Aaaand I just noticed that the site ate my replacement post last night. Stupid postmonster.
Sorry folks. I'll have time to write out a new one soon. Give me an hour or so.
It occurs to me that "chains" might not be valid to target. I might only be able to target a single link, depending on how the GM decides to rule what qualifies as "a single object."
If "chains" aren't valid, I target whatever looks like it is the thing holding it all together. The lock, maybe. Or the manacles.
I think we have a little confusion about positions here. Ulmah is still in a room behind a closer and locked door. She could certainly hear the fighting, but wouldn't be able to see it. Bognus is in the same ordeal. The room she is held in is also antimagic, which would prevent Karactus from casting shatter, even if he were to have sight on them.
While chains themselves may not be a valid target, you could easily target a single link on the chain. When we're dealing with levels of damage shatter can output, and the flair of this game, I find it more thematic for the entire chain to just pop anyways.
Looking at the map, I see now that the walls are stone. Before this, I'd assumed they were bars, like a jail.
In that case, I'm going to obliterate the wall next to Sethirom. Post incoming.
Yeah I was thinking they were bars as well. Sorry bout that!
Mister Freeman, I've got a couple questions about future narration.
First, whatever effect is downgrading Bognus's physical stats, is it visually obvious? Like, are his actual muscles and whatnot shrunk down, or is it just a magic drain on him? Not asking for any mechanical reason, just thinking about how I'm gonna write it when he's finally free.
Second, What's your preference for present or past tense? Would you rather "Bognus stood up and roared", or "Bognus stands up and roars"? A little silly, I know, but I wonder about this sort of thing.
Also: I'm a-comin', guys! I'll be out of here in...well, actually, it could be a while, I've still got like six chains holding me down. Apparently, they took no chances when tying up the vampire barbarian.
Bognus is just as muscly as ever. It's simply a magical drain.
I have no preference for tense, and will use both myself. Whatever you feel like doing is fine.
Hokay then. Cool.
1. Going over a few things, it appears that no one in this group used any third party content. If we can agree on this, I'd like to keep it that way specifically for this group. Did any of you have any third party feats/spells/powers that you had specifically set as part of your final build?
2. In response to Nuandis's question about tweaking characters: Yes! But not right now. Lightbearer promised mythic, and I will deliver. I haven't decided how to accomplish this yet; still deciding if I want the mythic power to be derived from magical items or from Asmodeus. Regardless of the method, the item or godly boon will come with a few customizations. In the original WotW AP, the players receive training shortly after the prison break that gives a third trait bonus. Considering the 'high level' promise, I found them all lackluster. Instead, we will visit mythic power and each of you will get some sort of bonus/ability that applies specifically to your character, thematic with your class selection, character strategy and personality. These will be strong, perhaps the value of two feats? Feel free to make suggestions as to what you would like to see. Aim high. Since this may change things or remove need for certain feats or spells, I'll allow everyone to modify their characters at that point.
3. Mythic power was promised, but I do not expect to pass tier three. Also, expect to hit level 12 soon, and stay there for awhile. I'm not a fan of post level 15 games, but we will get there eventually.
I like everything you just said.
Bognus and I have played pretty extensively with the Mythic rules set. Here's my suggestions to keep the game somewhat reasonable-
No Mythic Power Attack or Mythic Vital Strike.
Get rid of the ability that lets you spend Mythic points for an extra standard action.
Get rid of all abilities that let you cast anything on your list as a swift action.
I'm really not sure what I'm going to go with as far as Mythic stuff is concerned, but with Karactus' backstory it makes more sense for his Mythicness to be something internal. I'd prefer it to be a manifestation of him regaining his own lost power.
Responses in order:
1) Nope, no 3rd party here. I try to stick to Paizo official stuff as a general rule, unless a GM specifically wants us to use something or I've found some weird quirk that is essential to a character concept.
2) Man, the Mythic part of all this has honestly my biggest worry from the beginning. I do like the Mythic ruleset, but...well, remember all the numbers-y theorycrafting I did earlier? Mythic kinda breaks everything wide open, especially if you stack it on to high level characters. High level games are already a game of rocket tag, and mythic power makes that go even further nuts (of course, sometimes that's the point).
That said, presuming we do go forward with using it: Everything Karactus said, absolutely true, and I would also add that Mythic Spellcasting is simply terrifying.
As far as Bognus's power enhancement, I have two ideas. One, getting him the Daybreaker Cloak from his backstory and discovering it grants more than just immunity from the sun: maybe it's actually some crazy artifact from an ancient Darklands vampire clan, granting superpowers to vamps. Two, he could simply have his vampiric powers enhanced by access to some crazy superbeing's blood, elevating him to master status (heh, maybe his former vampire masters could be captured and offered up to him; although why they wouldn't just recruit them instead is beyond me). When it comes to what powers exactly I'd like him to get...geez, I dunno. Thematically, it would make sense to start re-beefing the template up to full vampire power (and I would have no objections to that), but it might be more interesting to do something else. Anything that increased his physical strength (added to his CMB/CMD), let him grab ahold of things that can't usually be grabbed (Ghost Touch, modified Swarmbane Clasp, etc.), or jack up a spellcaster's day even worse (a la the Arcane Bloodrager's 1st, 12th, and 20th level abilities).
Also, I'm glad to hear we're gonna get a little breathing room for build tweaks. I've come across a couple of things (feats, mostly) that could use adjusting for me as well.
3) Sounds good to me. Like I said above, we're already thoroughly into rocket tag territory, and things only get crazier the higher we go. It's nice to get to play with this stuff every so often, but if we get there too fast, somebody's gonna nuke everything.
We had some interesting issues come up with the mythic rules the last time I used them at my table for my in town friends.
One complication was they had always been under the illusion that a full round action = standard + move. Using the tier two mythic power and mythic haste, one gets an extra standard action and move action. They assumed they could do this and get two full round actions. Suffice to say, I shut it down quickly.
I also ruled that since the definition of a full round action is something that takes your entire turn, you couldn't use mythic power to pair standard or move actions with it. Meaning, even though mythic haste gives you an extra move action, you can't take said move action and then get a full attack action. I applied the same ruling for the standard action, since it essentially gave everyone pounce.
I will probably allow Mythic Power Attack, but remove the line "You can expend one use of mythic power when you activate Power Attack to ignore the penalties on melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks for 1 minute."
Vital Strike I usually ban. It's nonsense, and I also prohibited players from taking the feat that allows them to have more mythic spells.
And finally, I usually don't let players regenerate their mythic points daily. I treated them more like Hero Points last time I used mythic.
I like the idea of the various sources of mythic power for this group. We could easily work in Karactus finding it on his own accord. Our resident human would have to look elsewhere.
Oh, and I didn't write it in, but that second attack did actually hit. These guys aren't packing notorious ACs. I didn't write it in the gameplay but I marked the damage down.
Great! I've been itching to take this.
Nightmare: The target of the hypnotic stare rolls twice on all Will saves versus fear, taking the lower result.
Will you allow variant multiclassing?
Nuandis, you and I are going to get along very well....
One complication was they had always been under the illusion that a full round action = standard + move. Using the tier two mythic power and mythic haste, one gets an extra standard action and move action. They assumed they could do this and get two full round actions. Suffice to say, I shut it down quickly.
I also ruled that since the definition of a full round action is something that takes your entire turn, you couldn't use mythic power to pair standard or move actions with it. Meaning, even though mythic haste gives you an extra move action, you can't take said move action and then get a full attack action. I applied the same ruling for the standard action, since it essentially gave everyone pounce.
Huh. So, you'd allow standard+standard+move, but not full-round+standard? Hm...I can't quite put my finger on why, but that strikes me as quite odd for some reason. Not arguing against it, it just seems to hit some cognitive dissonance for me.
Oh, and it's great that you're down with multiple sources. Seems cooler to me when they're individualized.
I think it's fair to say not all the rules are harmonious with realistic expectations, like some of the nonsense you can do with the intimidate skill.
Admittedly, when I made the decision I was abusing RAW (major dick DM move).
A full round action is defined as as an action that takes your entire turn to complete and can't be paired with standard and move actions. The 2nd tier amazing intitiative power states you gain an extra standard, not that you take the standard as a free action. This was obviously written long before Mythic rules were released and is thus an antiquated rule. I wonder if they ever made any clarifications on that.
Nuandis, yes, variant multiclassing is allowed.
Seth's mythic power is definitely going to come from some terrible ritual that his Imp minion is leading him towards and granted by Asmodeus. I suppose he can sense her now since he is out of the anti-magic room too.
That's a negative on the minion sensing. Karactus figured this out earlier, too:
The entire island the prison is on is engulfed in a magical dome. Any spells trying to reach from the inside out won't work. Karactus cast jungle mind and could only make contact with animals within. One could also not teleport out if they had the spell available.
It appears that one of the developers stated that with Quick Runner's Shirt you take the extra move actions AS a swift action.
I imagine the same would apply to mythic haste and amazing initiative. I'll take some time to ponder solutions. We can revisit this later :)
ah ok. nice. At least I can still fly. Keeping my wings tucked away for now. Too cramped inside to try I think.
Would getting True Seeing as the ability be alright? As in his fiend blood becoming stronger. Tieflings can get See in Darkness from 2 racial feats though this would of course be a step up.
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"Survival, to find signs of Dwarf." Hah!
On the cavern floor, he found a shallow impression, rounded on one side, and grunted in recognition. His companions looked on, worried. "Is it...?"
"Yep. Tankard impression." He looked up, his expression tight and grim. "Dwarf sign."
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Smells like a run down brewery wrapped in wet hair. He went this way.
Since he was technically dead now, they couldn't tell if he was embalmed or drunk
Sorry about my total absence the last few days, guys - I've been on the road a bit. Still am, actually, but I've found a brief window of time where I can post anyway. I really ought to have warned you folks, but somehow I mistakenly thought I would have more time on this trip. I'll be back home late tomorrow, and presuming I'm sane after the long drive, I should be back on track after that.
We can wait until then :)
I'll also have something to tide y'all over up as soon as I finish typing it.
A couple quick clarifications (if a response comes fast enough, I'll edit my post slightly):
First, my physical stats were restored once the shackles came off, right? I thought you said that before, but I wasn't sure.
Also, I don't think I knew yet if the entire prison is flooded with magic sunlight or if it was just my cell. I sure hope it was just my cell, that'll make the rest of this a much happier time for me.
And finally, related to equipment: were you using the Resonant Powers for Wayfinders/Ioun Stones, or just normal stuff?
1. Yes, your physical stats are restored.
2. No, they only had sunlight in your room.
3. Using the Resonant Power (method 1)
Awesome on all counts. Thanks, I'll update my stats to match.
Just thought about this, after re-reading Nuandis's recent post: When we were first getting started, we started chatting about how much any of us knew about each other before the adventure began, owing to our particular fame.
How much of our random supposition was true? Would I, for instance, with my oddly wide array of knowledge, have heard of The Belle of Daveryn, or the Wild Huntsman, or any of the rest's acts of terror? And more to the point, are any of them so famous as to be recognizable on sight?
To reiterate my own exploits in a nutshell: For the last two years or so, Bognus has more or less dropped off the map (but those mostly didn't have survivors, so news is extremely rare). Before that, for about a decade, he was stuck at home, but as the Champion of his clan, so if you're familiar with dwarven politics, you might know him. Before that, just over a dozen years ago, he was a pretty famous hero. Never saved the world, but a couple of cities, maybe a nation, are standing today thanks to him. I've been slowly working up exactly how his last and biggest adventure went down, but essentially he and his companions at the time saved a region from the predations of a marauding red dragon (Bognus loves to tell the story of him literally wrestling it to the ground after their mage launched him into the air). Classic hero stuff, but it was a while back.
Karactus is actually very famous. He's kind of a Mitran boogeyman with a history that goes back into myth and legend. Anyone with knowledge history or knowledge religion has probably heard of him.
Karactus is actually very famous. He's kind of a Mitran boogeyman with a history that goes back into myth and legend. Anyone with knowledge history or knowledge religion has probably heard of him.
Heard of, sure, but recognizable on sight? I missed it if we introduced ourselves yet.
Anyone with local or nobility would probably know Nuandis. Her capture would have been something akin to Santa Claus getting caught being a serial killer. Talingarde must have wept knowing one of their beloved celebrities was so nefarious beneath their noses.
As for her approach with Karactus, she sees the real Karacus as just that, a fairy tale. The reality of it will inevitably settle in.
Anyone with local or nobility would probably know Nuandis. Her capture would have been something akin to Santa Claus getting caught being a serial killer. Talingarde must have wept knowing one of their beloved celebrities was so nefarious beneath their noses.
As for her approach with Karactus, she sees the real Karacus as just that, a fairy tale. The reality of it will inevitably settle in.
Relatively recent celebrity, yeah? What with Nuandis only being 23...hm. Presuming she's been famous for over two years, I think it's pretty likely Bognus would know her rep, but he's definitely never seen her personally.
I'd need to retcon hat post then :) Or maybe Bognus just has one of those faces :)
Rather than retcon the (unfortunately) unchangeable post, I'll just alter some of the history in my head. Clearly, the Dolgrin Champion was expected to go out with trade excursions from time to time, and one such went by your place a few years back.
Just hoping to get a clearer charge lane, there - feel free to ignore me if you've got a reason for being ahead, Nuandis.
I don't think modifying Bognus's backstory is necessary. Nuandis's post simply said Bognus looked familiar. I can't relate how many times I mistook someone for another in real life.
It's up to you, ultimately :)
Eh, I like it better if there's some recognition. Level 10 folks are starting to get to the point where they're real movers and shakers in the world, truly altering the course of events: and gestalt uber-weirdoes like ourselves dang well ought to have some notoriety if they weren't working to stay hidden. Bognus, for one, was kinda looking to do the opposite and build his personal legend, at least before he was vamped.
Since combat is getting started for realsies, I thought now was a good time to make a quick note of something that might come up in the near future.
Basically: I'm terribly sorry for playing a grapple specialist. My local crew has been playing with at least one of these jerks in almost every game we run, and g~@&&#n if the rules for grappling don't fail to confuse us almost once a session like freakin' clockwork.
On that note, the first of many variations to the standard rules that you'll probably need to take note of at some point: my Graceful Grappler ability I get from being a Tetori monk, which lets me maintain Dex to AC, take no penalty on attacks, and (most importantly for your information) make AaO's while grappling. It also lets me use the grab ability (which I'm attempting to do this round). I also get AaO's against anyone trying to grapple me first, for the record.
I'll be trying to bring this crazy stuff up before it actually happens, whenever possible, just so we avoid confusion. I know we're all pros here (the caliber of game demands it!), but we're dealing with thousands of pages of rules here; clarification never hurts.
Just to make sure: you do know Howling Agony can hit multiple targets, Ulmah?
Whoops, nope, first time i've used that spell! I'll fix the post. :)
Whoops, nope, first time i've used that spell! I'll fix the post. :)
Yay! It's so rare that anything gets caught in time to actually edit!
I'm seriously super excited about this. That's kinda ridiculous. Probably says something about how frustrated I get with the edit time limit.
... how frustrated I get with the edit time limit.
^ THIS.
I hate it so much. >.<
Ah, Play by Post. You do such terrible things to turn order.
If I'm not mistaken, the resolved order of operations is thus:
Sethirom moves into the room invisibly.
Nuandis buffs us all with Haste and moves into the room.
Karactus throws up Silence and moves into the room.
Bognus rushes in and tries to bushwhack one of the guards.
Ulmah follows behind with Howling Agony.
Sethirom breaks invisibility to smack one of the guards upside the head.
That sound about right?
That seems right. I had a PM from Freeman looking for me, sorry it's taken so long to post. My weekend was just painfully busy.
Just to touch up on a few things. Nuandis isn't offended by Bognus wanting to move past her but she likes the idea of having a warrior at her back as well. In the particular case, she's not even remotely afraid of these guards and wants to get as close to the bloodshed as possible (See! I'm committing to the 'sadist' thing!)
I completely adore the Bognus rewrite and think the idea of us having a good deal of notoriety makes sense. Though Nuandis is more like a movie star than a villain at this point. It's like finding out Emma Watson enjoys killing people in her free time. This is the first time in her life she gets to be "Her" without working under the guise of a slave lord underground.
It's like finding out Emma Watson enjoys killing people in her free time.
That wouldn't surprise me at all. She's too g+$&@@n perfect, it has to be an act.
Just getting my action out of the way: feel free to adjust as necessary if somebody kills my targets or something.