Out at a Christmas party but can't we have Eutropia reveal herself as alive?
Would that change the situation at the palace?
Also I don't mind fighting my way through but honestly we could use more tact. Whatever we do I want to be able to teleport though so we should bribe the mage.
The wounded nation is ready to move back to a place of familiarity and stability, and a male heir of royal blood, with no living elder siblings, eliminates all the messy questions of succession raised by the conflict between Eutropia and Maxillar Pythareus. Given Carrius’s superhuman charisma and the assumption of your villainy, even a living, breathing Eutropia will be viewed as a hoax unless you spend a significant amount of time influencing leaders in the city to win more support to your side.
Well that seems like time we don't have.
Sounds like doing the bribe is a good start, if only so we have a way out.
Another thought: Perhaps we go UNDER the walls? That shouldn't be that difficult to achieve for us. That seems like our biggest barrier. Once we're inside, I should be able to handle the locks, I think (+26 DD).
Brainiac, when you write "Almost all doors and gates are protected with audible alarm spells" is that only the exterior doors and gates, or interior too?
Just the exterior ones.
So I like that plan then -- once we get in, we can use illusions -- but certainly open to other ideas.
One additional option is Wind Walk. If we combined it with Invisibility, we could go over the walls (instead of through a gate with the blue-light alarm) and arrive in a courtyard or something. Maybe even inside if there was a window cracked open a bit. It takes a few rounds to materialize so we would need an out-of-the-way spot to do that.
I do think we should pay the bribe and plan on using the Standard of Conquest to teleport, as well as having Word of Recall as an escape plan (not to mention Amelia's Jester's Jaunt for tactical positioning).
To come up with 5,000 GP we can either retroactively change some of those scroll purchases if allowed, or sell some things still on the sheet.
There are 2 scrolls of Mage's Magnificent Mansion (sell for 2,275 total) and 3 scrolls of Mass Cure Serious Wounds (3,412.5).
If there is thin lead sheeting in the walls to block divination effects, then that also blocks Passwall and Earth Glide, while the Dimensional Lock blocks Phase Door. I suppose if the floors were not so warded then Earth Glide might work.
Also, Dispel Magic is an option for dealing with Alarm spells. Theoretically it should also be able to take out a Dimensional Lock but the mention of a bribe sounds like the AP does not intend for a PC caster to be able to do that.
Can we get a map of the palace?
Map and key posted to Discord channel.
It does look like going over the gates invisibly should work, based on what we know (that the blue light special is on the gates). After we pay the bribe, if that fails, we can just jet out of there and/or teleport right in too.
On the other hand, I'm going to struggle to get through those locks -- I have a little better than 25% chance at it. Not a big deal if we have time, but it's not something I'm likely going to be able to do quickly in combat, if it comes to that. (Still, I think sneaking in to find Carrius is our best option.)
For money, I have 800 gp. I could sell my lesser magic missile wand for probably about 900 more gp. I'd be fine selling the magnificent mansion scrolls. I think we should try to keep the mass cure serious if we can. Looks like Amelia might still have 1,000 or 2?
I'll be mostly half-here until after New Years.
Had a bit of a massive snow storm which has changed some plans.
Sounds like we have our plan. Pay the bribe, then go over the gate invisibly and try to sneak close enough to Carrius to activate the ring.
Sorry mind sending me a Discord invite? I feel like I'm missing stuff!
Sure, post or PM me your user name and I'll invite you. :)
Okay, so for a Verbal Duel, we use adjusted skill modifiers.
I think it is just ranks + Cha (for all skills, even Sense Motive and Knowledge, unless you have Ironclad Logic) + 3 for class skill? And then any additional bonuses give you edges, 1 edge per +3.
Liam can assign one tactic to each skill. His relevant skills would be:
Sense Motive +24 (2 edges) - Baiting
Bluff +15 (2 edges) - Flattery
Diplomacy +24 (3 edges) - Rhetoric
Knowledge (Local) +24 (2 edges) - Logic
Knowledge (Nobility) +15 (2 edges) - Presence
Knowledge (Religion) +11 (2 edges) - Allegory
Perform (Oratory) +24 (2 edges) - Emotional Appeal
Linguistics +12 (2 edges) - Wit
Liam's edges come from having a +3 competence to all Cha checks (Circlet of Persuasion), a +3 morale bonus to all skill checks (Good Hope + Untold Wonder), and the extra one for Diplomacy coming from the fact that his Competence bonus there is +5 (Cloak of the Diplomat) and he has +1 luck from his Luckstone (which isn't enough to tip any of the others into an extra edge, but is enough for Diplomacy).
Liam would have a Determination of his average mental stat modifier plus his HD: (+1+7+3)/3, rounded down, is 3, with +18 HD for a total 21.
As to Katria's opening move, there are numerous tactics that Knowledge can work for.
My determination is 20.
That said, I think I'm going to have to read a bit more to assign my tactics and determine my edges.
Generally, I think we would want to open with weaker tactics, let the ante go up, and then pull out our strongest tactics (with edge rerolls if needed) to win once the ante is high.
OK, setting my skills:
Knowledge (history) +18 -- Allegory
Sense Motive +10 -- Emotional Appeal
Know (local) if you'll permit?*) +22 -- Logic
Knowledge (nobility) +13 -- Presence
Diplomacy +10 -- Rhetoric
Linguistics +15 -- Wit
Knowledge is my jam (or even Appraise), so I could use something else if you feel that doesn't work.
I couldn't quite figure out how to determine edges. But if we want to start with a weak one, I'll start with Rhetoric.
Let's try this out...
Allegory: +11 from K: History.
Baiting: +23 from Intimidate
Emotional Appeal: +27 from Sense Motive.
Flattery: +29 from Diplomacy
Logic: Untrained... Unless...
Mockery: +29 from Bluff
Presence: +26 from K: Nobility
Red Herring: +9 for P: Oratory I guess?
Rhetoric: Untrained
Wit: Untrained
So all the miscellaneous bonuses such as trait bonus, sacred bonuses, Skill Focus, Favored Nation, Good Hope, Circlet of Persuasion - everything that is not ranks, Class Skill, or Cha bonus - gets turned into Edges at 1 Edge per +3.
This is a "bounded accuracy" thing to rein in runaway modifiers and keep the bonuses in a narrower range. The "edges" are analogous to "advantage" in 5E, a way to give benefit for higher skill without just stacking numbers. It doesn't really do much if somebody has a 34 Cha, but it does counter the "stack tons of small bonuses" aspect of PF1.
You also add Cha to everything for a Verbal Duel, even if not normally a Cha skill.
So Amelia would have:
Knowledge (History) +13 (6 ranks, 3 Class Skill, 4 Cha), with 3 edges (+2 sacred, +6 Favored Nation, +2 Good Hope = +10)
Intimidate +23
Sense Motive +25 (18 ranks, 3 Class Skill, 4 Cha), with 2 edges (+1 trait, +4 Alertness, +2 Good Hope = +7)
Diplomacy +25 (18 ranks, 3 Class Skill, 4 Cha) with 4 edges (+4 Persuasive, +2 Good Hope, +6 Favored Nation = +12)
Bluff same as Diplomacy - +25 with 4 edges
Knowledge (Nobility) +25 with 4 edges
Perform (Oratory) +8 with 1 edge
I have a +2 to Cha checks from my implement, but I included that in my modifiers.
Senatorial Hopeful benefits Diplomacy and Know (local), so those get adjusted. With Good Hope, I think I still have just 1 edge in everything.
Knowledge (history) +18 -- Allegory (1 edge)
Sense Motive +10 -- Emotional Appeal (1 edge)
Know (local) if you'll permit?*) +21 -- Logic (1 edge)
Knowledge (nobility) +13 -- Presence (1 edge)
Diplomacy +9 -- Rhetoric (1 edge)
Linguistics +15 -- Wit (1 edge)
Clearly I'm not going to be great at this. :)
Well I think you opened with Rhetoric (+9), so go ahead and roll that and let's see what happens.