DM Puppet Master's Humble Bundle Welcome Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Anon A Mouse

Hey DM, it looks like some time after I made Lily, Paizo published the Hallowed Necromancer archetype, which is a perfect fit for what I envisioned for the character. Might there be an opportunity at some point for me to retrain into this? The main changes are that I lose Scribe Scroll (which I've never used) and I lose my 5th-level bonus feat, but in exchange my spells are more effective vs. undead.

That's fine with me. Since this is the last module in the series anyway and the material wasn't out when you originally created the character, feel free to make those changes now.

I will be out of town camping this weekend, should be back late Monday.

I am going to be very hit or miss this week - I am traveling for work, and my posting will depend on a lot of things outside my control. Bot if needed. Thanks!

Lily: Necromancer 6

+1 Bab
+1 Fort, Ref, Will saves
+5 hit points

Skills: +1 each of: Heal, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (dungeoneering), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (planes), Perception, Spellcraft; Craft (alchemy), Profession (mortician)

New spells: 3rd-haste, howling agony

Enjoy, boys and girls - fighters are about to get very speedy.

HP: 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 1 = 6 So 5+2+1=8. Includes fav class bonus.

+1 to all saves
+1 BAB
Danger sense +2

Skills, +1 to:
Acrobatics
Perception
Stealth
Disable Device
Bluff
Knowledge (local)
Knowledge (dungeoneering)
Escape artist
Intimidate
Climb

Background skills, +1 to:
Sleight of hand
Knowledge (engineering)

New talent:
Canny Observer: When a rogue with this talent makes a Perception check to hear the details of a conversation or to find concealed or secret objects (including doors and traps), she gains a +4 bonus.

@Lily: That haste spell looks really cool. Specially for Jaed when he has to run around flanking foes :)

+7 skill points (diplomacy, perception, spellcraft, kn: arcana, kn: religion, kn: geography, kn: history)
+1 BAB (which raises CMB and CMD, attacks)
+1 to fort, save, will
+1 2nd and 3rd level spell per day (make whole, stone shape)
+5 hit points

OK, back now, should be back to normal. Levels!

Kinetic Knight 6
+9 hit points (favored class bonus)
+1 BAB

Skills: +1 Climb, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perception, Sense Motive, Appraise, Profession (gladiator)

New Utility wild talents: Tremorsense
Class features: Can now accept 2 burn/round, gain Internal Buffer 1 (allows me to bank a burn for later use), DR increases by 1, and Elemental Overflow gives me +2 to hit instead of +1, and fortification 5% x number of burn (currently 20%), and now also gives me +2 str and con when I have at least 3 burn (which I plan on always having). My character sheet has been updated to include that bonus.

Rolling HP, sorry would have had my action up last night, but server was down.

HP: 1d8 ⇒ 5

Don't know if you guys saw but that Paizo is planning on launching a Pathfinder 2.0 playtest later this year. They also apparently did a podcast where they mostly on the fly converted Crypt of the Everflame to the new rules. Just thought I'd mention since that's the first module in this series (though only Jaed and Finnrick are still around from that run through).

I love the glass cannon podcast. I'm so glad you linked this, I'm subscribed to them on patreon, but this didn't come up on any of their regular feeds. They talked about it yesterday on their regularly scheduled podcast but I didn't have time to go searching for it. I wonder if they got the dagger lol. I was driving the other day wondering what it was.

I got an email about it the other day but did not have time to look into it. Probably the podcast will be a better option. Thanks for the link!

@Finnrick: The dagger laying in that pile in the crypt? Jaed probably had nightmares about that ghost guarding it. It almost kill him...

Yeah, that dagger.
I listened to the first part on my morning comute. I love Erik Mona and the GM for the game is Jason Bulmahn, they guy that wrote Crypt of the Everflame.

I'm kind of wondering how long this podcast is (any why all the sections aren't link from a single post...). I just started part 4 and they haven't reached the second floor of the crypt yet. Though I know they said they were truncating the adventure/leaving out a number of the encounters, so maybe they're cutting most of the second floor out?

Also, @Jaed and Finnrick, as a reminder (since we're starting to get close to the end of the trilogy), you both have a scale from Kassen's armor.

Awesome. I also think that our wizard had lost his mind just before it and at that point I was the only magic user. Hey sorry about yesterday I was swamped and then I tried to post right before bed but the site was down. I'll be behind my computer in an hour and I'll post up then. Would you allow me to finish summoning this round?

I think I was playing the wizard at that point since the player had stopped posting. So he was still using magic to attack it, but it worked out well as a breaking point for him for me to write him out of the story and just have him chill with the crazy villager.

I was assuming the summoned creature appeared last round. I would have had it attack, but I had no idea what you were summoning. So it is currently somewhere on the map if you'd like to add an image/token for it.

I totally forgot about the scale. Thanks for the reminder!

Good thing I'm not crazy!

So, I had completely forgotten that we had agreed a couple of pages back to go in on a CLW wand. Really wishing we had remembered that earlier, we could have been using that sometimes instead of Marzela's resources. Drat and bother.

Also, we never specified who would be carrying the potions of CMW we got in our loot. Any objections to me retroactively adding one of them to my inventory?

Fine with me. Would be good to keep you smashing as long as we can.

I'm fine with you retroactively taking the potion of CMW, assuming everybody else is.

Sorry for recent and upcoming spotty attendance - my wife's Grandma passed away, and I will be focusing on that for the next few days. Bot as needed.

Sorry to hear that! My condolences to you and your wife.

Sorry to hear, all the best to you and your wife.

I've realized that most people (actually everyone except Finnrick) probably don't know about Jaed's background story which would help to understand why he is behaving like a jerk.

Basically, after the first adventure in the crypt the original party had the option of following some clues working for the Pathfinder Society. Jaed joined because he was bored of his little town and wanted to travel around the world and eventually return as a rich guy back home, probably just to show off.

Until now, he has seen a bit of the world's wonders and now the second part of his plan appears to be at his fingertips. This is obviously affecting his good reasoning.

His new live goal will probably be to become strong enough that he can go back into the city by himself. No need to share the treasure that way. But for that he needs the key ;)

Good thing the game is over, because Marzela would never travel with Jaed again after this.

I was starting to like the extra drama from the totally opposite characters between Jaed and Marzela. And I'm sure there would be a way of making peace or at least tolerate one another :)

As a player, I love your role play and would play with you again anytime. But keeping the amulet instead of turning it over... nope, Marzela won't work with a betrayal of their whole mission like that. She hates herself for letting you have it... she just didn't know any other way to break the deadlock and get people to safety.

That's unfortunate, because I was kinda hoping you guys would want to maybe play another module with the same characters. I like this group, and am sad we are drawing to a close.

I'm in if you want to, but let's set it 5 years later after Marzela has a chance to get over being angry and Jaed has a chance to go back and see that he can't get the treasure anyway.

I totally understand why Marzela would not want to adventure again with Jaed right now and I also think it was very well role played. I'm also in to continue with another module so I can think of a couple of ways relations can improve during our way back in the boat (not that Jaed is going to be best friends with Marzela now but at least they should be able to work together):

- Jaed is a selfish and slightly immature 21 years old guy that has been by himself all his life before starting adventuring. So it is ok if you guys gang up and try to talk some sense to him. Like he is now part of a group and that he has to think about other people besides himself. In the past he has risked his life during the fights to protect someone else so it is not that he is a lost case, he just need some guidance sometimes.

- Also, Finnrick is the closest one to him and he also comes from Kassen. Way back when we started the adventure Reginar said the following:

"Now, once you catch up with the cultists heading there, you'll need to recover the amulet and seal the city behind you so no one else can access its treasures. I gather one piece was originally from the tomb of the founder of Kassen, which some of you are from. If you wish, you may return that piece there."

If I recall correctly the amulet is composed by three fragments so Finnrick could let Jaed keep Kassen's one and you could return the other two.

Or if you guys have any others ideas I am open to them. I don't want this to become a bigger problem than it should be. I can also let Jaed go a bit out of character if that makes things easier.

In the end I have as much fun (maybe even a bit more) building Jaed's character than during the fights :)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but part of the deal with the jewel is that it magically influences anyone who touches it into wanting to keep it / use it, yes? Perhaps that influence could fade as we add time and distance between us and the city?

Honestly, it could be really interesting story-wise if y'all don't make up on this adventure, and it is only after the passage of years that Jaed comes to his senses, the influence of the jewel wears off, and he realizes how crazy he was being.

As an idea, if everyone was up for it, we could do Cult of the Ebon Destroyers next. Another cult rearing it's ugly head, and the Society calls together the group that was so effective against the last cult they faced. Then Marzela and Jaed would have to work together, on mission, and resolving those differences could be part of the story.

I'm really up for whatever, just kicking ideas around.

Also remember that Marzela could always prepare remove curse and see if that removes the jewel's unnatural influence on Jaed.

Marzela touched it, and it didn't seem to affect her the same way. It was more like the dreams... things that affected us, but didn't control us. We still got to choose. So not sure a remove curse would do anything. Interesting idea though... and, I mean if you guys want us to role-play some resolution, that is fine. I think it would be more appropriate when we get back to the mainland and we meet up with the guy that sent us. That gives Jaed another chance to do the right thing, and some distance, and maybe we don't get paid (were we being paid?) if we don't deliver? That would be a good time to gang up. :)

I am also up for whatever, as Carrakas said.

I hope that Lily isn't too much of a drag. I wrote her characterization to be very skittish because she's spent years as an "untouchable" due to the (ostensible) taint of necromancy that makes her an outcast, but I hope it isn't getting too tiresome and whiny!

I can tell you that Jaed reaction is just sheer egoism and stupidity and no curse was involved ;)

The idea of letting some years pass after this adventure is also very interesting. I can imagine a more mature Jaed, with a mix of acceptance and disappointment after not being able to obtain the treasure after all that time. So that would work too. Let's see how the end of the current adventure evolves and we can decide then.

@Lily: I don't feel that Lily is a drag at all. She may sound fragile but there is a feeling about her that suggests that she is actually very strong in the inside. Jaed's first thoughts were that she might be someone that the group would have to look after if they don't want her to slow them down but he is now convinced that at some point she will burst and show her full potential, becoming a lifesaver.

Jaed? Has an ego? Noooo. Wasn't he perched on the roof when he first met everyone? I had a good time with him. I think Finnrick was most influenced by him especially after Etam left.

Finnrick was the first character I ever wrote or played and I think it showed. He wasn't really that fleshed out in his motivations and I know I started dropping the ball on him,especially during this last module.

Actually, I'm not sure now that there is no curse involved after reading DM's last post:

Jaed and Marzela, however, seem to have the opposite happen. The further they go, the stronger their sense of unease.

So if this feeling keeps growing Jaed will probably find it more difficult to think straight.

And yes Finnrick, he liked to jump from roof to roof in Kassen. Batman style :)

I make no comment about the presence or lack of a curse at this time. :-)

Though if you have any other questions about the behind the scenes of the modules, I'm open to answering them. I'm also curious about if people have thoughts about the 3 modules, though only Jaed and Finnrick actually saw the first one, and Carrakas and Marzela joined towards the end of the second one. I tend to agree with the reviews that the third module is the weakest of the trilogy.

I liked it, but it did seem a little weak at least in terms of what we were trying to accomplish. I wish we were sent to cleanse that island of dark energy or free the city from whatever magic controls it instead of just making sure the Razmir followers don't get richer. Not that it was unimportant... it just seems unfinished. (I hope not because there were other things we could have solved.)

I got a kick out of it, but I'm more of a combat/mechanics type of player, and this module had combat in droves. The bad guys were unique enough to be interesting, the environmental challenges rather diverse. I can see how it might be considered weaker, though, particularly if you are fond of heavier roleplay and social aspects of the game.

Sorry, something came up in real life and won't be able to post Jaed's reply today. I'll write tomorrow for sure.

Finals week for me, I haven't even been able to read what's happened

Executive Summary:

We all got rewarded with 10,000 gold each and a free wish. What are you going to use your wish on?

Oh, whoops, Marzela can't say that; she has a Ring of Truth on. Such a liar.

Ok, I'm back.

Regarding the modules I think my favorite was the second one because it felt more open, with more problem solving and role playing involved. The other two modules were more combat focused and, probably because I was playing as a rogue, I felt that Jaed was more limited in those. At least until he leveled up a bit. Now it is more fun, but basically his only viable option during a combat is to move around to a flanking position and sneak attack.

Though if you have any other questions about the behind the scenes of the modules, I'm open to answering them.

I'm curious about if we could have taken the jewel out of the city. I bet that probably not because the other golden things we took out also lost their gold. But maybe there was actually a way of "winning". I know you cannot tell right now but maybe when the adventure ends :)

Ha ha. That's a good try, but one reason my character gets hired as a negotiator in this town is that they know she wears a ring of truth. Not sure they are going to believe that I am making things up. :) But we'll see.

I think the reason I feel like the 3rd module is the weakest is because it felt like pretty much all combat with very little choices. I typically like for there to be more things to do than just run around fighting things. Though I did enjoy having enemies that could do more than just run up and hit people.

As for motivations, Tar Barphon created the island to trap Aroden, a god. I think sealing the rift to the negative energy plane is probably beyond the capabilities of 6th level adventurers. Though I do agree that stopping the Razmirans from getting all that treasure seems like an odd/weak motivation. While most members probably have evil leanings, it's not clear that the cult getting that treasure would be all that bad. At least in the second module there was the motivation of stopping their local thuggery.

I'm curious about if we could have taken the jewel out of the city. I bet that probably not because the other golden things we took out also lost their gold. But maybe there was actually a way of "winning". I know you cannot tell right now but maybe when the adventure ends :)

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I would be up for running Cult of the Ebon Destroyers, though I'll probably need at least a week before I can start. I've only glanced at it thus far, but based on the reviews, you should be aware

1) It's apparently a mix of investigation and combat, and supposedly the combat is quite challenging. As in most of the reviews mention the difficulty of the fights (and now we know why Carrakas suggested it ;-) )
2) You've all been in the Nirmathas where they speak mostly Taldane, and I think it's meant to be Western European influenced. Cult of the Ebon Destroyers takes place in Vudra, which is more Indian influenced and not in the Inner Sea region.

There are also a number of ways to deal with the Marzela/Jaed conflict if we wanted to continue. One is that yes, the Jewel has been trying to tempt both Jaed and Marzela into coming back for it (that is, after all, why Iramine, the woman you fought at the end, came back for it after hundreds of years). So we could downplay Jaed's behavior as largely that. Another alternative is that since you'll be skipping from level 6 to 8 that perhaps the two split ways for some time and reconciled later. Or we could do like Carrakas suggested and have them split ways, but then Marzela is sent on this mission and effectively forced to work with Jaed again. Or some combination. I guess it just depends on if they want to reconcile now, during the 6th to 8th level gap, or some time during the Ebon Destroyers mission.

Ooo, I do like the idea of some story-based downtime where we were off doing separate things, and then we rejoin for the trip to Vudra. Anyone want to have some between-adventures backstory of what we were doing?

I'm in for some interesting backstory in between. Do you have ideas?

As for the Marzela-Jaed resolution... we could do it now if Jaed wants to say that his actions were because of a curse. Someone casts remove curse on him, and he apologizes, and done.

Or, if we want Marzela to be the one that bends instead, then someone goes and gets her for this examination, they cast remove curse on her, and it doesn't only remove any influence from the island, but her ring of truth drops off. ... Could be extra interesting if Jaed then picks it up and puts it on, at which Marzela might realize he needs it more than she does (but her drawback penalties kick in because that is her attached object), but that isn't necessary. It could just make her doubt herself and everything she is doing to have it removed (she could have done it herself because she has the spell, but hasn't chosen to because she feels like it holds her in check, but someone else removing it might seem like a sign from her God that she needs to stand on her own without the crutch?)

The ring in a lot of ways IS her conscience, so without it she could bend a lot of different ways, including going back for the jewel, becoming a pathological liar again (though hopefully only briefly, because in the end she realizes that she really does want to be good on her own), or realizing that she is just as greedy as Jaed is in the end, and apologizing to him. Anyway, lots of possibilities there, depending on which way we want it to go... or if any of the other characters want to get involved or have ideas.

Also, DM, was wondering if we do this new 8th level game, could I switch out one of my traits? It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I don't think that I've ever used it.

If you want Jaed to play the "I was possessed, I didn't know what I was doing and I am terrible sorry" card and make peace right now that is fine with me.

If we are going to live our lives and reunite after some time, I would play it differently. Jaed will realize that his obsession with the Jewel was just an illusion and he will leave the town ashamed by not having been strong enough to resist it. That will make him determined to grow stronger, probably becoming a mercenary that looks for the most challenging jobs. Marzela's idea of picking up the ring of truth is interesting and challenging at the same time. A rogue that cannot lie, mmm. I could also try to build something around that. Either way, Jaed will become a more mature individual as opposed to the naive country boy going on his first adventures that he is now. And he will apologize for his behavior once he sees the others again.

Regarding the new module the investigation part sounds interesting enough to me. And during the combats I will run around trying to hit things, as always :)