The marines are pretty elite!
They also specialize at ranged combat, which makes sense, seeing as they're ship-to-ship fighting specialists. Makes the Sonder's job just a little more tricky, though - it's most efficient if the marines, rather than board, fire arrows from the Sonder's deck, which means that the Sonder's crew will have to be on the deck, in order to move the boat around.
If instead of Heroism I cast Communal Protection From Arrows, that would let me ward seven people against mundane ranged weapons for an hour. My google-fu says that the Sonder could probably doesn't need more than four people to move the boat around on the water. I could protect them, Mel, and two others. If I use my second level slots for regular protection from arrows, I can get two more people on top of that - though I'd prefer to reserve a casting of mirror image for Captain Muse himself.
Though, Protection From Arrows is by no means a sure protection; after all, the marines have magic bows.
Oh, they're archers? Drat. Fog Cloud would make their lives a lot harder, too, not just Mel's.
It does have some problems. Another statogy might be to somehow lure the pirates ashore, but I don't have any idea how we might do that
Maybe we could also have the druids summon a wind to blow the fog away once the ship was close.
Ok. Two part plan.
(1) Fog
(2) Teleport On. Cast invisibility. Get evidence.
(3) Sink the ship with shape wood
(3) Send in the marines to arrest the pirates as their ship sinks
Kazador sees this job as a necessary annoyance before he can return home. Every day spent doing otherwise means a higher chance of the elves finding the cache of artifacts
Ha! If there's one thing I've learned about playing with this GM, it's that nothing is ever that easy. He's devious.
The fog could be dismissed as a standard action, no?
But I'm not sure how well it'd work - could someone with kn. nature tell me if we can make magically created fog look natural?
Nope! It cannot be dismissed. It creates actual physical fog, which will persist for the full spell duration or until it's dispersed with wind.
Well, it's going to be up to our DM to decide if the fog can be made to look natural or not. Another possibility is that fireball could burn off the fog. Obscuring mist which has generally similar wording mentions this, fog cloud doesn't so it'd be up to the 'm whether or not that could work.
Kazador's plan isn't a bad one. Maybe we could alter it a bit. Teleort to the ship in the fog. Knock the captain out and teleport him back with us. Then hold him as a hostage.
It's risky though. After all these are pirates, no telling if they'll stick around to help out their captain. Also we would have to teleport in with only 3 people. Though if Mel or someone else is flying that would be ok.
Okay, so, suppose we abduct the captain and sink the ship. What do we do with Van Beem and the marines then?
I see three options:
1. Take them along to Kazad Gravr.
2. Sail back to Helm, drop them off, head back out.
3. Maroon Van Beem and the marines on an island, and pick them up on the way back.
Option 1 involves revealing information to more people than necessary. For example, Kazad Gravr's location, and that we're interested in it for some reason. It would also afford Van Beem a lot more opportunities to escape.
Option 2 would avoid those problems, but it would cost time -- and I gather Kazador is eager to get to Kazad Gravr as quickly as possible.
Option 3 would cost us no particular time, and keep our business secret. But it would leave Van Beem in a fairly insecure location for quite a while, and I don't think the marines came prepared for such a thing.
I think we should just try to take the ship. If we destroy it, our lives get a lot more complicated.
Fog cloud can look natural given a DC 15 K Nat to time and place it well.
Gertrude van Beem's flagship is The Serpent's Serendipity.
So given our GM's feedback (thank you) it sounds like are suprise attack from the sonder out of the fog is at least a reasonable strategy. I vote that we take that general strategy and begin discussion specific tactics. What are everyone else's thoughts?
Just as a note Frytor doesn't know any of the party's capabilities. So he'll need to be brought up to speed at least a bit in game.
Also of note invisibility sphere and water breathing are spells that Captain Muse should be able to use.
Mel would be interested in flight and protection from arrows. But she might want a quick word with the Captain about that first. Try proposing it to her in-game.
Very interested to see whether or not Mel lets Brolin cast on her!
GM, how do you feel about using summon natures ally to summon elementals not in the core rulebook? Is like to summon an aether elemental but I don't want to say I can if it's not kosher.
EDIT: in this case I don't think it will matter, it' too far given the 6 round duration but the question still stands.
Other elementals are allowed. This came up in a 1 on 1, pvp Pathfinder tournament I ran in which aether elementals where the monster tactician inquisitor's best way of dealing with the antimagic field barbarian. Still lost but it was close.
Other elementals are allowed. This came up in a 1 on 1, pvp Pathfinder tournament I ran in which aether elementals where the monster tactician inquisitor's best way of dealing with the antimagic field barbarian. Still lost but it was close.
Awesome, I just wanted to check because not every GM sees it that way.
So, as far as heading back to the ship, idk if we are using the rules where you have to make concentration checks to cast spells while the ship is underway or not. If we are it might be better to send the marine captain back to the ship while the rest of us wait on the shore. We don't want to lose one of Kazador's dimension doors due to a failed concentration check.
@GM
Ok sounds good. Just as a general question regarding summoning, do you run the summons as NPC's controlled through orders/handle animal checks, or do you have the players control them directly?
For ease of management, players control their own summons directly within reasonable limits which will be, hopefully, self-enforced most of the time. A dog summoned into flanking position will keep flanking as long as the enemy doesn't move but probably isn't smart enough to keep 5 ft stepping to maintain flanking unless instructed via feral speech, handle animal, etc.
XP update btw. Since it is 16000 xp required to advance from level 7 to level 8, the standard disbursement for moving the party's goals/plot forward by succeeding at something is 800 xp (5% of that required to level up). The group's interviewing of witnesses granted 800 xp as did convincing the druids to help out. I'm giving half XP for the spitting sea serpent since you succeeded at bypassing it. I think this is fair because it's still a very generous ratio of reward/risk compared to fighting it.
So did we just level up from that? If not how far away are we?
To quote Minsc from Baldur's Gate: "I have lost myself in your words but Boo thinks you're just ducky."
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To quote Minsc from Baldur's Gate: "I have lost myself in your words but Boo thinks you're just ducky."
Xar: "Your words are ambrosia..." XD
Sorry about that post. When I'd wrote it initially it had been an hour without Mel responding which admittedly isn't really that long. I can delete no post of that is preferable. I just figured it would be good to keep things moving along. If I should wait longer in the future before jumping in just let me know.
Edit: I've deleted my post.
No we've still got a good ways to go before leveling up, though I know you're excited about hitting your prestige class. In fact, I don't think we've had a single fight worth mentioning at level 7 yet. We're at ~38,000 xp. Level 7 starts at 35,0000 and becomes level 8 at 51,000.
So the battle plan as I take it is as follows:
-Buff up
-Teleport Kazador, Brolin, myself, and maybe one other on to the ship where we start wrecking face.
-During this Mel (maybe flying) and the marines pelt the pirates with arrows from the Sonder
-Final stages include the marines possibly boarding and calling for a surrender.
As with all battle plans it will probably change as we go. Kazador can teleport the boarding party back if we get overwhelmed, but we have to stay close to allow for this.
Did I miss any major points?
If that's the basic outline I'm good with fast forwarding in game to the buff up portion as we approach the pirate vessel.
Hmmm... I thought that a fog cloud to cover the approach then wind to blow it away is what you asked the druids for?
That’s the plan I’m tracking. Only wiith fog cover to get our marines in close so we can catch them by surprise
Yup. The plan is:
1. The druids cover our approach with fog.
2. We buff up, first long term and then short term buffs when we're close enough.
3. The druids blow the fog away as we get into engagement range.
4. Kazador teleports the boarding party straight onto the deck.
5. Mel and the marines fire from the Sonder.
They can surrender if they want -- we'll secure them in their own hold and ship them back to Helm with Captain Blackskull and her marines. I'm presuming we brought a bunch of manacles for that purpose.
Cool. Go ahead and buff up. It's safe to assume you're approaching now.
Yes, the fog is a part of that plan, I just didn't mention it. I was outlining the portion that hasn't been codified yet.
Kazador Butfs
+3 AC for 7 minutes
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/item-mastery-feats/force-shield-mastery-item -mastery/
See Invisibility for 70 min
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/item-mastery-feats/vision-mastery-item-maste ry/
And then will cast dimension door. Will have 4/7 slots left to cast with.
AC will thus be at a healthy 28 for much of the fight.
So, I was re-reading my archetype to make sure that I could do what I thought I could do and as it turns out I cannot do what I thought I could do.
Medium who channels the Archmage can learn one spell of each level from the Sorcerer/Wizard spell list - I figured that by entering and exiting Spirit Dance I could cheat this limitation, as long as I was using long duration buffs. I can't. When Spirit Dancers choose what spells they can cast, they choose it for the entire day - exiting Spirit Dance doens't refresh that.
So, for third level spells I can either cast fly or communal protection from arrows. And I can't cast protection from arrows at all, since I've already cast false life on myself. (Though I might as well cast false life a few more times and hope for a better roll.)
I'll definitely be looking into buying a page or three of Spell Knowledge, next time we're near civilization.
Brolin, are you sure Automatic Writing works on questions like that? At this level it gets you answers like Augury -- i.e. "Weal", "Woe", "Weal and Woe", or nothing. It can't actually tell you the outcome of a specific action -- just whether it's a good idea or not.
So a question like "What happens if cast Fly instead of Protection from Arrows?" is likely to yield a null result, because Augury can't give that level of detail. Something like "Should I cast Fly instead of Protection from Arrows?" might yield a useful result -- weal meaning yes you should, woe meaning no you shouldn't, weal and woe meaning it's a mixed result, etc.
Yes, Brolin. You get some combination of weal or woe. Would you like to re-word the question?
I'll allow a little more time for Brolin's and Mel's conversation then we'll move into the cove! Dramatic music
I'd figure it'd yield either weal or woe - weal if what happens is a good thing, woe if what happens is a bad thing.
Though, I can reword it if that particular wording doesn't work.
So because automatic writing requires an hour I think we can assume the conversation between Mel and Brolin happens prior to some of the shorter term buffing.
Ok I can work with it.
Hey! 2k posts in gameplay. Fun.
I'm heading home for the evening soon so I probably won't be able to start the fight before tomorrow unless you guys are ready very soon. No rush, though. We've kept the momentum today, which is nice. A lot of my other games are floundering at this time of year as people are busy.
That's ok I know Frytor is interested in the conversation. I think that we can keep working on that until tomorrow when the throw down begins, as long as Brolin's ready to be talkative :)
If I’m taking liberties I shouldn’t be with the setting’s cosmology, let me know; I’m running off the assumption right now that it’s pretty much like Golarion’s.
Hey, I added my own deity to the world, so I think the GM is generally pretty tolerant of these things.
I don't think we've really touched in much detail on what happens after death, or how existence is structured. Mel has some pretty firm plans for a lovely afterlife in Ostara's fields. But I have no idea if it's a Golarion style cosmology or something more exotic.
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Yeah I think certain parts if the world make sense to be developed with a lot of agency by the player related to them. So Elven Lands and famous books for Mel, Dwarves and ancestral weapons for Kazador, spirits for Brolin, and druids for Fyrtor.
This is an awesome RP scene. :D
‘Course, after Brolin channels the spirit I won’t be part of it. But I’ll be reading.
It is an awesome seem, Brolin. But the spirit is really caught off guard by this! Plus, ooc, it would be better to RP this later when you're not about to start a major battle. ^_^
I am loving this. I built up more of a backstory for Frytor's father than I normally would, and now it's going to matter. It's so fun discovering your own characters :)
Anyways, I'm ready for the dramatic music. Let's go wreck some pirates :)
This is pretty much last call I suppose. Is anyone boarding the ship besides Kazador, Brolin, and myself?
Is there a particular initiative order or do we just count initiative as a party? Should I roll my initiative?
I'm giving you guys a surprise round here. I'll roll init too. I always roll init for the party then the fight shakes out
Fast PCs
Enemies
Slow PCs (round 1) and Fast PCs (round 2)
Enemies
Slow PCs (round 2) and Fast PCs (round 3)
etc.
Within a block, PCs can act in any order and I'll generally resolve their actions in the order written or the order more favorable to the party, within reason.