DM Brainiac's Iron Gods (Inactive)

Game Master Brainiac

Doesn't bother me. I don't have a lot of daily-use limits, but I will break when the party needs it.

I'm okay with resting, though I'm hesitant to rest in the dungeon. In the Emerald Spire game I'm in we tried to rest in the dungeon and were attacked by a miniboss where we had a string of unlucky rolls that nearly resulted in our deaths! It was scary!

If you want to keep pushing, that's fine. I'm just not able to contribute beyond quips and arrows for a bit, and we seem to need a bit of guaranteed damage for a few of these fights.

I'll go ahead and post assuming you rest, then.

I assume my Fate's Favored bonus only applies to me, so the one I give to Holg will just grant him the normal benefit (+1, as opposed to the +2 I get).

EDIT: Holg has informed me that this is a moot point, as divine favor has a range of "Personal," so I can only cast it on myself.

Nice reception xD

Nice reception xD

I agree. I'll follow you guys' tactical lead. Fireday operates with the buddy system: never enter combat without a buddy to keep you from being flanked.

It sounds as a fine caution. Perhaps you can cast a blessing on Kaska or one of the others so she has even greater AC, then move your movement leaving an open line in case she wants to charge.

Those pesky androids following a pesky god :) What is that Hellion? Never heard about it!

I can't get the post in until a little later, but Kaska's gonna charge. :)

I know her! :D

She is a reckless badass!

It sounds as a fine caution. Perhaps you can cast a blessing on Kaska or one of the others so she has even greater AC, then move your movement leaving an open line in case she wants to charge.

Those pesky androids following a pesky god :) What is that Hellion? Never heard about it!

Thanks for the suggestion, Holg!

Keep in mind both enemies are on the raised platform 10 feet up. Ladders connect the lower and upper levels.

Ah, alright, I see what the map is doing now. In my head the platform part was reversed, like we were under the platform right now and they were ground level. Bummer!

@Holg: Not reckless, tactical. We're outmatched at range, so close the distance and force them to switch! I'll agree to badass. Kaska's turning out to be a pretty good robot killer.

EDIT: But of course she failed that save :(

That was an interesting combat! Despite the bad start I think we combined well our abilities to a good result and the rolls were on our side afterwards :)

I wholeheartedly agree! We're a great team! :D

I had a bad case of overwork this week. Sorry for the gap in posts!

I assume the Council reward is 4000 total for whole party.

How is the group dealing with equipment? Everyone picks what is useful and sell the rest, or picks shall be paid to the party pod?

Is anyone on charge of tracking loot?

I am not sure if anybody has been keeping track of loot. You haven't split up any at all yet. I will collect everything you have acquired so far and post it on Monday.

In the meantime, everybody has gained enough XP to reach level 4!

Level 4 great!!!

I have made my own treasure list track since I was on board. Please BraIniac, feel free to use it as a base for your list unless someone else has a complete one.

Kineticist 4
+8 hit points
+1 BAB
+1 Dexterity
+1 Fort & Ref saves

Class feature: Utility talent: Telekinetic haul

Skills: +1 each of: Acrobatics, Heal, Knowledge (local), Perception, Stealth, Use Magic Device; Knowledge (engineering), Knowledge (geography)

Sales: Masterwork chain shirt, 4 sling bullets (yes I was almost out of ammo!)

Purchases: Mithral shirt, healer's kit, 5 days of trail rations, 40 shuriken

Warpriest 4
+5 Hit Points
+1 BAB
+1 Wisdom
+1 Fort & Will saves

Class Features: Channel Energy, Sacred Weapon +1

Skills: +1 each of: Diplomacy, Knowledge (religion), Perception, Sense Motive; Craft (mechanical), Knowledge (engineering)

I'm not sure what sales and purchases to make. Anyone have any recommendations? I know I want better armor, at the very least, but I'm not sure how heavy to go...

How much money do you have? Your sheet says you have 9 gp.

You desperately need to improve your hit points. We're getting to the level where enemies are going to hit us with area spells and touch-attack technic weapons, and you won't survive.

This means a +Constitution belt (4k).

If you pick up a style feat later a dhoti of style mastery (5.4k) may help a little, but by the time you have a style feat and can get the item, the temp HP that it gives will not be a lot.

Other oddball items for later:
Ring of Resumption (30.8k) to stay in the fight after you take a ton of damage from one hit.

Emerald Ellipsoid ioun stone (20k) gives you 5 temp hit points that refresh daily. Kinda pricey for just 5 stackable temp hp.

Wayfinder of Hidden Strength (5k) + a rhomboid ioun stone can give you temp HP once per day.

Ioun stone (pearly white cracked spindle) (3.4k) regenerates 1 hit point per hour with no limit, so if you have time between fights you can heal without relying on spells. Won't keep you up in a fight against a tough enemy, though. Can be slotted into certain wayfinders to make it easier to carry around inconspicuously.

Also, I dunno what your feat plan looks like, but you should probably shoehorn in Toughness if you can.

~~~~~~~~ Defensive Items

Your build is weird because you are proficient with heavy armor, but you are TWFing so you use Dex. This means you will use heavy armor if you have your Dex where you want it and your stat bumps are going elsewhere, or mithral medium armor if you are going to keep increasing your Dex.

Since you increased Wis I will assume that you have your Dex where you want it, so your goal armor is probably something like mithral full plate (11.5k), which has a max Dex bonus of +3, or mithral agile breastplate (4.4k), which has a max Dex bonus of +5 and doesn't reduce your speed. The full plate has a better AC and if you never raise your Dex you won't lose any AC from it, but of course it reduces your speed and is more expensive.

In the meantime, your other standard fare is:
Amulet of Natural Armor +1: 1k
Ring of Protection +1: 2k
Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone: 5k (+1 insight to AC)

@Fireday: Yeah, you're going to need HP. It's a very tough road to melee with lower than about a 14 CON. Viv is right, you'll want to get a belt to raise CON as a priority. Putting your favored class toward HP rather than skill points will help some. Viv is right about the Toughness feat, it will help too.

I think you may want to go with heavy armor eventually, but raising AC may not help as much as normal in this AP. I'm guessing a lot of the tech weapons (like Meyanda's Inferno Pistol) are touch attack weapons.

If that is so, I'd prioritize getting more HP somehow over raising armor class (although I think you'll want to do both).

I'm not sure if you've already adjusted your ability scores for 4th level yet, but if you haven't, I have a couple of more radical suggestions. You have a 13 CHA right now. Are you planning on raising it to 14? If not, you could see if Brainiac would allow you to shift 1 point off CHA and put it on CON. One ability score increase going to CON later (or at 4th) would give you a 12 CON, and more breathing room.

You could also put your 4th level increase toward DEX instead of WIS. Warpriests can get by with an eventual 16 WIS if they stick to buffing and other no save spells. The WIS increase could be done later. It would give you +1 AC (including against touch) and a better reflex save. You'd also gain in skills since there are so many DEX skills.

He can't drop his CHA below 13 because it's a prerequisite for the Empathy feat. Worse still, he paid for 15 CHA because androids have a -2 penalty.

I'm the ranged attacker and my HP and AC are both better than Fireday's, so that's a problem!

Also Fireday, your sheet says you're AC 17, but your stat bar says AC 16.

Your build is basically a concept character. You have a high DEX because you're using a double weapon, but it's not a finesse weapon, so you also rely on STR. You don't have full fighter BAB, but you wear a buckler, which penalizes your attacks and doesn't give you an AC benefit when you are attacking. And you're relying on WIS for casting and CHA for your Empathy feat. Your stats are just all over the place.

Your 5th level feat should probably be Toughness. At some point you might get Dodge. You can't get Improved Two-Weapon Fighting for a while (assuming you plan for it) because you need 17 DEX (so at least 12th for that, if you put the 8th and 12th level stat bonuses into DEX) and +6 BAB (8th level).

You might consider ditching the buckler. It hurts your attacks and doesn't give you an AC bonus when you make an attack with both ends of your double weapon; you'd be better off taking the Two-Weapon Defense feat. Alternatively, you can go all-in, get Shield Focus at 5th level, then get Unhindering Shield at 9th level (you can't get it at 7th because of the BAB prerequisite), which will get rid of the attack penalty and let the AC count all the time. Then you can start enchanting your buckler to improve your AC a lot more. If you decide to do this, it's 1k to make your current masterwork buckler into a +1 buckler. You might consider replacing with a +1 darkwood buckler (1,203 gp), just because it's lighter and carrying capacity is a thing (esp. if you get heavier armor down the road). But that extra bonus is useless until you get Unhindering Shield because you lose the whole shield bonus when you attack with your double weapon, until you get that feat.

There is good news! Your weapon's base damage goes up next level, so you will average +1 damage per hit. And you get a bonus feat at 6th level, which could be Dodge or Two-Weapon Defense if you don't decide to take Weapon Specialization. (Don't take Two-Weapon Defense if you plan to get a magic buckler and the associated feats, unless you plan to retrain out of it later.)

I believe this is all the treasure you have found so far. It may not reflect all of the items that some of you may have claimed already. Items marked with a * are technological items.

He can't drop his CHA below 13 because it's a prerequisite for the Empathy feat. Worse still, he paid for 15 CHA because androids have a -2 penalty.

I'm the ranged attacker and my HP and AC are both better than Fireday's, so that's a problem!

Also Fireday, your sheet says you're AC 17, but your stat bar says AC 16.

Your build is basically a concept character. You have a high DEX because you're using a double weapon, but it's not a finesse weapon, so you also rely on STR. You don't have full fighter BAB, but you wear a buckler, which penalizes your attacks and doesn't give you an AC benefit when you are attacking. And you're relying on WIS for casting and CHA for your Empathy feat. Your stats are just all over the place.

Your 5th level feat should probably be Toughness. At some point you might get Dodge. You can't get Improved Two-Weapon Fighting for a while (assuming you plan for it) because you need 17 DEX (so at least 12th for that, if you put the 8th and 12th level stat bonuses into DEX) and +6 BAB (8th level).

You might consider ditching the buckler. It hurts your attacks and doesn't give you an AC bonus when you make an attack with both ends of your double weapon; you'd be better off taking the Two-Weapon Defense feat. Alternatively, you can go all-in, get Shield Focus at 5th level, then get Unhindering Shield at 9th level (you can't get it at 7th because of the BAB prerequisite), which will get rid of the attack penalty and let the AC count all the time. Then you can start enchanting your buckler to improve your AC a lot more. If you decide to do this, it's 1k to make your current masterwork buckler into a +1 buckler. You might consider replacing with a +1 darkwood buckler (1,203 gp), just because it's lighter and carrying capacity is a thing (esp. if you get heavier armor down the road). But that extra bonus is useless until you get Unhindering Shield because you lose the whole shield bonus when you attack with your double weapon, until you get that feat.

There is good news! Your weapon's base damage goes up next level, so you will average +1 damage per hit. And you get a bonus feat at 6th level, which could be Dodge or Two-Weapon Defense if you don't decide to take Weapon Specialization. (Don't take Two-Weapon Defense if you plan to get a magic buckler and the associated feats, unless you plan to retrain out of it later.)

You're right. The buckler was only really a stop-gap measure until I can get some heavier armor. As I've said before, my goal is for Fireday to get his hands on some Smart Armor. And my current experiences have led me to the same conclusion that Toughness will be the next feat on my list.

@Brainiac: Thanks for putting that list together for us. I know that I'm just awful at loot tracking. We've collected a lot more stuff than I'd realized!

@All: Kaska gets her animal companion at 4th. I've always avoided pet classes in the past, they've never really appealed to me. I'm figuring a wolf is the best no muss no fuss option. Any suggestions from anyone who uses pet classes? Any opinions on Boon Companion? A big bummer is that Kaska's archetype trades out both Handle Animal as a class skill, and Wild Empathy.

Also, I've started eyeing the possibility of a dip into Savage Technologist Barbarian. Two levels would allow Kaska to use sword and pistol, which might be a nice option later on when tech weapons are more practical. I think it would only cost me one feat, Exotic Weapon Proficiency for guns. I'll be picking up the other ranged feats needed for bow anyway with combat stye feats. Could be fun and I doubt I will ever have another character who will so much as touch a gun.

It will set both ranger and animal companion progression back a little, but ranger won't matter too much I think. Kaska already has the best features from her archetype. The remaining couple of things are neat but situational to use.

It's the animal companion delay I'm more concerned about. Is that a big problem?

The big problem about animal companion delay is that your companion gets far back enough in hit points that they just die all the time. I use Boon Companion on a cleric with the animal domain, and my companion has been so-so; since companions have 3/4 BAB they're not great fighters. Boon Companion makes your companion at least able to keep up somewhat.

In my case I raised my companion's Int to 3, meaning it no longer uses tricks and I don't have to make Handle Animal checks.

Animal Companions are generally squashy unless you really maximize things and give them some equipment. Ranger ones have 3 levels less than druids, making them a bit irrelevant in my experience. If you are further dipping away from ranger, more even so.

You might want to chose a winged companion, like a hawk. Even if your companion cannot make anything relevant in combat, it will allow you to resolve some situations out of combat thanks to its flying capacity. And it might have some nice story about the Red Talons :)

If you really want a combat companion, I agree the Boon Companion feat is the way to go.

Another thing to consider is Kaska is probably the group primary front-liner, and anyway she will have a difficult time to compete against Viv and Coen as for the ranged capacity no matter what. Thus, you probably want to look at guns just as side weapons for those occasions it makes more sense than engaging, and focus more on melee and defense.

Another thing about the Animal Companion to consider is without extra bonuses, you will have to keep rolling Handle Animal to do basic stuff, because DC for tricks is 10, and with the +4 you get for your companion, you will still require 5 ranks to ensure you never fail on commanding to attack, fetch, wait, follow, etc...

@Fireday: In the long run you could hold better the line than Kaska or Holg thanks to fervor. But I do agree with the others that you would greatly benefit from at least Toughness and placing all the favored class bonuses into hp. As a note, Fireday could pick Unhindering shield as early as level 6, because Warpriests count as fighter levels as for the prerequisites of their Bonus feats.

1. Did we ever get a permanent cure for Khonnir's brain-eating nanite problem?

2. I'm gonna buy two donkeys and some supplies for the party on the assumption that we are walking to Scrapwall and will need to bring food with us. (My understanding is that it's kinda Mad Max-ian there, we might not find "regular" vendors.) I hope someone has a rank in Handle Animal.

1. Yes, the cure-all fixed Khonnir's condition.

2. That is a good idea. Scrapwall is very Mad Max-y.

Thanks a lot Brainiac for the exhaustive list!

I have completed my treasure sheet with it making sure to not have duplicates. I think it will be easy now to keep track from now on.

After selecting items for selling, the following is what remains. First I tried to locate some items which we might have already picked and also made some suggestions. The gp values in brackets are sell value, taking into consideration timeworn halves price, and also reductions for not full charges.

Allocation proposal
- mwk thief tools [Kaska] [50 gp]
- black e-pick [Kaska] [25 gp]
- Veemod googles + black veemod strip: +2 Perception for 10 days [Viv] [700 gp]
- mwk spiked gauntlet [Holg]
- mwk backpack [Holg] [25 gp]
- mwk backpack [Coen] [25 gp]
- +1 chain shirt [Fireday] (unless you prefer selling and buying an agile breastplate) [625 gp]
- Skillslot with a +2 engineering skill chip [Fireday or Kaska] [1200 gp]

Other items I do not know whom to offer
- Timeworn autograpnel: attack, pull and climb [1000 gp]
- +1 Inferno pistol: touch 1d6+1 fire (Burn 1 fire on critical Ref 12) [3500 gp]
- Timeworn stun gun: 1d8 non-lethal touch, 20' (Trip check BAB+10 on critical) [375 gp]
- Timeworn proximity helmet: +5 Perception and helps detect invisible creatures even when slept [1000 gp]
- Zipstick x2: 1 electrical touch damage and activate ion bonding machines (like ion tape) [10 gp]
- Cloack of resistance +1 [500 gp]
- Ring of protection +1 [1000 gp]
- Flare guns x3: 240', 1d8 fire, 20% misschance, but dazzles and can blind 1d4 (Fort 12) [150 gp]
- Flash grenade x2: 1d4 blinded (Fort 15) [375 gp]
- bang grenades x2: 1 r. staggered + 1d4 deafened (Fort 15) [250 gp]
- soft grenade: 5d6 non-lethal (Ref 15 half) [375 gp]
- Technic League pin: perhaps we should keep it in case we have to infiltrate

Party gear
- White access card
- timeworn black nanite hypogun: 2d8+3 healing or Lesser restoration, 5 charges [375 gp]
- timeworn brown nanite hypogun: 1d8+1 healing or Remove sickness, 10 charges [250 gp]
- Potions of CLW x4
- Potions of CMW x3
- Potion of invisibility
- Grippers: +2 on Str checks and can attach objects or bind creatures
- Batteries and nanite canisters (remember though timeworn gear cannot be recharged)
- Goo tubes x152: that is food for 152 days, which solves our trip supplies
- panic suit: 1 h/charge immunity to radiation, resistance to any energy 5 (except sonic) [500 gp]

Funds obtained on selling
I have a number for you to start planning, but it is not definitive until we decide on all the items here listed.
16869 gp which will yeld 3174 gp per character after keeping 1000 gp for the party to buy some common stuff like the donkeys, supplies and a healing wand.

@Holg: I took a quick look at a bird as an animal companion and I'm liking the idea. I'm looking at the possibility of an Aid Another build using Spring Attack. It takes a while to get going, maybe 8th level, but then (if I understand correctly how animal companions work) it could dive bomb 40' make an attack to aid someone against a foe, and zip off another 40'.

Fly By Attack is quicker to get but doesn't cancel AoO's, which would end tragically before very long.

Regular attacks would be pretty trivial, even with all three hitting, so it's not worth the risk of having the bird stick around, and Aid Another only requires making a 10 on attack.

Kaska is going the switch-hitter route, so she would only use a ranged weapon if something is out of reach. That's the reason for using ranger style feats for it, no prerequisites needed so Point Blank Shot can be skipped over.

But come to think of it, the sword and pistol option from Savage Technologist would really require PBS so that would be two feats needed beyond what she would normally be taking. Cool concept but probably not worth it. Even if the offhand attack with a ray-type pistol would be hitting on touch AC.

Level 4:

HP: 1d10 ⇒ 5

Alright, so HD+1 again: HP 10 (+6 HD, +2 CON, +1 Favored Class, +1 Toughness)
+1 BAB
+1 STR
+1 FORT, +1 REF

Skills: Handle Animal +2 (Background) +2 = 4, Stealth, K Engineering, Perception, Disable Device, K Nature +1.

Hunter's Bond: Animal Companions (Still working on this)

+1 1st level Spell (WIS Bonus spell)

Yeah, those goo tubes seem like a good idea, as long as we are sure they haven't gone bad and become poisoned! Do we have a way to test them? Detect poison cantrip?

I could maybe use the grenades? Since I have all the ranged attack stuff I'm a pretty good shot with 'em.

I'm willing to hold on to the hypoguns, since I do have Heal skill and I have the Numerian Archeologist feat so I get to roll twice for the timeworn glitch (less likely to accidentally kill ya!).

The +1 ring of protection should probably go to Fireday since he's working his AC mojo.

About half the goo tubes are rotten, but you could cast purify food and drink to make them edible again.

Soo new plan: Anyone have purify food and drink on their cantrip list?

It's a cleric spell, so Holg can cast it.

Level 4

Cleric of Gorum
HP: +9
Ability increase: +1 Str
Skills:
K. religion
Heal
Background skills:
K. history
K. nobility

Purchases:
amulet of natural armor +1
pearl of power I

Way behind again but I'd like to chime in.

1)Bird animal companions are pretty much ideal unless you're going all in on having a combat companion.

2) We could always take part of the trip on the Sellen river, as it's relatively near Scrapwall and happens to be heavily travelled by traders, Mendevian crusaders, (pirates), and such. I think it wouldn't be impossible to get a ride there or back by paying for boat transport.

3)

Sorcerer 4
HPs: 5
Ability Increase: +1 Charisma (as if there was any doubt)
Skills: Appraise/Bluff/Knowledge Arcana/UMD

Brainiac, what is the value of the Spellbook? If you tell me the number of spells inscribed for each spell level, I will calculate the value using this spellbook value rules.

As for the equipment, I will claim one of the flare guns, and the cloak of resistance +1 if no one else is interested. It is always positive to hold your cleric up and running.

Yeah, I think I'll go with a bird animal companion, probably a falcon. I'll try to get the sheet done for it tonight.

@Brainiac: How do you want to bring the animal companion into the game?

Kaska will hold on to the autograpnal rifle for sure. Haven't had time yet to think more about what she'd keep. I'll try to finalize that tonight as well.

Per our animals:

Heavy horse: Carrying capacity is 399 for light load. Medium up to 798.
Donkey/mule/pony: 75 lbs for light load. Medium up to 150.

The reason I suggested donkeys is because you can take them into caves and buildings; horses usually won't go underground. But if we're just doing overland travel it may be more effective just to get one heavy horse.

Since their speed is higher than 30, even having them at medium load won't slow us down.

One thing that really hurts us is that Numeria is not great for foraging, so we have to bring feed for the animals as well, and that's 10 lbs. of weight per day. If we sell the animals when we get to Scrapwall, we only need 4-5 days of feed, but if we have, say, 3 donkeys, that could still be 150 lbs. of hay!

The spell book has 15 0 level, 6 1st level, and 4 2nd level spells.

Kaska, I will introduce your animal companion during the journey to Scrapwall.

Hotel got busy all of a sudden. Will post on Friday after things settle down.

Friday or Fireday? Eh? Eh? ;)

Two words: Mark Wahlberg.

Ugh, trying to choose my first spell known for 2nd level. Glitterdust is the bloodline so I'm torn between options. Leaning toward Scorching Ray or Aggressive Thundercloud.

If it influences your decision, robots are vulnerable to electricity.

I think we're just waiting on a decision on what sort of animal(s) to buy.