?

The rules for breaking objects are in the Additional Rules chapter, in the breaking and entering section.

On the table you can see ice has hardness 0 and 3 hp/inch. That is hardness 0 and 36 hp for each 5x5 area of wall.

The other couple of points relevant here are:

Energy Attacks: Energy attacks deal half damage to most objects. Divide the damage by 2 before applying the object's hardness. Some energy types might be particularly effective against certain objects, subject to GM discretion. For example, fire might do full damage against parchment, cloth, and other objects that burn easily. Sonic might do full damage against glass and crystal objects.

I think we can agree ice has vulnerability to fire (the melting part you refer):

Vulnerability to Certain Attacks: Certain attacks are especially successful against some objects. In such cases, attacks deal double their normal damage and may ignore the object's hardness.

So, in this case the damage would be divided for being energy damage, then hardness applied, then the damage doubled for being vulnerable to fire. Depending on the source of the fire, I will judge it particularly effective and thus the halving would not happen. For a burning hands, I think the attack is particularly effective. Also hardness is 0 in this case. So basically you double the damage of your burning hands before finding if you break/melt the ice down.

Thanks. :)

Its looking very much like we lost Malen.

I just fear so.

For now I think we are good GMPCing him, but if you have someone that wants a lot to play the last two books, let me know and we can come up with a way to replace Malen mid-game.

Well, this might well be the perfect place for a cleric of Pharasma to jump off. The place is crawling with the type of undead that he'd want to put to rest.

#sad

Also, I may have someone to invite.

Howdy! I'm the person Kalem invited! Don't know if I'm actually approved or not, but I'm just checking in! Great to be here, and what should I be building?

I don't know either, but a level 13 Cleric is what we lost.

Good to see you! The CPT comes highly recommended. :)

Welcome! It's certain that our healing slot is most needed, but I'm sure that could be filled in a lot of different ways.

Should I assume the build rules from the original recruitment?

And wealth by level, or some other version? Assuming everything I said was correct, I've got a venerable Shoanti healer type ready to go, other than not having much of a background yet!

Hi Captain Generica! I see you are new to PbP, at least on these boards, and an old school lover judging by your games.

In the future, it is better to hold back from posting in the campaign and just manage these things through PM if there is no recruitment post open. If we push you back now, doing so publicly can be very hurting.

From a point of maintaining the suspension of disbelief in the game, we are at a bad point to either kick Malen's PC out or add any character. There is nothing alive miles around, and farther away there are only orcs and giants. The group just entered the castle and thus it will take a time until they decide naturally to come back to civilization to resupply. Of course if the group decides to go back to the city on the next rest, more possibilities will open on that regard.

From a game balance point of view, it is requiring me to throw batches of encounters together at the party in order to maintain the challenge. Even if we decide to keep going with only 4 players, using wands for healing is probably good enough for us to keep going.

From an adventure story standpoint, there were 2 NPCs that join the party in the castle. I was avoiding to do this to avoid the game be too bloated, time consuming for the GM, and the party too unbalanced, but with Malen dropping I saw the opportunity to perhaps include them, because I think they add interesting aspects to the chapter. This makes the need for a 5th player even smaller.

So, when I said we were good but we might consider adding someone who was very interested, I was more of thinking on doing a favor to someone who played the CotCT but whose game dropped without being able to complete the AP, as it happened to these good lads and ladies in the group :)

Talking about build rules, I find some of the original accepted sourcebooks pose me problems having to check and reread many rules I feel like alien and hard to keep in my time constrained brain. Although unfair, to make the campaign less time consuming to maintain, I will only accept new players who accept restricting themselves to the following subset of sourcebooks: Core + Advanced Player’s Guide (APG) + Advanced Race Guide (ARG) + Bestiaries (B#) + Ultimate Magic (UM) + Ultimate Combat (UC) + Ultimate Campaign (UCa) + Inner Sea Guide (ISG) + Pathfinder Unchained (PU) + Advanced Class Guide (ACG) + Ultimate Equipment (UE). If you find a concept that is particularly fitting for the campaign, for example a Gray Maiden renegade Prestige Class that is only found in a Player Companion, I am also amenable to accept one such extra sourcebook. I will not give you Wealth by Level for gold, but use gold rules that maintain your equipment more balanced to what the other players have at current. Also, no side-characters (no animal companions, familiars, cohorts, etc.), we are a lot of people competing for room in the map and GM time.

In summary I will need the party to state if:
- they prefer to keep going with 4 or they prefer to add a 5th player
- if keep going with 4, do you wish to maintain a healing bot NPC or you prefer to manage your way with healing items
- if going with 5, do you all agree to accept Captain Generica? (you can send me through PM)

As for you Captain Generica, I would like to know:
- I see you maintain a large amount of campaigns despite just being playing a few months, are you planning to expand more on that list in the future? are you sure you can hold on a daily commitment during "time constrained" or "low energy" life time periods? This is a particularly active and consistent group.
- if you would agree overtaking one of the NPCs that join the party in the castle (race, class, name and background would be locked, but you will have full freedom to change all other mechanics) - I can provide more info through PM if you are interested
- if not, what character would you like to play
- if you do agree with the restricted sourcebook set

Have a nice day everyone!

I think I'm good with sticking with 4 people, but I wouldn't protest getting back up to 5 and adding a new person in the process. We're pretty capable as a group of four, so I'm not concerned about difficulty (it was pretty clear from the sheer quantity of enemies getting thrown at us that we've been getting encounters combined!). If we continue with 4, it would be nice to keep a healing NPC, if only to not have to pause the action to handle logistics around going back to towns to get high level condition removal or similar stuff.

Also, nice campaign renaming! We've got a legacy of great GMs.

I'm fine with either continuing with four or adding a healer with five.

I do think that at higher level, there are a lot of conditions that a divine caster could help with (it's not just the healing, which we could do out of combat).

But I think we could go either way.

If you have a curse of action, please just try, otherwise you give me the impression you are trying to fudge bad rolls Kalem and Zamanda. Specially when using OOC posts in Gameplay instead of Discussion. I know you are doing it because you are on phone and it takes time to format rolls, but still it creates a weird feeling.

I will adjust accordingly to the answers to your doubts.

Zamanda can shoot in the direction of the creature she hears casting and her friends attacking.

Nihil is still well alive despite Bashiel's attacks.

I have no idea what you mean by "a curse of action" ... do you mean the will save? I was 35 feet away, so I didn't roll it. I apologize for not posting in discussion, but I certainly wasn't trying to cheat.

Wow, this place is E-NOR-MOUS. Also, yes, the geography makes a lot more sense now.

It is truly large, in fact the whole chapter 5 is only this fortress!

Actually when I played the adventure, we took almost a whole year to clear it, playing every two weeks.

I think though we are going to make it in less time here.

Kalem has died!

Such horrible luck to fail every save, even with a reroll and with aura of courage nearby.

@Everyone: Don't forget to add your bonuses to saves from Bashiel's courage aura (+4 morale vs. fear effects) and angelic bond (+5 resistance vs. evil sources). Phantasmal killer also didn't kill you regardless Kalem, since it looks like you successfully disbelieved? (though I bet it gave you a shock :>)

@Rutseg: Does the Bogeyman's passive aura really inflict panicked? That's super vicious.

Bashiel is right Kalem, you passed your disbelief roll, there is no need to roll Fortitude, you are safe, just a bit affected by the view perhaps :)

No, you are not panicked, only shaken while you are within the aura. I got confused because the fear aura universal monster ability. But the monster itself has an entry for this particular fear aura, and thus, specific triumphs general. Sorry for that.

So Zamanda, you can take your turn, you are just shaken.

Thanks! Glad to hear he's not dead. Would have sucked to have had the story cut short like that. I take it that means Kalem is also just shaken and can act?

Sure!

Oh, okay, sorry I didn't see this sooner. I had the day off work yesterday, so wasn't checking as much as usual.

Lots of bonuses and penalties flying around right now, but for Cinnabar, she should have the following on saves vs. fear:

Bah--sorry, I am notoriously bad at remembering buffs from party members.

She does not have a resistance cloak at all, but I definitely forgot to add all of Bashiel's bonuses. I hope that means she just failed the Will save, but not the Fort.

Exactly, I wanted to say just that. Also inspire courage provides bonuses to fear, but they are morale, thus, they do not stack with aura of courage. Still, Cinnabar survives, painfully scared but alive.

Fortunately for Cinnabar, this fey was evil, and thus the angelic bond bonus applies ;)

That's twice now that (forgotten) floating bonuses has saved someone! <leaving aside that the first time was me...>

Bah--sorry, I am notoriously bad at remembering buffs from party members.

She does not have a resistance cloak at all, but I definitely forgot to add all of Bashiel's bonuses. I hope that means she just failed the Will save, but not the Fort.

No shame in that. Just think about how often I've forgotten to pick a mesmerist trick :O

Ha--yeah, we dodged two bullets this combat thinking both Kalem and Cinnabar had fallen. Glad we're still up and running!

I think we can take the statue now. I know for Kalem that the tricks he has up his sleeve are what he has, and resting won't change that. He's got a +4 weapon when raging, so that should overcome anything except alignment DR. And he can have good enough AC to tank.

If we wait, what would anyone change to make this fight go better?

Ah, I forgot you could bypass most DR.

I think you're the only one firing on all cylinders in this fight though Kalem. I can't bypass any DR or hardness and can't smite it. Most of Ilsa's abilities are blanked by mental immunity (since its likely a construct). Zamanda's likely in the same boat with not being able to bypass hardness.

It's not the kind of fight we're good at, so I'd rather tackle it once we can ID the creature successfully, maybe buy some counters for it, and I can switch out spells. If its a simple-minded construct, we could also prep a trap for it.

Kalem, if you're confident you can take it, feel free to go ahead though. Just don't expect much from the rest of us other than chip damage.

Kalem, you should go for it if you think you can take it. You definitely have the best chance. Zamanda has no idea whether she can take it, but personally, I think it is unlikely. Probably a construct with DR really high, so with no clustered shots, best case is a few points at a time.

However, I can sing and I still have some heal spells so I can try helping you hit, do damage, and even help keep you alive if you go against it.

So no one felt signaled by the "anyone entering the room"? :)

We can move towards a different place if you prefer to leave that room alone for now.

I think it was a clear signal that something dangerous was there, which is why I tried to go in alone to see what was up... were you trying to get us to bypass it completely?

As you made the Perception and K. religion rolls you are supposed to have a Surprise round to react and understand what is going on, as such I was trying to give you the opportunity to do something.

Perhaps I should have rolled initiative to make it more clear, I don't know.

As a side note, this haunt in particular could have affect you even if you were not at the room.

Good thing we had a ghost hunter!

I think it was clear... we just reacted by leaving instead of trying to understand it. You told us that we would have to lift the curse to take care of it permanently, so no reason to stay, right? And yeah, good thing Bash was there because I assumed out of the room was safe, since entering the room was the trigger.

I have added at the top of the campaign the count of anchors you have removed so far in order to lift the curse.

I guess by now most of you have noticed the song is a hint to know how many anchors are there and where are they located ;)

I would appreciate if you try to roleplay a bit your discussions, it always enhances the Gameplay feeling :)

"How about the doors north of there?" of C6

"To do those doors we have to go into the haunt room again. Let's try north of here C10 instead, for now... there are several rooms up there"

As you see it does not necessarily involve a lot more typing, just trying to tone it as your characters talking instead of the players :)

To be clear, Kalem can't see anything besides the plight of our friendly ghost, right?

Work today is insane--just jumping on real quick to let you know I won't be able to post until tomorrow.

@Kalem: Are you asking if there are any more enemies than the chained spirit? The answer is not. But you are seeing the spirits of the fortress dragging Zellara to its core.

This is an event that should have happened when you entered the fortress at the first time, but I forgot to make it happen (the section that describes all the effects of the fortress curse is 4 pages length + 2 more monster pages describing how the anchors work). I think this is a good location to fix my oversight and let you "enjoy" the event (no worries, she will return once you lift the curse).

Do not worry Ilsa, thanks for letting us know.

The chained spirit has special senses to "notice" the living. But unless you tell me you have a special interest to play the retreat I am hand waving it for the purpose of keeping the game pace and a better narrative.

This part of the map can be confusing. Do not hesitate to ask.

So, just so I understand... did I miss the roll on Acrobatics to avoid the AOO, or did I just say it wrong? Also, was he banished before my initiative, or are we going in the initiative of posting?

The DC of the check was 45 Zamanda. It happens with huge and strong foes :/

I generally go with post order, just for the sake of simplicity for everyone. You do not want your post to be invalidated by someone who theoretically goes first in initiative and did something that makes your action fail (like taking the space you want to go in).

Note if your action had not happened before Malem cast, the elemental would have not made his attack and the roll for the save would had been a success instead of a 2. The elemental would be still alive.

Kalem, do you cast shield when entering rage this time?