DM Bloodgargler's Heroes of the Shiv

Game Master BinkyBo

Sure .. I'll recruit one. Couple possible ways to work someone in. We'll see what we get.

If anyone cares to throw together a level 5 I could use another in another campaign of mine.

Which AP? I usually try to avoid playing the ones my RL party wants to do it or the ones I already did it...

On a side note, i was in a shacked city group that was nice but the DM had to take a break from online gaming. I could post there and see if anyone is interested in joining us here.

It's a homebrew set in and under Golarion. The three playing are from another world, but recruits would most likely be from Golarion.
gameplay
I started it for fellow players of another homebrew that stopped. Right now they are uncovering a mystery, but things are about to get hairy.

Urgh my attack rolls aren't crap

Clarification on critical hits, in case E-Terah is still confused. My apologies if it's more detail than you need:

Each weapon has a threat range and a critical multiplier, which are listed after the damage. If nothing is listed, then "20/x2" is assumed. Otherwise a threat range is usually "19-20" or "18-20", although there are feats and magic weapon properties that can improve it. Other critical multipliers are "x3" and "x4". Gatherine's pistol says "x4", which is the damage multiplier; since the threat range isn't listed, it is "20."

For determining critical hits, the number rolled on the die, not including bonuses, is important. In real life this is obvious; on the message boards, the die roll is the first number after the arrow, in parentheses. For instance:

1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 2 = 9
In this case, although the total number I rolled was 9, the actual die roll was only 4.

If the die roll is a 20 (a "natural 20", because the 20 is actually on the die) then the attack automatically hits, no matter what the target's AC is, and is a critical threat. If it is within the threat range, but not a natural 20, for instance, a natural 19 when the threat range is 19-20, then it is not an automatic hit, but if the total roll, including bonuses, is greater than the target's AC, then it hits and is a critical threat.

If there is a critical threat, then roll the attack roll, including all bonuses, again. If this roll is greater then the target's AC, then the critical hit is confirmed. If it's not confirmed, then it is still a regular hit for normal damage.

When there is a confirmed critical hit, you multiply all your dice and bonuses by your critical multiplier. Multiply the number of dice, not the result of the dice. For Gatherine's gun or pick, that's x4, so 1d6 becomes 4d6. Tol's axe, which is 1d10+4/x3(when freshly sharpened), is 3d10+12 on a critical hit. The bonuses get multiplied, and the number of dice get multiplied.

Not sure if you all caught that, on the map, brown line running left to right along J,K is a 15' cliff .. K,8-9 is the ramp/trail down. Upper right corner is the end of the Viper Nettle thicket.

Please check out submissions in recruitment, and PM your thoughts to me if so inclined.

Urgh.Feeling feverish.Anyways, I just started a one-on-one rp involving Gatherine's disgruntled older sister who was on a carriage after getting a confirmation from a genuine fortune teller about her sister and Tol's whereabouts--stranded on the dreaded Smugglers Shiv.Now,she was on her way back home to her father's farmstead riding with a would-be bride and her pet cat in a heavily armed carriage escorted by guards,horsemen,and a heavy crossbow,when all of a sudden,orc raiders of the Iron Tooth ambush the carriage.
Aftermath has all but three Orcs dead,one horse still alive,the driver unhitched another able horse and fled,abandoned the girl and me to the Orcs.E-Terah takes charge and being a lvl 1 oracle of stone with extra revelations and extra orisons,sees two Orcs chase after the driver,leaving the raiders leader,a brute wearing a red cloak who had his arm lopped off behind to start looting.Casting Shield of Faith on herself,she arms herself with a sling and casts Guidance.Sneaking out of the carriage,she catches him with surprise with a stone upside his head,deflects his overhand chop with a longsword,and finished him off with a Acid Touch.
Then she climbs onto the roof and sees that the two Orcs were slowly making their way back to the carriage,the driver escaped on his horse,and she's on her own.And the non-combatant girl.She takes up the heavy crossbow from the dead guard,the 18 bolts,drops back down to the ground,grabs a set of saddlebags from the lead guards dead horse,and jumps back inside.
Now,with the crossbow loaded,Sheild of Faith active for two more rounds,and a pint of lamp oil and a tindertwig with thoughts on making a splash weapon ala Alchemist's Fire as soon as the door opens followed by a bolt to the nearest foe,and Doom and Cure Light Wounds as her remaining 1st spells,and 4 more uses of Acid Touch,and a single use of Shard Explosion,what she do next??

Doom one and focus on killing the other fast.. and don't let them flank you.

Now I'm really wondering what that unknown potion is.

Potions can be identified as usual as for corebook.Iolana should be able to tell what it is.

So you're gonna take out the last blowpiper?

Iolana is last in order,if he is still standing on her turn she will act accordingly.

Is the grassy stuff on the map east of Tol difficult terrain?

nope just tall grass

i got dope slapped with a freaking blowgun. At least it wasn't a monkey flinging poo.

uh-oh. averin's devil din-din. and i do believe i missed...

Hey all. This is Syndlara--just checking in. Thanks for having me!

Oi,elfie how's it shaking?

Welcome to Smuggler's Shiv. Try not to get eaten; I hear elves are a delicacy, especially the pretty ones. ;-)

Hey Ansha, nice to meet you.

Welcome onboard....ermh, on land.

@Gatherine: You can shoot up to 5x the range listed for your weapon (10x for bows); it's just a -2 to hit for each range increment. So for your pistol,

0-20 ft: no penalty
25-40 ft: -2 to hit
45-60 ft: -4 to hit
65-80 ft: -6 to hit
85-100 ft: -8 to hit

I'm throwing in a crazy idea:i just managed to put my hands on the awesome WotC minis Colossal Red Dragon, and now want to use it ^^
Anyone interested in a simple, straight fight against a CR22 great red wyrm?
Of course i'll look for 5 lvl 20 chars.
Not sure i'll do it, but checking interest.

Colossal Red Dragon

Simple, straight fight, meaning, "You're in a room with a red dragon, roll initiative?" Or meaning, "The entrance to the cave looms before you; somewhere within lies your legendary foe?"

I might be interested. Making a level 20 character is a big commitment, though. Are the players allowed to be one-trick-pony dragonslayer builds, or are you looking for a more organic party?

Not really sure, never used PF for such high level combat.Let's assume that this is a battle the players were preparing themselves for a long time thought.
I'll propably give 1 round to both sides to prep/buff themselves.
Only thing i think i won't allow is buying dragonslaying weapons during char creation.

That sounds absolutely terrifying

Heh. In my local group, whenever there is talk of a dragon in the neighborhood, everybody goes out any buys dragonbane weapons. It's funny, nobody gets as excited about evil-outsider-bane when there's an army of demons coming. There's just something about dragons... Maybe it's the triple standard treasure. The investment pays off. Maybe they just go really well with dungeons.

In my RPing career i faced very few dragons,but never needed to look for dragonbane weapons,it really depends on how the GM uses the dragon and of course to face a fair challenge.

Because we usually learn about the dragon well ahead of time, and then think about tactics, invest heavily in dragonbane weapons, scrolls and potions of the appropriate resist energy, etc., the dragons tend to go down easily for their CR. To compensate, the DM makes them way above APL, and gives them sneaky feats and spells to foil our plans. The 3.5 feat (from Draconomicon I think) that lets a dragon change the energy type of its breath weapon is a killer; a similar effect can be made through spell selection. Resist Energy (cold), Polar Ray, Form of the Dragon to turn into a different dragon type...

Sometimes, cheese vs. cheese battles are fun, especially for one-offs. It can get out of hand, though, which is why I'm curious what you're expecting.

I'll have to run some test on my own to see how much powerful it can be, or if with prep. the party will kill the poor dragon in one snap.
I've been into pathfinder only for 2 years,but never played in a tabletop game for lacking of people :( and surely never played higher levels.
My experience with dragons (after the systen changed from AD&D to 3,5) has only been in videogames,but dragon in 3,5 were too easy.

edit:only read statblock of dragons in 3,5 and never actually used them in a game too (i live in one of the worst countries in the world for RP )

Dragons die from losing on number of actions ... a few minions or at least a lair that doesn't hamper its strengths is what makes em a challenge.

Telling it here because i'm tired of editing Iolana's last post,but there is also the spear Mugambi took with the ring

I don't usually do high-level play, so 20th level characters and Great Wyrms are outside of my experience, too. Things get crazy on both sides. I think that in a straight-up single fight, without environmental, minion, or surprise advantages to the dragon, it's not that tough an encounter for a 20th level party, because of what Bloodgargler said.

That i knew....i had my share of dragons from previous rulesets.
Dragons usually have minions hampering invading parties and taking them from sleep/recover spells and/or class abilities,so when the adventurers finally make it to the dragon itself they are weakened.
More usually the dragon has traps that debuff the party here and there,and it tends to have a fake lair to delay the party,which should be trapped as well.
Its main lair should be built to enhance the dragon's skills and allowing him to fly;sometime the house owner has a illusory double which lure initial party's attacks/spells while the real one is invisible elsewhere etc.etc.etc.

A friend of mine always said this when the discussion falls on dragons:"They are much much much more old,wise and clever that humans.If the party thought of a way to enter its lair and get to the dragon unharmed and with full resources,the dragon anticipated such strategy a couple of centuries ago"

But of course if we take all the above in account dragons should be all but invincible.

Gatherine's da has a great solution--it involves a adamantine chain dragonebane hooked knives,and several barrels of gun powder stuffed with nail,caltrops,and razor wire and taking cover.

... and a hot female dragon costume.

I have a better solution:a 100 megaton ICBM nuclear warhead.
edit:hope you don't laugh,but as long as i know in Italy we don't have razor wire.Never saw it for real at least.

I see it all the time. Its pretty common here in Brasil. My father's house have some above its fences.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever done a "kill-the-dragon-in-its-lair" adventure. When I've fought dragons in 3.5/Pathfinder, it's been a dragon which was terrorizing the countryside, and we basically posed as a merchant caravan and got it to attack us. It gets to pick the time and place, it gets to pre-buff, it gets the surprise round (assuming it can cast invisibility, which it always can), but it's still not as bad as taking it on in its lair.

I can just try to use it with some friend if i manage to gather them,quicker for testing such level of combat that PbP.

You know, I had a build concept going, just to see how hard it would be to deal those 400+ hp of damage. With a halfling archer (or slingstaffer) paladin, I think I'd be able to take out the dragon in one full attack, especially with some friendly buffs to make sure the last iterative attack hit. No real cheese, either; just smite evil, a good weapon, and a lot of attacks per round. I guess that goes to show why it's more fun with minions and environmental hazards.

Hadn't think of Smite Evil...but took in account the dragon'll probably need minions.
Noticed that at such high levels of play fighters tend to be more lethal than casters.
But the dragon too has a couple of devastating attacks that will take down a level 20 char in one blow.

I'm not sure Swiss cheese exists in Golarion :)

Uh, Molthune cheese?

Good news.E-Terah gained 500 XP for surviving the orc ambush,and killed two herself and drove the third off. One got a critical from a heavy crossbow bolt to the eye while she hid in the carriage.

Congratulations E-Terah! You're well on your way to level 2. Got to catch up with your little sister, after all...

Great job E-Terah.