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

Game Master Balacertar

And with that, Kalem's wish has been made. He is now an elf. Which, to be honest, is not a plot point I'd have ever guessed at if not for the Deck of Many Things. It actually downgraded him, mechanically! -2 Strength, -4 Cha, +2 Dex, +4 Int. Even trade on stats, but when it comes to a strength based bloodrager who has max dex AC, it doesn't come out even.

But he got his wish. And he has a friendly CR15 CG outsider who can help him out 1/day. Even though she, and the goddess she serves, has really done enough already.

And that voice in his head is none too happy at being rejected. What happens with that is up to the GM.

Finally, the Big Sky? It doesn't do much for the story. Though it could be seen as that helping hand from Elysium. Might re-roll it, might not. But Kalem's re-rolls are up for grabs for the party. Anyone who wants them now has it.

The Mountain Man: The character grows one size category, gaining all the benefits and penalties of increased size. His equipment does not increase in size.

Wow. Interesting one. :) This might make sliding through tight spaces harder, but I wonder if I could pull a more powerful bow... hmmm. She is going to have to buy a new wardrobe with taller clothing, but let me know on the celestial armor... as it is magical, does it adjust, or not? This isn't ideal for stealth or even getting along in society, but you know, this is my favorite one of the cards I drew. I like that it changes the game in ways that I didn't expect, so I am going with it.

Side note: This is a potentially embarrassing situation to go hulk in the middle of the castle, but I think that her sleeves of many garments and hat of disguise will serve her even if everything she is wearing is in tatters (except against those with true sight). I'm going to write in that she remains decent, because I don't think that dealing with her streaking through the castle is going to improve the story.

___

The Peacock: The character’s skin hardens, becoming rigid and pebbled. He gains a permanent +2 bonus to his natural armor, but takes a –2 penalty to Dexterity.

I'm surprised on this one that it doesn't affect Charisma rather than Dexterity, because you would think that would affect her stunning beauty, but you know... somehow it just seems right on her. :) Overall this isn't a great change for Zamanda because she has a +3 amulet of natural armor, and she is an archer, but the changes are not wholly bad. She can get a different amulet, and an 18 rather than a 20 isn't the end of the world. Additionally, I like the theme of her getting bigger AND tougher, so accepting this one as well.

___

The Lost: The character cannot gain another level in whichever class he currently has the most levels. This effect can be circumvented if the character is killed and returned to life, but the next time he is restored to life he is affected as if by the spell reincarnate, regardless of what spell was cast.

This is a non-issue, because Zamanda has the most levels in Bard, and while it might be nice to go back, it wouldn't work anyway because she already has the spell levels for Bard from her Arcane Archer class, and I wouldn't know how to go back and do that anyway (is it even possible?). So... this is a potential redraw, if I feel lucky, but let's see what else we have.

___

The Uprising: Upon drawing this card, 3d6 unruly, accident-prone, 1st-level commoners appear to serve the character. If these followers are killed, the character takes the usual penalties on attracting further followers. Knowledge of these commoners’ mistreatment or death spreads far, with the GM determining any repercussions.

Okay, no. The idea of followers is intriguing, but unruly and accident-prone in the middle of the castle right now? Bad idea.

Conclusion: Redraw two. I will go write it up, but waiting on the redraw to make the changes to her sheet, since who knows what else will happen.

________________

I am interested to see how Laori reacts to Kalem's change. :)

Have to say, I love Zamanda’s writeup (and the player’s attitude towards this)! The scene in this room really screams “deck of many things” right now.

Also, can you guys help me on the size change thing? I don't know what all changes are incorporated into a permanent size adjustment. I see this chart

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic#Table-Ability-Adjustments-from-Size-Changes

but that only shows downward adjustments, and could be temporary... ? I could use it in the opposite direction, but not sure it actually applies?

and this chart

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat/space-reach-threatened-area-t emplates/

Which gives some negatives for attacks, armor class, CMB/CMD, fly, and stealth, but is this the whole package? I've never even done an enlarge spell on any of my characters, so if there is a better place to look, please let me know.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/creating-new-races/

Large (7 RP)
Prerequisites: Humanoids taking this quality must have the giant subtype.

Benefit: Large creatures gain a +2 size bonus to Strength and a –2 size penalty to Dexterity. Large races take a –1 size penalty to their AC, a –1 size penalty on attack rolls, a +1 bonus on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a –4 size penalty on Stealth checks. A Large creature takes up a space that is 10 feet by 10 feet and has a reach of 5 feet.

And I believe that a large longbow is 2d6 damage. As for your current weapon, you'd want to buy this:

https://aonprd.com/MagicWeaponsDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Resizing

Price +4,000 gp; Weight —
Description
A resizing weapon instantly shrinks or grows to suit the size of any creature that picks it up unless it is currently wielded by another creature. It reverts to its original size 1 round after it leaves its wielder’s possession.

-------------

So all in all? +2 Str (+1 damage) -2 Dex (-1 hit) and 1d8->2d6 damage on bow.

For AC? It becomes -2 (-2 dex, -1 size). But you get +5ft reach.

Looks like a very nice boost to offense, at the cost of defense. At this level, it's a pretty good trade in my opinion.

Thanks. :)

Yeah, my bow doesn't have the property where it can adjust to higher strength, and with the other card my AC goes down a total of 3, since the natural armor doesn't affect me (amulet) but the additional negative dex does.

Need a new bow, first order of business. Wonder if I can sell both the ones I have and come up with enough to get something decent.

Also, maybe I should get a magical melee weapon. :)

[I made many of the main changes on my sheet, but still need to go through all my skills and update.]

let me know on the celestial armor... as it is magical, does it adjust, or not?

Yes, magical items that are worn automatically adjust to size. For your weapons... I think there are some spells able to adjust the size of objects out there? Anyway, I think you can use a smaller bow without penalties.

As about the Peacock natural armor, I think that is a base bonus, so the enhancement bonus from the amulet would stack.

Enlarge
I think this is basically a permanent enlarge person. So:
+5' reach
+2 size Str
-2 size Dex
-1 size to hit
-1 size to AC
+1 CMB
+1 CMD
+2 damage size categories: 1d8 -> 2d6
-4 Stealth
-2 Fly

This is a great change for a melee combatant (increased reach!), but I am not that sure for a ranged build.

I have still to read your posts in Gameplay, but I wanted to answer this part

I may not have time today to weigh in on gameplay, but WOW! Crazy, endgame, character altering stuff happening with the other characters, and my own draws are super!

The Juggler: The PC gains a +2 bonus to two ability scores
of his choice, but must then swap them with one another. Yes please. My Str and Con are both 18, so I'll just add two and swap them!

The Locksmith: This card grants the ability to open any
one door, lock, set of bindings, or other locked barrier.
This includes magical gates or portals that have specific
requirements to activate. When the character arrives at the
Sunken Queen, she instinctively knows she can use this
ability to remove the restriction on teleportation into and
out of the Sunken Queen for 24 hours. The character can
use this card’s effect whenever she wishes, but only once. This sounds fairly important, since it specifically mentions the Sunken Queen.

The Midwife: The character gains exactly enough
experience to advance to the next level. Umm--yes please!

The Unicorn: This card grants the PC the ability to
undo one past choice or action. The fabric of reality is
respun, potentially restoring creatures to life or altering
the course of history, depending on how the character
acted and how he wishes he would have acted. The player
chooses in which situation he would have acted differently
and the GM determines how reality changes to reflect that
act. The change primarily affects the character, affecting
others as little as possible. The character can use this
card’s effect whenever he wishes, but only once. Uh--this could be a get out of jail card in the future. I can't think of anything I would use this on in the past, but if my actions could potentially save someone in a final battle or otherwise, this sounds epic. I don't see a reason to redraw any of these.

Kalem as an elf!?!?!?! Zamanda 12 feet tall!?!?!?! Oh, the humanity!!!

Ilsa = Jackpot!

Zamanda:

“ The Peacock: The character’s skin hardens, becoming rigid and pebbled. He gains a permanent +2 bonus to his natural armor, but takes a –2 penalty to Dexterity.

I'm surprised on this one that it doesn't affect Charisma rather than Dexterity, because you would think that would affect her stunning beauty, but you know... somehow it just seems right on her. :) Overall this isn't a great change for Zamanda because she has a +3 amulet of natural armor, and she is an archer, but the changes are not wholly bad. She can get a different amulet, and an 18 rather than a 20 isn't the end of the world. Additionally, I like the theme of her getting bigger AND tougher, so accepting this one as well.”

It’s +2 Natural Armor
Your amulet is +3 enchantment to natural armor
It stands for +5 total

Yesterday I ran the final encounter for Rise of the Runelords. It was an extenuating battle that ran for 7 hours non-stop, the most crazy and epic thing we have ever done. Karzoug is a truly epic BBEG.

We have been 5 years playing RotRL and it is the first AP we completely play from level 1 to end game, and it was the first in-person game after two years playing the campaign online. As such I am still processing all the events and feelings this brings and need a few days of just light play.

I just wanted to share, but I threw the dice for the cards you decided to change. I want to carefully read and process your posts there and make Laori react (perhaps she should draw cards herself), but today is not the day, sorry!

Ilsa = Jackpot!

Never bring a mesmerist to a spirits seance raffle, she will get all the good cards :D

Kalem wrote:

Ilsa = Jackpot!

Never bring a mesmerist to a spirits seance raffle, she will get all the good cards :D

Haha--awesome.

Congrats on your 1-finish RotRL campaign! I can't believe you finished that epic grind! That's really cool, and I'm sure I'd love to know when you're recruiting next (if ever!).

Okay, new cards:

The Crows: The character must choose between his most valuable item and a major ally of the GM’s choice. Whichever is not selected is destroyed or slain and cannot be restored by mortal means. The character is made aware of the ramifications of this choice upon drawing the card.

Wow. Rejected.

The Cricket: Upon drawing this card, the character may choose to draw up to three additional cards. In addition to those cards’ effects, the character’s base land speed increases by +10 feet for each card he draws.

Accepted, and choose to draw three, so my base land speed goes up to 60.

However, need a replacement for that horrible card, plus the additions from this, so a total of four more cards.

... and scared, since I only have one Harrow point left with which to reject anything. If my luck holds, something seriously bad could happen.

(But isn't this fun anyway?) :D

Congrats! Huge accomplishment!

And Zamanda, all of my harrow points are yours as you need them.

Plus 60ft movement speed? You'll officially be able to outrun a horse!

“ Opening her eyes, she turns to face her companions. Shadows cling to her black-clad form, and her ghoulish claws pulse with purple energy. Even her allies have a hard time looking at her horrific eyes. She is unfathomable beauty and terror--the manifestation of nightmares.”

Damn.

“ Never bring a mesmerist to a spirits seance raffle, she will get all the good cards :D”

What they get is terrifying.

The Big Sky: Once per day, the character can add +10 to his CMB or CMD for 1 round. When he does so, a piece of metal in close proximity shatters.

Seems harmless unless the metal is something valuable, which could be a weapon or armor... could accept but likely won't use because of the trade-off, but not sure it is worth continuing this... hmm.

The Forge: The character must choose one weapon or armor in his possession to be reforged into another weapon or armor of equal or lesser gp value. For example, should a character choose to have a +3 longsword (an 18,315 gp value) reforged, he could have it transformed into any one of hundreds of items, like a +1 axiomatic scimitar (also a 18,315 gp value) or a suit of +3 full-plate of silent moves (12,300 gp). Any gp value not spent is lost.

I actually think this one is pretty perfect under the circumstances. I need a new bow anyway (not just larger, but one that allows me to use my full strength bonus now), so I'll see which of mine is worth more, and use that as the basis for a new one, which will likely need more enchantments than what I can get for the same price, but it will be a start.

The Brass Dwarf: The character becomes immune to one energy type of his choice, but gains vulnerability to another energy type of the GM’s choice.

The Brass Dwarf (uh, yeah, x2)

Hmm. If I accept both of these, can I choose immunity to the first card's weakness with the second card, and then end up with only one vulnerability, or is that cheating?

Also, the duplicate card thing will be interesting to explain in gameplay.

I'm in the middle of work and my brain is fried, but I guess I am going to say... let's reject that first one, get one last card and accept the rest (whether or not the "cheaty" thing works). Then I'll include the new card in my write up of the whole thing, when I have more time.

Done.

Yes, I see no reason for you not being able to chose an immunity with your second for the same energy as the vulnerability of the first one.

As I have to chose the vulnerability, let me know which immunity you want for the first one, then I will chose the associated vulnerability so you can chose to block that one or take another immunity anyway.

That's awesome on the 2 immunities and 2 vulnerabilities! I love that you got both. :D

Edit: Just read gameplay. Laori is now NG! Alot to process...will reread in a bit...

Oh wow, that card is hilarious. :) I didn't think that it was going to get weirder, but okay.

The Bear: The character gains the lycanthrope template, becoming a werebear lycanthrope, and as such, remove disease and heal have no affect on this affliction.

Question... since it is from a card, is it the same as getting bitten, or is it more of a change to my nature that I know about and can learn to control?

Will my alignment change?

____

For my first immunity, I choose fire... don't have any resistance to that one, so seems like a good choice.

(Plus, you know, with the whole new bear thing, I think Smokey the Bear would approve.)

Bear: I am not sure, let me go and check about the lycantrope curse. The justification is the spirit of a bear killed by Ileosa, or perhaps the spirit of a Shoanti with the Bear totem, has merged with Zamanda. How that translates to actual stats... we need to figure out.

Fire -> vulnerable to cold

Laori is now NG! Alot to process...will reread in a bit...

In fact, by accepting Kalem’s love and rejecting a spirit devoted to Zon-Kuthon to take Salvator Scream’s spirit under her protection to compensate him for his death and ensure his art is not lost, Laori has completed her transition from LN to LG.

With a brush instead of a chain, you can make guesses who is going to protect her from Zonku’s wrath.

Well played on that. ZK’s sister has made a power move. :)

Now we just need to hear from Bashiel. To see if he will choose the card that would make this an all female adventuring party going up against the evil Queen and her all female guards!

Lycanthropy
Here are the rules Zamanda:
- Corruptions
- Lycanthropy

I will say Zamanda is struck with up to 4 manifestations (you chose how many up to that limit and which ones exactly).

Corruption stage is 0.

The deck does not specify the lycanthropy has to be related to a bear. As such, I am going to be open for you to decide a different wild animal, specially if you have had an experience with one during the course of the adventure.

Otherwise, the bear is probably a good one, given the other transformations suffered by Zamanda (large size, harder skin).

The deck does say bear, unless we are reading different things:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/artifacts/minor-artifacts/deck-of-many -things-harrow/

It also says that they gain the lycanthrope template (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/lycanthrope), not a "corruption"

... DM call, of course, but if it is actually a corruption instead, maybe Zamanda will beg Kalem to save her from it instead of accepting it. Corruption/"horror rules" looks really bad.

We are using the version of the deck in the Annex of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Anniversary Edition specifically tailored for Venster's deck, see here reference.

The general version of the deck in 20pfsrd is previous to Horror Aventures, thus, they use the template because there was no other option to handle lycanthropy back then. The AP version came out after Horror Adventures and they could use this more complete version of lycanthropy, hence why this version references Horror Adventures instead.

Whoops... what I get for trying to refer to something on a different screen rather than dig backwards in the post.

Okay. I think that with the corruption rules, it's clear that you are forced to be evil and kill things rather than having the option of the werebear (which is lawful good) and that chance to be good anyway, so I am going to write it up in a couple of hours when I get off work, but just as a trigger warning, Zamanda is going to mentally at least decide to commit suicide, knowing that she will eventually harm and kill others, and that she doesn't have any power to resist this card.

At that point, if Kalem wants to, and he sees what is going on with her trying to reject the card, but knowing that she has pushed her luck too far, he can save her, but to Zamanda, this is the end.

Kalem to the rescue! I’ll get a post up soon.

Edit:

Posted. Please excuse any artistic liberties, I just wanted to get across the idea of the deck being a truly dangerous artifact, with effects that are not easily resisted.

Great post... and thanks for the save, Kalem. :)

I'm off in an hour and then I'll catch Zamanda's stuff up too.

Well played on that. ZK’s sister has made a power move. :)

Now we just need to hear from Bashiel. To see if he will choose the card that would make this an all female adventuring party going up against the evil Queen and her all female guards!

Glad you like it Z! Also…I can’t believe my Derp moment of forgetting that Kalem is a guy. :p

“ Opening her eyes, she turns to face her companions. Shadows cling to her black-clad form, and her ghoulish claws pulse with purple energy. Even her allies have a hard time looking at her horrific eyes. She is unfathomable beauty and terror--the manifestation of nightmares.”

Damn.

“ Never bring a mesmerist to a spirits seance raffle, she will get all the good cards :D”

What they get is terrifying.

Thanks, Kalem. Very kind of you. I get a little attention for some occasional fancy prose only because it contrasts so much with the rest of you bringing it every day!

I also gotta say, this Deck is pretty fun for end-game. It really feels like we just had some appropriate power up just in time to end this thing. Love it! :)

In all of the lycanthrope confusion I forgot to state my second immunity. Was thinking about it and I'm worried that if I just say cold, then the opposite will come up again and I'll lose my first immunity (the deck giveth, and the deck taketh away), with the deck playing the same trick on me that I am trying to play on it, so I guess I'll choose sonic instead. I had to give up resistance to that for arrowsong minstrel anyway, so it goes along with being a bard, and I have a small resistance to the other options already.

By the way, what does Zamanda look like now? Any artwork that fits? At the moment all I could think of would be something like a large Oread.

I don't know. I probably have to look through some pictures. I mean, she still has a 22 charisma and she is still an Aasimar, so I believe she is still stunning, but perhaps in a different way, as Kalem was envisioning. Maybe she looks a little bit more outsidery?

Thought hit me just now as I sit here feeding my baby. You know…Zamanda kind of turned into a goliath / another goliath / size comparison

“ Description

Goliaths were massive. They averaged between 7​ to ​8 feet (2.1​ to ​2.4 meters) tall, making them even taller than dragonborn and half-orcs”

“ Skin

Goliath skin was often gray or brown and was extremely tough (often compared to stone).[7] One of the most distinctive features of the goliath was the darker (often vertically symmetrical) patches of skin that covered their entire bodies.[14] Goliaths believed that these markings somehow explained or controlled their fate or destiny. For this reason, goliaths never tattooed themselves as this could affect their future.[13]

Goliath skin was littered with bony growths called "lithoderms". These growths were roughly the size of a coin and appeared like studded pebbles on their arms, shoulders, torso or head.[14]”

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Goliath

Of course there are no goliaths in pathfinder. But for a high Str, high Cha, rocky skinned, large-sized archer, it’s a decent framework

I like it. Let's go with that first picture, although of course she is wearing a shirt. :)

Wow, big changes while I was out on vacation! It'll take me a bit to process all the posts here and in gameplay. If there is a need to continue rerolling bad cards, Bashiel has a pile of Harrow Points burning a hole in his pocket.

As far as I've gleaned so far, we either hit pretty good luck with these or this particular deck is more weighted toward positive and neutral cards. Exciting!

The reforging card:

Oathbow (worth 25,600)

Reforged into a new bow worth 25,435:

+3 Adaptive, Glamered, Sniping Orc Hornbow (sized for a large humanoid)

Note that my bracers of archery will now be used for proficiency with the bow (since it is exotic) rather than as a +1 for attack.

Will probably add on more enhancements if I sell the other bow and can afford it, but just wanted to use the value of the oathbow and load it up with what I could for now.

A 2d6 damage bow? Those splash books are definitely full of mysterious stuff.

So, Zamanda will be shooting 4d6 arrows instead of 2d6 now with hornbow+enlarged+gravity bow, I see. Interesting!

That said, the hornbow is only a +3.5 to damage in average respect a normal composite bow. I would carefully weight it against the +1 to hit. For a non full BAB character it is not an easy trade.

The adaptive enhancement is just great!

I am clued by the sniping one though, does Zamanda have a source of sneak attack now?

EDIT
I forgot about the immunity:
sonic -> vulnerable to acid

On the sniping, I was just thinking of it as a generic hide-and-shoot thing like a normal person could do rather than the "sniping" special quality and attack that a rogue does, and thought the stealth bonus looked nice, but you're probably right. Maybe it is unusable for a normal person.

I'll take another look later.

As for the trade-off, honestly... I already can't hit our opponents. That seems to be Kalem's job. :)

I just lost 4 dexterity, so I don't imagine my attack success is going to improve anytime soon, so mostly the bow is a decoration, but when I do hit, which could happen occasionally when I am in high favor with dicebot, I might be able to overcome DR with a little bit of damage this way.

Ok. For Zamanda, it's too bad that we don't have that many levels left, and that this couldn't be planned for. A 2 level dip into Sanguine Angel would have given Str to Hit with Bows. That would have been perfect.

As is, she has Bull's Eye Shot. Personally, I'd make use of that, rather than having rapid shot / iteratives, as it means having 1 shot that might hit rather than fishing for a 20. On top of that, her feat tree still opens her up for Manyshot, which would be a huge damage spike.

+13 (BaB) + 3 (Dex) + 3 (Enchantment) + 1 (Weapon Focus) +4 (Bull's Eye Shot) - 1 (Size) -2 (rapid shot) = +21. Not bad, but...

"Imbue Arrow (Su)
At 2nd level, an arcane archer gains the ability to place an area spell upon an arrow. When the arrow is fired, the spell’s area is centered where the arrow lands, even if the spell could normally be centered only on the caster. This ability allows the archer to use the bow’s range rather than the spell’s range. A spell cast in this way uses its standard casting time and the arcane archer can fire the arrow as part of the casting. The arrow must be fired during the round that the casting is completed or the spell is wasted. If the arrow misses, the spell is wasted."

But, if Zamanda can access to it...why not cast Truestrike?

That +21 to hit (for 2 attacks) becomes a +43 to hit (for 1 attack). Casting time for Truestrike is a standard action, so Zamanda can use her move action for the extra +4 to hit. It's a lvl 1 spell though that is on the wizard spell list and not the bard spell list. With some gold from retraining, you could grab this via your Arrowsong Minstrel archetype.

Yeah, you can burn through your lvl 1 spell slots really fast like this. But with your high charisma and high level, I think that it would be a pretty decent way of spending them. Especially when you can get Manyshot, so that 1 hit is actually 2.

In other news...the Lawful Good Paladin just got his own demiplane! I can't wait to see Bashiel's writeup.

Ha ha. Sanguine Angel... you have to be a whole other alignment for that, and you have to worship an infernal demigoddess. :) I mean, for sure, that all could have been worked into a backstory and then overcome through heroic means, but that isn't really something Zamanda is going to do.

You are the master of building powerful characters, Kalem. I know that... and I am totally not. I just like to make them interesting or thematic.

Please don't worry about my character not being maximized. None of them probably ever will be, and that's okay. If that means they die in a story, then they die. It's just the way things go.

That actually reminds me of a particular game I played on these boards once where the bad guys were just too hard... none of us were optimized enough I guess. Thought we were doing well at first, but then ran into some bigger bads and started losing, and no matter what creative tricks we tried, we kept losing. Stayed overnight in a warehouse once because the big bad was outside waiting to slaughter us, and was flying and none of us could deal with that even though while he was in the warehouse and within reach we were winning. Had to sleep to get some spells back and then we were able to sneak everyone out.

Had to get one of our party members resurrected before we even started into the end game, and considered doing something else, but it was a module, and we were supposed to go on, so we did.

Were traveling to the final place and kept being ambushed by a rakshasa that was just too fast for us... couldn't keep up to be able to hit him.

Got to the final battle and all these bad guys that we hadn't killed the first time were there to join in, and we knew that we were going to lose, so we got the loot creatively, but then made a deal with the bad guys to get them to just leave town.

Horrible ending in terms of the larger world plot. The DM was super unhappy... but that's where the story led us. I'm not happy that the DM was upset by our choice, but really not sure what we were supposed to do at that point. You could say our characters weren't good enough, but storywise, that was who was there to deal with the situation. Got to make your choices and work with what you have, and if you can't find a way to win, then you do your best to survive to fight another day.

I love your attitude towards that, and how you put flavor and story first. Personally, I’d find that campaign really unpleasant unless it was billed as a story of regular people facing power enemies. (As you point out, I really enjoy crunching numbers. But I don’t think that I’m even that good at it. In a recent campaign the GM’s RAW legal bad guys wiped the floor with my “optimized” PC because the GM knew casting mechanics and meta magic inside out. <shudders>)

It sounds like an inexperienced GM who didn’t understand how to balance BBEG vs the party. It certainly is a constant balancing act. Was this campaign online? If you could provide the link it would be fun to look it over

Ha ha. I haven't looked at it in a long time, so I am a little afraid that you will look at it and say, "no it really was her fault."

(Which you know, it honestly could have been. Maybe I just played badly.)

In any case, here it is:

https://paizo.com/campaigns/DMPuppetMastersHumbleBundleWelcomeCampaign/game play&page=last

Just be aware that I joined the first adventure halfway through or something, so I won't be there if you go back to the very beginning of gameplay, and then the one I am talking about where it ended badly was us ending one game and restarting a new one (Cult of the Ebon Destroyer I believe). To be fair, I think the DM had warned us it was difficult. It just proved to be too difficult for us.

Okay, another thought on the Reforging card:

I have this much credit--Oathbow (worth 25,600)

What do you think of my going for a stepped down version of a Starbow (normally worth 30,400)? There is no way to break down its unique properties, but if I took off just 1 from the +3 and made it a +2, the difference in price for the third enhancement should be 10,000, which would put us at 20,400.

It is already effectively adaptive, and has some other cool things, but then I can add Resizing to it (4,000), take that as the bow from the reforging (leaving 1,200 on the table, or to cover extra decorations or whatever) and add the additional enhancement level back in after selling my other bow.

thoughts?

Generally, I would say picking a special item from a different AP is a big no no. What was the policy in this campaign about doing that?

Given we are approaching the end of the campaign and the bow is obtained from a special event as this, I am more open to let this happen due to its exceptional nature.

The bow itself does not seem overpowered to me for this high level play, as you have many other means to deal with invisibility and exploit light vulnerability anyway.

I have no idea if there was a policy about that, nor did I consider the source of the bow. I was just looking through things, and figured that the oathbow had special features that might rebuild into other special features... but honestly, I don't really care. I'm happy to go back to my original plan and get an orc hornbow instead. Don't really want to argue for something you think is inappropriate. I'll come up with a final generic build something by end of day.

Okay... so, for the reforge, I am just going to reforge the +2 Seeking Composite Longbow.

Generic features break down:
+3 worth of enchantments which is 18,000
Composite Longbow with a +4 strength bonus is 500
Masterwork is 300

Total value: 18,800

I'll reforge it into

+3 enchantment which is 18,000
Orc Hornbow, size Large is 260 gold
Masterwork is 300

Total: 18,560

The remaining value will go into making it look cool.

I'll add on other stuff later.

Zamanda, if the Starbow is something you like, go for it :)

I guess with all the out of normal goodies going around at this point everyone will feel it is just fair.

I only wanted to avoid the expectation one can just go to the magic shop and get a sihedron ring or a copy of Gorum's Thorn :P

As for getting out of Venster's room, I guess you either leave Kalathuro behind or both Ilsa and Zamanda spend dimension door spells.

Remember you just had a rest, teleported down, then up.

List Review

1. Trifaccia.

2. Black dragon in Castle Korvosa. (Zarmangarof)

3. Wizard named Togomor.

4. Ishani Dhatri missing.

5. Red Mantis assassins, take 2 (in castle, find proof that Ileosa is behind them)

6. Disband the Gray Maidens. (Sabina Merrin and their chief indoctrinator, (Vavana Dhatri) Get surrender or defeat from both.

[Partly done... Sabina taken care of (in a good way), but not Vavana.]

7. Devils in Castle Korvosa/proof that Ileosa is trafficking with devils.

[Essentially done. Took out one, and proof of the erinyes. However, could be more in the castle.]

8. "Capture" Ileosa.

I've only used a couple of dimension door spells today, but am otherwise at full strength.

That said, if we want to finish up a thing or two here, then rest, then go to the Sunken Queen, that works for me.

Personally, I'd still like to check the dragon's horde before we leave the castle.

I don't need to rest either... yet. Guess it depends on what else we run into before that. I do like the idea of starting that boss battle with all possible resources.

Also, doesn't sound like we are going to get time to do any shopping, so I guess I will redo my bow reforge once again to get something that is more usable without any additional opportunity to sell/buy or use more resources.