If there's still a knife left, then Jayson will pick that up, of course; I was uncertain as to whether there were any left on the tray, and preferred to err on the side of caution, just in case.
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I will be moving the post forward later tonight, but I did want to apologize to you guys as I was not running the game fair last night. In all honesty the nurse should have attacked Dervak but I did not want to potentially kill him. This is a tough encounter and I am not a fan of the way they wrote the tactics. My rational in my head was that Dervak was behind her and when he bit her and then got hit in the face with acid she just lashed out at the first thing in front of her, aka the pony. But again I am sorry for trying to "protect" the PCs from dying as I know that can ruin a game for people by my "protecting" the PCs. So I will do my best to be fair and ensure that I am using the best tactics even if it means I may kill one of the PCs. I guess at times I try hard to please everybody since this is almost all new to me again and I just want everybody to have a good time. Again sorry to everybody and I look forward to you guys running this AP with me!
You don't have to kill anyone for my sake... I agree with you that a game can be more fun if the behavior of the opponents are adapted to the situation.
I want the sense of danger and the edge-of-your-seat tension. I want to win fights fairly, and would rather my character die fairly than live due to obviously intentionally nerfed tactics. The enemies should act according to their intelligence, as if they are trying to win.
If the adventure path is written with the expectation that the GM will constantly fudge to keep PCs alive, or that it is meant for super-optimized PCs, I would suggest that boosting our power level (maybe faster leveling or more gear) but giving the foes optimal tactics is a lot more fun than having the enemies throw the fights by acting below their intelligence. I don't think that is the case, I think we'll be fine as is.
But of course we may need to find creative solutions and out-of-the-box strategies to tip the odds in our favor at times rather than tackling everything head-on.
It's a horror adventure path. Think of any horror movie. What makes them work? You genuinely don't know if the heroes will triumph or if the monster will. The genre is set up such that "everybody dies" (or worse) is a possibility. And if the heroes win, it is by the skin of their teeth after a grueling battle with lots of resourcefulness. So that's the vibe I'm hoping for.
No worries, DM Cuc.
I am really looking forward to developing Theo, as I may be using him as the main character in a short story that I am working on, so I need him to experience the terror in this AP.
As a PFS GM, I have often found that the scenarios are either too easy or too difficult.
I, generally, try to get a feel for my players (how they act in situations; combat, diplomacy, etc) and I will tailor to their strengths and weakness to allow for a natural flow to the session.
PbP is a bit different because of the slowness inherent to it, but after a few situations, we should all have a better feel for how we each play.
Of course, us being basically naked and locked up does tend to hamper the pcs, so I do understand a bit of pulling back in that situation.
What is Rinn using to attack?
I sometimes get a tattoo for my divine casters if I have 100 gold spare at character creation. It's a lot for character creation, but it's going to be very minor over the span of the whole campaign and who knows when you'll find yourself without gear ;). There is also the birthmark trait that does the same thing.
@Vlad: I think you get to post an alternate action since you can't really do your first one.
@Vlad; if we haven't dropped the creature, it will get two attacks on its turn, which can kill any of us (including Dervak now that he is wounded). If you use your domain ability on it (Gentle Rest) it is staggered and can only make one attack. No save, but requires a touch attack. It's a fantastically powerful ability.
What is Rinn using to attack?
Any sort of sharp object she picked up off the table. 1d3 seemed appropriate for a surgical tool.
Might end up being better to try and aid Dervak in his attack though.
You'll need to hit AC 15 to Aid Another on Dervak's attacks. He is Paranoid (drawback) and not good at accepting help from others.
She is debuffed, so a touch attack should be easy.
I apologize to everybody about last night. My son was having a rough night and when I laid down with him I ended up falling asleep at 8pm with him lol.
Real life and family is always more important.
Please tell me Jayson Sunfyre is brave and noble and sane. It would be so cool to have one traditional hero among all of us nuts with sinister voices in our heads.
Hah. Yeah, pretty much. The traditional hero role is what I pictured Jayson filling, what with all the darker submissions I'd been seeing.
It seems like I might one day need to put a couple of ranks into Profession (Therapist), though! ;)
Kendrella's song for Jayson :).
I didn't actually realize before now how yandere Kendrella is.
What? Just because Theo has insanity as his patron? That's profiling....get it?...lol.
The Voices made me say it!
Who's crazy? Moua? Noooo. Well... Maybe a little.
I actually envision Rinn as feeling just like a normal person would about most things that will happen. Maybe a little more Willey but still normal.
You know in order to survive I'm going to have to give what essentially amounts to horrid monsters in my mind a modicum of control over my body.
By the way, I don't think divine spellcasters need a holy symbol to cast Cure Light Wounds. It doesn't have DF (divine focus) as a component.
Yeah they don't. Channeling does require one, but that's not available yet.
Do they know the names of their deities?
Hah. Well...I suppose yandere at least starts me on a better foot than tsundere!
Also, healing thing is handy! I really need to remember to check the components of a spell more often.
You guys do remember your name, powers, abilities, etc. Jayson you do realize that you have divine powers, but you may not be 100% sure just yet. But you do feel that your deity has given you another chance, but again you are not sure why.
I wasn't using spells because I need my spell component pouch. Also, I need my harrow deck. It's my spellbook...lol.
I'm really liking how Kendrella turned out so far RP-wise. It makes me excited for the rest of this game. Keep up the good work everyone.
@Dervak: I really enjoy discussing tactical options for our characters, but I know from experience that's not for everyone. I find that's it often a good idea to find out what level of suggestions people are comfortable with to avoid anyone feeling bad or feel like their characters are being distracted.
@Everyone: What level of tactical/mechanical discussion are you comfortable with? I know some people like a lot of tips, while others want to decide what's right for their character by themselves. Different play styles, but we can all work together if we are aware of the difference. For me, please let me know if you got any suggestions for Kendrella, tactical or otherwise.
Yeah, I normally take the position "We are not discussing tactics within six-second rounds". I made the suggestion to Vlad out of dire necessity. It's not something I normally do.
With this thing proven to be able to dish out enough to kill any of us with a full attack, it was absolutely essential that it not get a full attack. I want the sense of danger, but that doesn't mean I want a TPK in the first fight.
I'm happy for our characters to discuss their capabilities out of combat, so that it is reasonable for them to shout a quick request in combat ("Summon a flank!" not "You move through these squares then I'll ready an action to cast X on Jayson who will then...")
Don't get me started on pathfinder mechanics that don't work quite smoothly...
"Let's flank it!" turns into "I'll delay waiting for you to move around him and ready a standard action to for when I move to flank then I'll five foot step and full attack so we both get to benefit from it"
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vlad is a ranged supporter. i will be focusing on the usage of repeating crossbows and crossbows in general. in melee, he will be a little iffy, but will do his best to move away and use his crossbow, usually taking a five foot step then fire, and reload on his next turn. will be investing in a lot of the ranged feats.
Rinns main schtick is going to be melee as well, thou she can mix it up should we need something else more so.
A crossbow instead of a bow, I haven't seen that much outside of bolt ace before. Probably because archery is already quite feat intensive and crossbow add more feats needed for reloading. Even a ranger have trouble picking up all the feats they want. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out instead of a more traditional composite longbow.
That reminds me; let Theo know in combat which penalty that you would prefer on individual targets.
Once he can toss his cards, adding a touch spell to it, he can then debuff that way also.
I would like to avoid taking the "range" feats, as it's only a touch attack; also why he has such a high initiative.
Theo will never really do actual damage, but his debuffs should be helpful.
Hmmmm... Near the end of the campaign Rinns going to have something like a +30 flat damage bounus. JUST from the scaling of her abilities, Of course that is only when champion is up.
I don't think you have to worry about damage, we got plenty of it in the rest of the group.
Kendrella's build will be about as schizophrenic as she is. She'll be a monster in melee, but she'll also be quite a decent caster. In her half-elf form she can summon monsters all day, but she'll also be able to cast her own spells in either form. Primarily she'll focus on buffs for her spells, but I'll probably pick some offensive spells as well. Maybe I'll pick up slow to combine with Vlad's domain power for example. What do you think about that Vlad?
Will you be taking the harrower PrC or going witch all the way? Without any of the ranged feats you'll only have +4 to hit at level 4, which would be +0 for firing into melee. Point blank and precise shot would be a combined +5 for such situations. Feat space for a witch is tight though. There are always so many awesome hexes you can pick up. I'm playing a 5th level witch in another game and all my 3 first feats have gone to extra hex.
How does this work for a cartomancer?
If the spell allows you to touch targets over multiple rounds, touching 6 creatures is a full-round action.
Can you fire 6 cards with frostbite or chill touch as a full round action? Throwing out 6 cards at level 6 would be quite decent damage, even if it's all spread between different targets.
That quote applies to touching willing targets (allies), not making touch attacks in combat. It's clear from the context, such as the sentence immediately preceding it. Also, the Design Team clarified that all such multi-round touch spells count as "holding the charge," and the "holding the charge" rule clearly says that touching six allies is a full-round action.
(My PFS Core rogue uses Chill Touch, and allowing him to touch six enemies in one round would be ridiculously overpowered even for a Core rogue.)
Oh, and I am trying to play Dervak as responding to Kendrella's Diplomacy attempts. But he's a paranoid pariah so it will take time.
In mechanical terms, you might imagine that she's shifted a starting point of "Unfriendly" to "Indifferent."
In character, he's softened his tone just a bit with her and the others, perhaps in part because the adrenaline of battle has worn off.
DM Cuc, just to make sure I remember correctly, you said that our last active memories are from about five years prior to the start of the game, correct?
He said our backstories should end about 5 years prior. Memories are not that recent, from childhood if we have any at all.
@Dervak: I thought it was a nice response. Sorry I didn't respond much directly. I'm having a hard time picking what to respond to. If I responded to all the things I wanted it would feel like she didn't let the others talk. Though at the same time it feels awkward to leave threads hanging.
I added a bit more to respond to you guys.
Theo will be able to toss one card per round, regardless, because of the returning property.
He will be able to cast frostbite and then he will get 1 ranged touch attack per round per level, so that will help save spell slots.
I am not too worried about the -4. It is a touch attack.
He gives up his 2nd level hex, so, yes, he will be taking extra hex a lot.
Since you got 54 cards you can toss out as many as you have attacks. Though that'll still be only one for a long while unless you do pick up rapid shot. Doubling the amount of cards thrown out does sound kinda nice, though I don't think it's worth to focus a ton of feats into making a 1st level spell better.
As for the -4 not being a big deal, sure you'll still be able to hit quite a bit, but it's still a hefty reduction. Hitting 80% instead of 60% of your attacks is still good. For example if you are level 5 and have just picked up bestow curse, and you are going up an enemy with touch AC 10 in melee and you have a +5 bonus (+1mw +2bab +2dex), you'll need to roll 9 or higher to hit without precise shot(60%), but with it you would only need 5 (80%).
Picking up other stuff like extra hexes and things to enhance your other spells might still be better though.
@DM Cuc: I don't think you commented on what kind of spirits Rinn could call on in this place. Though we might want to get away from our current location before doing anything like that.
As of right now you have no memories other than your names, and class related stuff.
So wasted today, sorry for not writing much.
How do you want to do eidolon hp? Like PCs? Average all the way? Average rounded up?
Shouldn't Jayson have another feat? 1st level + human + weapon focus from warpriest? Or is he taking some trait or archtype to replace one of those?
Jayson is a Dual Talent human, right? +2 Dex and Wis in exchange for the bonus feat and the bonus skill point.
I'm trying to figure out what benefits allies gets from participating in a seance. I guess there isn't actually anything until level 2, is that right?
I'm trying to figure out what benefits allies gets from participating in a seance. I guess there isn't actually anything until level 2, is that right?
Yep, not much I can pass around until level two.
Dervak is right; Jayson is a Dual Talent human, with a +2 in Dex and Wis rather than the extra skill point and feat.
Rinn for future reference if you can give a good rationale or roleplay reason for your channeling a spirit I will allow it. That way there isnt a delay in you picking a channel because i havnt responded. Also I am a fan of the rule of cool, so at anytime you have an idea that would fall under that send me a PM
@DM Cuc: Did you miss my question about HP of the eidolon? How do you want to do it? Max at first like PCs, average rounded all the way or perhaps simply average?