DM Alexander Kilcoyne's Sargavan Saga

Game Master Alexander Kilcoyne

I see there's a new campaign info tagline. Good send-off.

It seemed fitting.

Joana wrote:

Wander Weir, the third alternate from the original recruitment, left the Paizo boards entirely about a year ago.

Wasn't aware of that. I liked him :).

As did I. It left a huge hole in Navior's games that we honestly haven't recovered from. He was both a reliable poster and an excellent roleplayer.

Oops... Sorry DM AK. Between being on call at the hospital and recuperating from it, I missed that it was my turn. Again, I apologise... :-(

Okay, Kieran moved to -A 34, I presume, to flank with Qhude? But Qhude previously moved to C 31 to employ his reach weapon, right? And a halberd isn't a reach weapon, so the goat-headed demon would have had to move to B 31 or something to attack him back? Getting confused as to where everyone is. I was thinking to Bit of Luck, but it doesn't look like anyone but Jakob's adjacent.

I would assume the horned/goat demon moved to B31, with Kieran moving to flank in A31 and the tiny winged demon-turned-wolf moving to A32 to attack. Otherwise, I guess Qhude moved to C31, the goat-demon moved to B32, and Kieran moved to flank in A31 opposite Tebati and the demon-turned-wolf moving to A32 to attack Kieran.

Yeah, it's getting confusing.

Ahem. I'll get a map upload up.

Have I ever said that I dislike that Ansha's Charisma isn't 17+? Because that's probably where it's going to go. It's really, really non-optimal, but....

I would consider allowing Ansha to become an Arcanist from the Advanced Class thing, once its a bit more finalised. I recall that the class had uses for both intelligence and charisma. Is that of any interest to you?

On that note, Qhude may want to take a look at the Brawler.

I like most of the new classes in the ACG, but I'd agree that the Brawler is a very good fit to how Qhude was originally envisaged.

But that being said, I'm quite happy with how the rage and control elements have played into Qhude's RP along the way - so I'm very happy to keep him as a Barbarian.

I appreciate the invitation to look over it though AK :)

The class that's actually growing on me the most out of the book is the Hunter - letting the Hunter share teamwork feats with his animal companion has a lot of potential.

I rather find the Arcanist, the Investigator, the Slayer and -naturally- the Swashbuckler quite interesting myself.

What, no offer to let the shamaness retrain to Shaman? ;P

Mostly kidding. While a wind or waves shaman would be interesting, it wouldn't be Tebati. She's used Bit of Luck and her extra 10 feet of speed too much.

Arcanist looks intriguing, although I haven't downloaded the revised playtest, just read the summary of changes. I'd love the Swashbuckler to work out, but the odds look against it at this point. Too many fiddly options that you can only use one of per round, too many necessary ability scores for point buy to spread around, and a flat refusal to give Cha to saves a la Divine Grace. The only stat you can afford to dump mechanically is Int -- and that runs counter to the image of the witty swordsman. And I dislike the recharge mechanics relying so much on the luck of the dice. I kept track for my Legacy of Fire character due to the achievement feat, and in 5+ levels of play, I only confirmed six crits while two-weapon fighting. Rarely got in the killing blow, either, as we had an enlarged gnoll barbarian running around finishing off her opponents just to be an insufferable show-off. :P

What, no offer to let the shamaness retrain to Shaman? ;P

First i've even heard of the Shaman class. I haven't even had a chance to read through the document myself. I just catch bits of discussion here and there when I browse the forums.

From what i've heard of the Swashbuckler its powerful in later levels but agonising in early ones.

Shaman's a witch/oracle hybrid. They get themed hexes (hence Wind and Waves) and the cleric spell list. Also a familiar.

My understanding is that the revised Swashbuckler is better than the original, largely in that they moved fake-Weapon-Finesse to first level instead of second so you don't jump from +1 to hit to +6 to hit in one level. But yeah, most of the complaints (other than the poor Fort and Will saves in a front-line class and everything being a swift action to activate) have to do with the slow scale-up of damage. I think they say level 11 is where it starts measuring up to its peers. Haven't playtested any of it myself, obviously, so I'm just reporting scuttlebutt.

Also, Swashbuckler Finesse now counts as the Weapon Finesse feat as far as feat prerequisites are concerned. Basically, as far as I can tell, it is a sort of the Duelist PrC in base class form, albeit with fighter, gunslinger and rogue elements.

Investigator... I really want to like investigator because I love skill monkeys, but the inclusion of extracts kills it for me. I just dislike the flavor. Fits in a steampunk setting but not standard D&D fantasy for me.

Hoping there might be an extract-free archetype down the road. Seems a major class feature to replace, but the archaologist replaces inspire courage for the bard, so it's theoretically possible. Or I guess I could just choose to ignore extracts and never make any, but I have the feeling would leave my PC underpowered.

I'm not sure what I think of the arcanist. I definitely don't like the slower spell progression, on par with sorcerers. Not too keen on the arcane school exploit never "leveling up." So I'll probably just stick with specialist wizard.

Thanks for the offer, though!

What might be of interest to me would be redoing my point-buy layout.... ;P

Re Mark's spoiler: So, anyone think the skald is going to be the next nuclear option in the DM arsenal? Build an army, set a skald in the midst of it, and rout the PCs? Like teamwork feats, they seem a better fit for NPCs built for one specific encounter than the diverse group of individuals an adventuring party usually is.

I definitely agree that they work better for a group created specifically to utilize those abilities.

Ordered Initiative-

Kieran- 26a
N'bellocq- 26b
Small Cherub Demon- 24a
Kieran- 24b
Tiny Winged Demon- 19
Tebati- 17
Jakob- 13
Horned Demon- 11
Qhude- 9
Ansha- 5

Now Kieran has two initiatives. Shh, no one tell the DM, and we'll have this fight won in no time. ;)

Clearly, I must have cast Haste on Kieran. I wonder if I prepared Fireball too...

DM Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:

Ordered Initiative-

Kieran- 26a
N'bellocq- 26b
Small Cherub Demon- 24a
Kieran- 24b
Tiny Winged Demon- 19
Tebati- 17
Jakob- 13
Horned Demon- 11
Qhude- 9
Ansha- 5

Now Kieran has two initiatives. Shh, no one tell the DM, and we'll have this fight won in no time. ;)

Obviously i'm just yearning to have a DMPC.

Tiny-winged-demon-and-small-cherub-demon bump.

Or, as Malthir put it in your KM game...Prod, prod. ;P

We had an unexpected visitor from Germany yesterday. Back to regular updates now as best as I can :).

N'bellocq doesn't threaten with a bow yet, does he? I thought about flanking, but then I thought, "No, wait, he can shoot in melee, but he still doesn't count as threatening squares," right?

He threatens with unarmed strike but not with a bow until 9th level.

Move to F 32, avoiding AoOs; Channel Positive Energy, excluding the cherub and the wolf 2d6 ⇒ (6, 4) = 10

I believe the burst will reach Qhude through the door without healing the horned demon. The channel puts N'bellocq at 26/27 and Tebati at 22/24.

Clerics' channel energy is a 30 foot radius burst, so wouldn't it extend from F32 to pretty much all of the room with the goat-demon in it?

And speaking of the goat-demon, isn't he up?

A burst doesn't go around corners, so it should be blocked by the walls between C and D and only extend through the doorway, like a light effect. A spread's the one that turns corners and fills in all available space in the sphere (or whatever).

That's the way DMs have adjudicated Channel Energy in other games anyway, that it's blocked by walls.

Ohhh. If I had looked up the PRD on it, I would have seen that.

Channel won't reach Jakob correct?

Correct. I could have channeled in the doorway and gotten everyone, but I wasn't sure how much damage the horned demon had taken ... and IC Tebati certainly wouldn't be aware. We both knew we didn't want the wolf back in the fight. Tebati needs one of those +2 headbands for Wis and Cha.

And, honestly, knowing Jakob's now an NPC makes me feel less responsibility for keeping him alive. ;)

Well if we get out of this ziggurat, perhaps Tebati can use her share of the epic pimp sceptre to buy said headband :)

Eventually, I do plan on taking Craft Wondrous Item, fyi. Also probably Craft Magical Arms and Armor--eventually, I want to take Craft Construct.

Kieran is no longer under the effects of DM Haste spell.

Not sure how I feel about the crafting but i'll probably be ok with it. Unlike KM i'm controlling the loot a lot more tightly. I'll think it over :).

I had been under the impression Craft Construct was a go previously from this post, which I had kind of assumed meant the other Craft feats were good, since it takes Craft Wondrous Item and Craft Magic Arms and Armor as prerequisites. Crafting feats were modified in your initial recruitment post too, but permissible.

Alternatively, you could just allow me the arcane discovery Golem Constructor as a feat (from UM), since it doesn't require other crafting feats as prerequisites and limits the type of golem I could construct to one per arcane discovery. I just want a 9-foot-tall stone sculpture of Ansha, a la Aphrodite of Cnidus on-hand to smash stuff at my beck and call.

Although being able to craft stuff off-slot or craft Headbands of Mental Superiority/Supremacy would be nice too. (I wouldn't mind seeing the modified crafting rules un-modified either since costing full price to craft is painful.)

Remind me about it when your 4th level ;). Craft Construct I am definitely ok with. Especially now you've reminded me of my crafting houserules :P.

[Jedi mind trick]These are not the crafting houserules you are looking for.... [/Jedi mind trick] ;P

Did it work?

...Drat.

Guess I'd better start saving my gold. And hope for a Stone Golem Manual. >_>

F. Castor, in case you missed it again, it's Kieran's turn. ;P

Thanks Joana! Will be posting later today. :-)

@Kieran: Max damage on the damage dice and the sneak attack dice. Impressive. :)

I have a 5th-level character in another game who critted with sneak attack and did a total of 3 points of damage. :P

EDIT: Actually, it was 4 points of damage, and I managed it twice.

Tebati steps back in disgust as the child-like demon hits the stone floor wetly, avoiding the spray of its festering sores. She spares a congratulatory smile to her cousin before rushing back to the doorway to see how the other half of the umkhaya has fared.

I've yet to say anything pithy enough to be tagged as the Campaign Info statement, but at least everyone came onboard with my suggestion to use the Umkhaya as the group name. I'm important too...really! ;P

I Just Blew My Week's Worth of 20's Demonstrating This Group's Initiative in a Macro...

Btw Joana i'm pretty certain you don't multiply penalties to damage. So 1d3-1 becomes 2d3-1 on a x2 crit.

I demand we get to use those numbers for the next encounter.

Well, except for Qhude, who's kind of screwed. :)

Btw Joana i'm pretty certain you don't multiply penalties to damage. So 1d3-1 becomes 2d3-1 on a x2 crit.

Why not? You multiply bonuses. If it was 1d10+5, I'd do 2d10+10 on a 2x crit, not 2d10+5.

Qhude always slow on uptake.

I guess I always read it literally as "bonuses" rather than "modifiers" which would refer to penalties too.

It also goes against any kind of common sense than you can deal less damage by adding a critical hit to a normal one; very possible with only a -2 Strength penalty.

When your character scores a critical hit, roll the damage two, three, or four times, as indicated by its critical multiplier (using all applicable modifiers on each roll), and add all the results together.

Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results.

Modifiers, not bonuses. :)

As long as you roll the crit damage separately from the main damage roll, you can't actually get negative damage, as negative results default to 1 point nonlethal damage. So you can't do less damage than your original damage roll, although you can fail to add any extra.

It's not really that different from rolling all 1s on damage and doing less damage with a crit than you can achieve with a normal hit.

Rolling the 1 on the sneak attack dice sucked, though. :P

It figures that all my PbPs fall silent on a day when I'm stuck at my desk and need help staying awake.

Sorry; we took the kids to see The Hobbit today. It's the movie that would not end. We went to the noon showing, and I was wondering if we'd make it out of there by dark. I don't know how long the barrel scene went on, but it felt like at least a half an hour.

It's not that it's a bad movie; the action sequences just last forever. It's like, "Barrels, river, orcs, fighting: I get it. Can we move on to the next scene sometime today?"

I thought the same when watching it. Well they could honestly have done the whole book in an hour and a half, so 3 films were always going to drag.

My lack of updates is more to do with the fact xmas is almost upon us and i'm contemplating announcing some time off until the new year.

I thought the same when watching it. Well they could honestly have done the whole book in an hour and a half, so 3 films were always going to drag.

Yeah, the padding really showed in this middle section, with the interminable action sequences and tacked-on romantic subplots. My 10-year-old squee-ed like a fangirl when Legolas showed up, though, so Jackson's reaching her demographic at least.

My lack of updates is more to do with the fact xmas is almost upon us and i'm contemplating announcing some time off until the new year.

Seems like every time we start to get some rhythm in this game we have to call another hiatus. For what it's worth, I'll be available through the holiday. I suppose we might have a better idea if/when Meowzebub will be returning after the new year. You'd still be stuck botting him and Jakob until we get to a place where they can retire/step aside, though. Unless you decide to kill them horribly, of course. ;)