DM Brainiac's Iron Gods (Inactive)

Game Master Brainiac

She thinks Holg is probably a little crazy, but live and let live.

I am happy his traits are clear :)

I suppose the idea came in part from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I think is an incredibly strong adventure/quest narrative. One of my favorite episodes is "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", where plot advancement is put completely aside to develop the various characters through what is more or less a day where nothing much happens. It does so much to round out and add nuances to the characters in ways that wouldn't have been possible within the confines of the quest plot.

You are pretty impressive at designing interesting and well written character backgrounds and personalities. I have borrowed inspiration a couple of times from characters of yours.

Uh oh, when I was budgeting stuff I became so wrapped up in figuring out the magic items I forgot about the bow. That bow is more expensive than I expected. A MWK +4 STR compound longbow costs 800 gp, and 10 durable adamantine-tipped arrows will be 610 gp!

I can wait on the headband, but there's another option if you all wouldn't mind extending Kaska a little credit. Really Kaska needs another level of barbarian and a decent pistol before she can do any sword and pistol stuff, if it's even something she should bother trying. I was planning to keep the +1 battle axe so she's have a magical weapon on hand, but now that she's getting the new falx enchanted anyway, there's not much reason to hang onto it.

If sold it would net us 928 gp, (I believe half the price listed on the loot sheet is the sell price correct?) That's enough for Kaska to get everything, but everyone's split of it is 185.6 gp. Would it be okay for her to keep the whole amount right now and pay out everyone's share the next time we do a loot division?

Aw, thanks Holg! I kind of hate to ask, but I will anyway. Which other characters of mine if you happen to remember? I don't think we've been in another game together?

I am ok for you to keep the axe and just sell it for profit.

Sigrún the Magpie, I liked how you made the traits of the character into a very interesting background, and how you made a lot of theme and color on her with the witch blood stuff. It was very pleasing to read, also about her personality and appearance.

I'll admit, I'm struggling to decide what to invest in for Fireday. The hat of disguise is probably a must, and I'm keeping that breastplate (after scrubbing out Hellion's blasphemous symbol), but I'm not sure where to go from there and what I can afford...

I can suggest some stuff if you wish Fireday.

Most of all you would benefit from a Headband of Wisdom +2, it's affordable (4000 gp, half if Coen craft's it) and gives you more and stronger spells, higher Perception and Will saves.

A cool thing for a warrior of Iomedae is the Inheritor's Gauntlet (2700 gp). Check out more Iomedae themed stuff.

As a warrior there is a constant need to improve your AC, dermal plating cybertech (4000 gp) seems cool for an android but you also have the typical amulet of natural armor (2000 gp). Warpriests have access to heavy armor, with your high Dex you might want to buy a mithral full plate though instead of a normal one, it would be a high bump in AC for you (10500 gp).

You are not as much pressed to get a magical weapon as Kaska or Holg, because you can make yours magical with your sacred weapon ability. You can even give it robot bane, or flaming special ability.

And if you have any remaining gold, pearl's of power are a great way to have more daily spells and gain some flexibility. You have many level 1 spells you repeatedly cast during the day.

Fireday-
IMHO as a frontline person you should focus on AC and saves but that's just my playstyle. The discount on the headband/belts is probably pretty worthwhile, though I would again get a strength or dex orcon item instead of a Wis based one since you tend to cast spells without save DCs.

You should keep an eye out for amulets of natural armor and the wisdom headband as we go, since in a normal campaign those items will tend to show up sooner or later and save you cash. The resistance cloak usually can't wait if you don't get one by now though, too easy to get held/paralyzed/feared unless your saves are amazing (i.e. paladins.)

Kaska-
I'm willing to hand waive the axe sale, nobody really wants to audit the treasure that closely.

So...should I abandon my dream of wearing smart armor?

Nah, I'd say smart armor is perfect for you Fireday. I wouldn't invest in dex if I were you, all strength from here on out. Dex, and Wisdom beyond 16, doesn't really help you all that much. You're a warpriest, not a cleric. Stick to self-buffing and don't worry about spell DCs.

As for magic I'd say split the difference to shore up some weak spots. Your constitution is red zone low, a belt for that. Amulet of Natural Amor to get your AC up a little, and maybe a Pearl of Power if you've been finding your running low on go-to spells?

After looking at Fireday's stats, he's at 14 str and 15 dex. It's a tough place from a perspective on how to proceed "optimally." If he had three free feats (and was willing to ignore all hs feat investment in his monk's spade), I'd say going for Weapon Finesse, Slashing Grace, and Weapon Focus with his Longsword would let him go hard on dex using dex as both damage and to hit, use his war priest blessed weapon to it's best, and give him some nice bonus ac. As it is, he might be best going in on Strength just to improve his damage and to hit.

Regarding the smart armor, I would disagree with Kaska based only on your dexterity modifier being one higher than the max allowed in it's plate form. You could go in for a breastplate and have one lower AC/the same AC if your dex goes to 16 but with a much lower armor check penalty. That being said, it's a perfectly fine choice if you just want it for whatever reason, it's a valid option.

So...should I abandon my dream of wearing smart armor?

I totally agree with Coen. The mithral full plate gives you more AC and profits better your high Dex, even if you sink there an extra +1 at some point and it's cheaper. It probably works better for a two-weapon build like you are trying. But Fireday has been dreaming about smart armor for a while, and it is not a bad option, specially taking into account the DR 2/-. Being cool is just one step back from being memorable!

If you prefer to dress the adamantine technological armor, I would say it would be better if you retrain your Dex to focus more on Str as suggested by Kaska and Coen, but then it would mean to change your fighting style too.

You will have to make a decision there between two-weapon fighting and adamantine armor, because once we hit the level 10*s Pathfinder becomes crazy stat-wise and in my experience you suffer a lot if your defense and attack styles are not aligned.

Fireday: I wasn't thinking about the two-weapon fighting part of the equation at all. I've also only played above 10th level once very briefly and with a wizard. I'd say Holg and Coen are right.

Since we're on the subject. What do you all think Kaska should do? Stick with light or go to medium? Sounds like mithril breatplate is her best option too? What about elven chain with enchantments added?

Holg: Ha! I should have guessed. Sigrun is the only character I've ever made who's more amazonian than Kaska.

If retraining is a thing we're using I highly recommend going with your longsword instead of your monk spade. Drop two weapon fighting, double slice, and Weapon Focus: monks spade for Weapon Focus: longsword (which I think you get with your holy weapon for free), Slashing Grace, and Weapon Finesse. That will give you Dexterity to hit, damage, and lets you use your class feature to its' fullest (and a shield). Then retrain that 14 strength into a 12 or a 10 and get your dex up into primary stat range. We could easily see an increase in +3 to hit/damage and +5 to AC.

The reason for my suggestion is mostly about keeping up with scaling AC for monsters when you're not a full BAB class. Dual wield is hard to pull off for anyone who isn't at full BAB (monks are an exception due to flurry) even with great buffs, and sadly our party doesn't include that sort of spell support yet. (Though I could end up moving Coen in the buffer/debuffer range if it's what we need long term.)

All of the above is trumped by rule of cool though. If you want to go monk's spade, just lean into it and get as much strength and con as you can. We can always use buffs to help solve any problems. (Hell I'm playing a totem skald in a game where the +8 to strength from raging song makes melee a viable option for the casters at times. Then again, Bards and Skalds just end up making everything better.)

Kaska-
In Pathfinder the mithril breastplate is the king of armor unless you're going Hellknight plate with the hellknight armor class feature (or some other exotic armors) or your dex is garbage, so yeah go with the breastplate. Though you don't have a high enough dex to need mithril unless you just want the improved armor check penalty.

Kaska-

In Pathfinder the mithril breastplate is the king of armor unless you're going Hellknight plate with the hellknight armor class feature (or some other exotic armors) or your dex is garbage, so yeah go with the breastplate. Though you don't have a high enough dex to need mithril unless you just want the improved armor check penalty.

I presume she also doesn't want the movement speed hit!

Coen Deval wrote:

Kaska-

In Pathfinder the mithril breastplate is the king of armor unless you're going Hellknight plate with the hellknight armor class feature (or some other exotic armors) or your dex is garbage, so yeah go with the breastplate. Though you don't have a high enough dex to need mithril unless you just want the improved armor check penalty.

I presume she also doesn't want the movement speed hit!

Oh! Good catch, for some reason I forgot about the movement speed issue. There's a reason that mithril BP is the best.

I feel like I'm not holding up my end of the RPG social contract...I haven't decided just what Fireday is going to pick yet despite the suggestions you've provided and I haven't made a post of what he's bought, plus I can't think of something for him to bring to the potluck...

Do not overthink it, just pick up whatever makes it fun for you, there will always ways to adjust if needed afterwards :)

As for the dinner, I think there is no need for something special. We all have more creative times and less creative. Just feel free to join without the need of anything special.

I was waiting for everybody to show up in order to include you in what Holg wants to deal with Kaska. But if you do prefer I can just deal it with her so we can all move on to the next book!

Viv Voltine wrote:

Coen Deval wrote:

Kaska-

In Pathfinder the mithril breastplate is the king of armor unless you're going Hellknight plate with the hellknight armor class feature (or some other exotic armors) or your dex is garbage, so yeah go with the breastplate. Though you don't have a high enough dex to need mithril unless you just want the improved armor check penalty.

I presume she also doesn't want the movement speed hit!

Oh! Good catch, for some reason I forgot about the movement speed issue. There's a reason that mithril BP is the best.

Yeah, it's the movement I'm thinking about. I doubt I'll raise Kaska's DEX any more. While I like the idea of elven chainmail to avoid the ubiquity of mithril breastplates, it's a lot more to pay for such a minor thing.

One thing I'll keep in mind for the future if I have a character limited to light armor is elven chainmail is treated as light armor for proficiency.

Fireday, it's not a potluck, all you need to bring is yourself. If you insist booze is always welcome. :)

Don't stress it Fireday, magic item book keeping isn't an important part of the social contract imho. Just figure out what gear you're getting eventually, preferably before we end up back in combat.

Just so you all know, my posting may slow a little going into May: I'm struggling to keep up with my posting between work and getting ready for my best friend's wedding (I'm a groomsman!).

Good luck!

Meant to mention this here, I just started a new job so I've been a bit busy. I will hopefully be able to post later tonight.

I'm going to a protest march tomorrow!

Be safe!

Part of me feels like my RL Asperger's Syndrome is seeping into Fireday's characterization, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Oh I didn't say I was irritated by Fireday's line of questioning, but Kaska is. Have you ever tried to question a 17 year-old about anything at the dinner table? :)

Oh, I know that...I'm just feeling I'm not representing Fireday's high WIS and Sense Motive modifiers with social gaffes like that...though Fireday IS only seven...asking obnoxious amounts of questions is something seven-year-olds DO. :P

I don't think you're off the rails at all Fireday. It's just Thanksgiving arguments about politics around the dinner table. Except here one side of the family is for robot genocide and the other thinks AI should have citizenship.

Everyone wants to have a good peaceful dinner, but inevitably they all have that one person there who drives them a bit insane.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. :p

The cakes are a real thing by the way: šakotis

Hi there! I just wanted to let everyone know this stuff Holg revealed was something Kaska and me we had talked and agreed upon some weeks ago as a point of evolution between them and a base to engage our characters to the rest of the AP.

I asked to reveal things in front of the whole party as to involve everyone's somehow. I am sorry if it felt violent, lengthy or unrelated for others.

For me it was a nice RP moment and a turning point for our characters.

Yeah, I was in on it with Holg, but I didn't say anything to Kaska beforehand. :p

Sorry I haven't said anything sooner! Had my RL D&D game Friday night, which went to midnight, and then had work the next day, so I was pretty zonked out and went to sleep straight away. But now I'm awake and alert, and ready to post!

No worries, Coen lost it after getting ready to argue about something important to him and then was struck with a sudden reveal like in the Operas he enjoys as a guilty pleasure. He would have been giggling for meta reasons and wouldn't have been able to forgive himself as it's something very serious for Kaska and Holg.

@ Coen: But of course there's only one way Kaska could possibly take Coen's reaction given the context: He not only dislikes her but thinks it's ridiculous she could be the leader of anything. Plus about 20% of the reason Galeti was there was for Kaska to see whether he would be jealous at all. She figures she knows all she needs to about Coen now.

@ Fireday: Kaska will get back to you on membership. between Holg's bomb and Coen's emotional shivving Kaska had quite a lot on her plate at that moment.

My PC internet is dead, which will sharply limit my ability to participate on evenings and weekends.

Looks like this scene is starting to wrap up. Let me know if there's anything else you want to play out during the downtime before we start the next adventure.

I am ready to continue with the main plot of the adventure GM!

I'm sorry I haven't decided on my items yet and am keeping you waiting.

I'm in a bit of a time crunch right now but I'm ready to move on.

I'm ready whenever, just distracted by the new job lately so I apologize if my posting is sporadic.

I will start the next adventure on Monday!

Whew! Sorry the update took a while. I'm in the middle of moving to a new job designation and a new office, weird "soft start" that has me working both my old and new job 50/50 as details of the move get sorted out. Time has been very short, and it could stay that way for another couple of weeks. I'll do my best to keep posts coming, but don't be surprised by some lag until I'm settled.

I really did try to come up with something fancier for bringing Fireday and Viv into the Red Talons, but just couldn't think of a good way to do it. Oh well, it's done at least.

So talking to Redfang went (literally) as well as it possibly could mechanically. But I don't tend to be particularly lucky with dice rolling, so don't expect much in terms of future successes if Kaska is going to have to do the talking. :)

That being said, I took a look and it seems we don't really have anyone well-set-up for handling social situations. I think Fireday is the only person who's invested in Diplomacy? Logically he should be doing the talking.

If for RP purposes you all want Kaska to be spokesperson because she's a chief and so forth now, it can be done though. I took a quick look around and found I can set Kaska up for diplomacy with a feat. Extra Traits feat to get the traits Empathic Diplomat (wisdom instead of charisma for diplomacy) and Influence (+1 to diplomacy and becomes class skill) will set her up fairly well.

I don't mind doing it. Kaska's build isn't feat-starved at all so I can afford it easily, and I enjoy playing social roles. On the other hand, I certainly don't want to be stealing someone else's thunder if party face is a role one of you want to play.

DO NOT ask Viv to be face. It will not end well. :)

Coen COULD handle things through lying and intimidation, but he'd be rolling untrained if we were trying to be sincere as he has literally no idea how to win people over with his genuine self. Raw charisma modifier makes him capable but he won't be stepping up to speak for the group as the only non-member of this tribe especially with everyone looking to Kaska to speak for them. Looks like she might have to find out if she can step up, responsibilities of leadership and all that.

(Coen will definitely step up to manipulate bad people if my post timing is right however, so that might help.)

I've got a decent Diplomacy, but I didn't want to upstage Kaska, especially since presenting Kaska as our "leader" will look better to Iadenveigh should our true natures be revealed.

"I'm not working for the android, the ANDROID'S working for ME."

Fireday would be happy to act as Kaska's "herald" or "emissary." She's as much a battle-goddess as Iomedae herself after all! ;)

She's as much a battle-goddess as Iomedae herself after all! ;)

My! Aren't you a silver-tongued devil after all! :p

Alright, I'll leave diplomacy to Fireday.

I don't think this merits spending a feat on, but I did come across this when I was looking for Wisdom to Diplomacy stuff. Creed of Humility is the one that does it. Actually it's a pretty good match for Fireday. But +2 to a skill for a feat isn't a good trade.

Virtuous Creed Feat

Wow, looked through those virtuous creed feats. Virtuous Creed of Protection would be another +2 to aid another for a ridiculous build I had in another of Brain's game's. Not entirely sure that it stacks, but it was bad enough without another +2 on it.

We hav tha dum! :P