PFS #3-19 The Icebound Outpost
A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–5. (We are playing Subtier 1-2)
Summary:
The Pathfinder Society discovers an Aspis Consortium base in an ancient Vudran temple now encased in a glacier and sends the PCs to infiltrate it and investigate the extent of the rival organization's regional operations. Can the PCs get in the well-guarded Aspis outpost and escape with their lives and the information the Society seeks?
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Everyone please check in with the character you'd like to play.
Yes. I think a couple people need to make characters. I can begin when everyone is ready.
'Mu Ping' - crusty old monk
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I'm here, but I just have not had any time recently to make a character or even check out the other game until now. Hopefully today.
But I'm interested. I'll probably use a Pregen, and depending on what is most needed, I'll go with what is lacking. I see a Fighter, Monk, Sorcerer, and Ninja, so it's looking like Kyra so far.
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Alright, think I'm going to go with a Lore Warden. Mostly he'll contribute intimidation and battlefield control with Combat Reflexes and a Horsechopper (reach weapon).
That puts us at 5 players. Does anyone want to refer a 6th or should I ask around?
Beckett is Yanos. Haris (Sam) is the 5th, and he is making a ninja. Still need one more.
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Haha. Alright. Almost a shame though... it'd be funny to see to competing character concepts level up side by side.
I'm planning on taking reach weapons and whirlwind attack for the hilarity of it all. A level of monk makes me threaten nearby, and some other feats get me tripping with a whip like a maniac.
I have my plan all set out in my profile, if you want to critique.
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My suggestion would be to drop Monk in favor of Archeologist Bard (from Ult Combat), (which will let you trade out EWP Whip for the Maneuver Monk would give you, but also add a self buff and seem to play to your stats more.) This would also let you pick up a Wand of CLW and Cat's Grace to us freely.
It might be worth it to go Fighter 4, Bard 3, (not in that order), then Shadowdancer the rest. It seems you will still get all the prereqs with a quick look. One issue I see is that you will not get Medium Armor Prof, which can hurt in the later levels. All in all, it looks very interesting either way. :)
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Of course I can use either one in a pinch, especially with my level of Monk. Monk gives me Improved Unarmed Strike, which means that, at level 2, even with my horsechopper out, I threaten adjacent squares as well as reach squares. With Combat Reflexes, getting that maximized threat area out there ASAP is important.
The Kensai Magus gives me proficiency and Weapon Focus in a single level, which is a pretty dense feat load for a single level. The Weapon Focus offsets the loss of a single BAB, and then I get two arcane pool points to use for a free +1 enhancement whenever I want. I also get a spell, but I'll be in armor and will suffer from arcane spell failure chance, and my save DC would be terrible, so I'm just writing off that part mostly.
I'm dumping WIS because I don't need it for anything. The Monk's AC bonus won't apply as I'll be wearing light armor. The Kensai's Canny Defense bonus *will* apply, so that's a good reason to have at least 12 INT. Also, that gets me another arcane pool point. And of course I need 13 INT for whirlwind attack. Extra INT beyond that would only give me additional arcane pool points, so I see it as a waste of stat points.
My CHA is pumped to improve the DC of my spell-like abilities from the Shadowdancer class. If I took 3 Bard levels, I'd lose:
+1 AC from Magus
2 arcane pool points from Magus
Weapon Focus from Magus
Improved Unarmed Strike (important for threatening, as mentioned before) from Monk
Improved Trip from Monk
Flurry of Maneuvers from Monk (which gets me multi-attacking before I get access to whirlwind attack)
6th level of Shadowdancer, including Rogue Talent, another use of Shadow Conjuration, and another 40ft of Shadow Jump.
I never get medium armor proficiency either way, which is fine, since Evasion requires light armor, and so does Canny Defense (+1 AC). Using light armor will keep up my mobility (well, that, and Mobility) so I can get in position to whip every single enemy on the battlefield. And for icing on the cake, I believe that Flurry of Maneuvers (add a free combat maneuver to a full attack action) stacks with Whirlwind Attack (forfeit all other extra *attacks* for one attack per enemy) by RAW (since a combat maneuver is not an attack, but rather, can replace an attack).
First off, your point buy is wrong. You've spent 18 points (there's a stray 2 floating around from dropping CHA to 8). You could spend 2 on STR to pump your melee damage and carrying capacity, or you could pump Dex to 17, leaving you a good 4th-level upgrade option. Or, you could drop CHA to 7 and do both (since you're only using that point of CHA for the extra +1 to Perform, and +1 to melee damage is arguably more valuable).
Also, have you considered a little Disable Device? With your Perception and Dexterity you'd be good at handling traps.
I have one more player coming, but they probably won't be available for a few days, so everyone take their time to get their characters right, and don't forget to post an introduction of some sort in the Gameplay thread.
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Don't Monks lose Imp Unarmed Strike and Flurry if they wear armor, in addition to the Feats? I haven't looked, but I think they do. That was one of the concerns I had. Now, don't get me wrong. It looks like an interesting build, and I wouldn't mind seeing it in action, I was just curious if you had realized it. If so, you could always go with a Shield Bash or Armor Spikes. If you use them for AoO's only, it is not Two-Weapon Fighting Penulties. It's only if you get the extra Attack for Two-Weapon Fighting. The reason I mentioned Medium Armor is for Mithral. Pathfinder changed it though so that you still need to be proficient with medium Armor before it is mithral.
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When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a monk loses his AC bonus, as well as his fast movement and flurry of blows abilities
All I lose is AC bonus (not an issue - no WIS bonus), fast movement (I can get over that), and flurry of blows (which I don't have - I have flurry of maneuvers. I researched this on rules questions threads.)
So really, I don't lose much. And I can't do medium mithral armor anyway because that still kills my Evasion and such. So light armor it is.Armor/shield spikes are definitely a good "always-armed" option (though I think gauntlets/spiked gauntlets work for that too, right?), but in the rare instance in which weapons are disallowed or at risk (such as fighting mean statues), unarmed strike is a good thing to have. I could be persuaded on this point, but the monk level still gives me Improved Trip and Flurry of Maneuvers.
I think our last player is just about ready. Hope to start within a day or two.
I'm the last person, sorry about the delay! I'll probably have my cleric of Pharasma (sorry, not a polearm fighter) ready by Thursday night Eastern US time.
Go ahead Garinol.
I could have my character carry them around for you, I guess...
I posted this in my other game, but figured I should repost here as well.
I took a job that has me traveling without my computer until Monday night. I can still post from my phone, but I won't be able to put up maps until I return.
I still think we can continue without them for now, and just run combat in a cinematic style.
I almost forgot faction mission info. I'll try to get them out later today.
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No worries. They tend to be something accomplished later. If you like I can copy them from the PFS Shared Prep folder.
or
The Icebound Outpost (I haven't looked through it)
It's also got some other nifty things like sometimes maps or stat blocks for easy reference.
The temperature is cold enough that without cold weather outfits you will need to make occasional checks to avoid damage and fatigue.
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Panther Style (Combat, Style)
You can strike back at enemies who attack you when you move.
Prerequisites: Wis 13, Combat Ref lexes, Improved Unarmed Strike.
Benefit: While using this style, when an opponent makes an attack of opportunity against you for moving through a threatened square, you can spend a swift action to make a retaliatory unarmed strike attack against that opponent. Your attack is resolved after the triggering
attack of opportunity.
So basically if you draw an AoO for movement, after that AoO is resolved, you can take a sort of AoO yourself against the person that attacked you. (It's not actually an AoO, though, just works similarly, and is a Swift Action, which means it can only be done one per round.)
Panther Claw (Combat)
You unleash a rapid series of blows on foes that attempt to
attack you when you move.
Prerequisites: Wis 15, Combat Ref lexes, Improved Unarmed Strike, Panther Style.
Benefit: While using Panther Style, you can spend a free action, instead of spending a swift action, to make a retaliatory unarmed strike. You can make a number of retaliatory unarmed strikes on your turn equal to your Wisdom modifier.
This changes the action type from Swift to Free Action, meaning you can potentially do it more than once per round, (in fact up to your Wis mod), but it doesn't allow you to do it more than once per event that actually provoked to begin with. So, with the original Feet, they attacked you and you attacked them back after that. At that point, if you continued moving and provoked from a different target, (because you can only provoke by moving from the same target once per round), with the first Feat only, you would not be able to attack them back, because it is a Swift Action, and you had already used your single Swift Action for the round. With the second Feat, it becomes a Free Action, which you can take multiple of during a round, and you would be able to attack the second target after their AoO, too.
It doesn't, however, allow you to do a sort of Flurry of Blows against a target for the single AoO you provoked, though I can see where it almost reads as if it did.
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To my knowledge, there is no rule about how many Free Actions can be taken outside of what is reasonable, (I could be wrong, though). I believe a long time ago the 4 Free Actions per round was suggested due to some sort of item/Feat/Class Feature abuse that allowed some sort of infinite action as a Free Action. Because Panther Claw has a built in limit (Wis mod per round), it's probably not appropriate to impose a limit beyond that, including other Free Actions for the round, as long as they are within reason, which is up to the DM.
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Thanks Beckett. Yep, I'm barely hanging on to the basic AoO rules as it is. So basically, if Mu (WIS 15) ran by 5 enemies and triggered 5 AoOs, he would get 1 AoO back at each 3 of them, and then he'd get a remaining standard action at the end of movement, which is likely drinking a healing potion or stabilizing.