Um, that would get you going really fast... how long can a person maintain that kind of work?
Um, that would get you going really fast... how long can a person maintain that kind of work?
Not that fast. Three people with strength score 20 would only get one of these vessels up to 9 mph, which would be really hard as water resistance increases with speed, but these things don't follow normal physical rules anyhow...
Ah, I see where I got confused, .1 not 1, decimals matter lol.
Well, we came up with this plan at the island, right? We could salvage some wood from the Serpent before leaving and make paddles along the way with Wood Shape.
The spell creates paddles (oars) as well as the raft.
Ah missed that.
Will be away from the internet the 28th and 29th for an anniversary trip. I'll be back to playing on the 30th. So you guys will have a couple days to describe your first few hours of river travel, chat, etc.
Have fun :)
Ok so for the first 2 days I'm only going to prepare 2 castings of flotsam vessel. I'll make otions of tough of the sea during our travel for now. That way we can be on our way. Every two hours I'll complete another portion we can distribute. The next day I'll do the same. After that we can start traveling longer as I won't need to fill my first level slots up with the touch of the sea.
How does that sound to everyone?
Sounds good to me! You’re toolbox of spells has really saved the day
GM, can we assume that the Concordat ship is faster than we are?
Also, how far upriver did we get before they caught up with us?
I wonder if we could disable their ship somehow and strand them -- maybe destroy their rudder or similar.
They are faster. Though it isn't windy, their sails are full.
Fyrtor, you have been traveling an entire day and are about 12 miles from Kazador Gravr. It is your second day of river travel. I'm assuming you rested last night.
You can try str and profession sailor checks to get out of the way but the ship is coming fast and looks likely to plow right over your rafts. You could teleport, swim, try to climb aboard, etc.
Considering the river is curvy and the wind generally blows in one direction at a time, I think I'm going to chalk their speed and maneuverability up to "suspension of disbelief."
Or magic. One of those.
So if this is the second day everyone should have a concoction of touch of the sea and I haven't changed my spell slots yet.
I have to ask. Brolin, how is it that you went to sea at a tender age and worked your way up to captain of your own vessel ... yet have no ranks in Profession (Sailor)?
I have to ask. Brolin, how is it that you went to sea at a tender age and worked your way up to captain of your own vessel ... yet have no ranks in Profession (Sailor)?
I wonder the same thing. My current hypothesis is that when I was writing out my character sheet I figured that Profession (Merchant) was just a more specific way of writing Profession (Sailor) - though it's certainly unclear.
Control wind is the specific magic at play. Best way to rush upstream with a boat. The "does not move with a ship" clause is what has been suspended.
So here's a list of the loot that we would have alocated amongst ourselves during the voyage to the head of the river, I'd like to retcon that in even if it's just in the discussion portion if that's good with everyone.
2 potions
A very nice looking chain shirt
2 daggers with jewel-encrusted hilts
2 silver daggers that also appear quite nice
8 normal looking daggers
A nice looking longbow with 20 arrows
A very well-oiled bull whip
A belt with tigers and lions sewn into it in patterns
A nice pair of boots
A very good set of thieves' tools
A spyglass
A magnifying glass
A cloak made out of some odd, leather-like material
A small keg with a fuse that weighs about 1 pound
A sap
A garotte
A rapier
Also
Mel finds many potion bottles scorched and torn with their contents spilled out, belts burnt, wands crumbling into dust, and a headband scorched. Even some of the coins are melted but they look to have retained most of their value. She also notes three rings and two longswords that survived and seem magical. The total value of the coins she's able to find on the pirates (not including Van Beem) and the ship amounts to 5000 gp.
I'm going to say that I've checked over everything with detect magic, so anything magical we should know that it is (unless it's something crazy) and I can make a series of appraise check, but I'm not particularly good at that. If any of Captain Muse's crew would have been better at that we would have had them look at the items as well I think. I'll put down 5 checks for kicks right now though. I can't do any spellcraft checks though unfortunately.
As far as what I might be interested in, the longbow, a decent dagger, and the rapier are things that might be nice for Fyrtor. Also the ring/cloak/headband depending on what they are. I do have the basics covered there though so I'm less likely to need/want those, but I'm sure SOMEBODY would want them.
Without Spellcraft, I don't think you can have IDed the magic items.
Without Spellcraft, I don't think you can have IDed the magic items.
I don't think so either, just know that they are indeed magical. Maybe somebody amongst the total crew does have at least 1 rank though? Either way I think we as a party would hold onto the magical items, except for maybe weapons that no one would want to use.
Thanks for keeping track.
Sadly for Kazador he doesn’t get spellcraft or detect magic. So I can’t be of much help here.
Now...I came up with a build that I *wish* that I did.
Panaolopy of War Occultist. Full BaB, spellcasting up to lvl6 spells (with cantrips), magic is based off his weapon, can identify items. Stores magic into his weapon and shield for extra bonuses.
Feats:
Lvl 1: Power Attack (sadly needed to be effective in combat)
Lvl 3: Bar Room Brawler (1 use of martial flexibility)
Lvl 5: Extra Martial Flexibility (+3 uses of martial flexibility)
Lvl 7: Martial Focus (+1 damage and counts as having Weapon Training)
So at lvl7...he is an Iron Caster who also has cantrips and lvl3 spells. Mechanically, just like this build, he can only do anything of note when he has his weapon. But unlike my current build it is a single class that is mechanically geared to the fluff instead of five classes mixed together to force it to work.
Just too bad that I only figured this out now and not way back when I joined
I may have found a way for us to identify the magic items, or maybe not. If Brolin can cast identify during spirit dance maybe he can identify them, even if he has no ranks in spellcraft? I don't know for sure if that works, or if he can do that, but I'm throwing it out there for the people smarter than me to rule on :)
Thanks for keeping track.
Sadly for Kazador he doesn’t get spellcraft or detect magic. So I can’t be of much help here.
Now...I came up with a build that I *wish* that I did.
Panaolopy of War Occultist. Full BaB, spellcasting up to lvl6 spells (with cantrips), magic is based off his weapon, can identify items. Stores magic into his weapon and shield for extra bonuses.
Feats:
Lvl 1: Power Attack (sadly needed to be effective in combat)
Lvl 3: Bar Room Brawler (1 use of martial flexibility)
Lvl 5: Extra Martial Flexibility (+3 uses of martial flexibility)
Lvl 7: Martial Focus (+1 damage and counts as having Weapon Training)So at lvl7...he is an Iron Caster who also has cantrips and lvl3 spells. Mechanically, just like this build, he can only do anything of note when he has his weapon. But unlike my current build it is a single class that is mechanically geared to the fluff instead of five classes mixed together to force it to work.
Just too bad that I only figured this out now and not way back when I joined
I'd love to see a breakdown of how that particular class works. I read the iron caster guides I'd found and that class wasn't one of the ones mentioned, but from what you describe it sounds awesome :) I love the whole iron caster set of loopholeing mechanics for awesome (but not broken) fun.
Panolpy Savant Occultist with the Trappings of the Warrior
It’s a lot of fun.
(1) The archetype locks you into using a weapon and shield as implements
(2) You get points = lvl+Int. Put enough into armor and weapon to increase BaB to be your class lvl
(3) It’s very MAD. Needs high Str as a full BaB martial. Needs high Int for casting and for full BaB.
(4) It’s fun as you get to be a full martial with a load of spellcasting, though with limited options
I can do a more detailed breakdown later when I’m near my computer.
Mel has Detect Magic, but no Spellcraft. She's decent at magical theory but just doesn't have the knack for practical stuff.
So guys, is this go time? Or run time?
@GM
How big is this ship and how many people are on it (estimated of course)?
Yes, it would be helpful to know whether they look like they're about to start a fight or now. I left a Perception check in game to hopefully get some more info.
And Happy New Year, all!
They look hostile but like fighting you might not be their primary goal. There are a dozen.
I just had a thought, I can summon some air/aether elementals and tell them to tear the ship's sails apart. Then it might turn into a race on foot. It's risky though.
Edit: Actually that might not work because they only get a slam attack (hard to hurt cloth by punching it) also sails have a lot of hitpoints actually, 4 hp per 5ft square :(
On the bright side they are moving at dangerous speeds, maybe we could send an elemental or two to bother the man at the rudder and hopefully distract them into crashing.
There is still the option of just letting them pass and catching up to them once they get to Kazad Gravr. That seems risky too though. We could lay an ambush on the river counting on them to come back the same way, but they might not as well.
Well, I just shot one of them, so it may be a moot question at this point. I'm targeting the druid because he's powering the ship.
GM, the ones in ornate robes interest me -- are those clerical? Ceremonial indicating some kind of rank?
They look more like wizards.
I've been down with the sickness of late, and not in a rock music sense. I'm mostly better after sleeping for, hm, three days, more or less straight? which is great. I need to catch up on everything, which'll take a while. I'll post in the gameplay later.
Eh heh. Bit late on that attempt at diplomacy, Brolin.
Ordinarily Mel would be all in favor of talking rather than fighting, but her faith in her government's benevolence has been completely shattered, and she can't think of any reason for an entire ship of elves to be sailing into the heart of the barbarian lands unless they're here for the relics in Kazad Gravr.
Yeah, I just covered most of their ship (depending on the size) with ice that will be hurting them each turn, I don't think talking is going to be an option for a while...
Eh heh. Bit late on that attempt at diplomacy, Brolin.
I know. But it's what the captain would try.
EDIT
And, for what it’s worth, he was addressing the party as much as the elves on the ship - though most of them don’t speak Elven.
Waiting on update to make any more actions. Who wants to be teleported on? You’ll need to tell Kazador IC
I can burn a spell to get on if I need to, so don't worry about me.
GM, can we get a map, or maybe a general description of the layout?
Yep we have a map under current map. I tried something new and put larger images with labels for all of the enemies in the margins of the map. Let me know if it's helpful/fun.
I haven't really rolled init in this fight because both you and the elves have known this was coming. I'm just letting the party respond to the Elven ship then the Elves will do something.
Brolin, the spoiler for Mel was because of Elven and because her perception check was high enough to hear them speaking on their ship. It was
spoiler: DC 25 perc and Elven
Thanks GM, I like the layout. :)
Cool!
Kazador, you've used your move but still have your standard. I'm concluding you're waiting for your allies to speak as a free action before you use your standard? Just want to make sure I know when you guys are ready. Things are finally back to normal for me after the holidays.
Kazador, I think Fyrtor would stay near Kelian until he thinks the boy is safe, so don't wait for him.
How is it that not a single person in this party has even a single rank in Spellcraft?
With two full or near-full casters, at that! o.O;
Well, after this fight we should be level 8 (presuming we don't die) and I'm going to fix that, but yeah... it's kinda embarrassing lol.
Don't get too set on what will be happening after this fight until after this fight...
Yep. Cyrus learned that the hard way.
Good news! Kazador (maybe) just hit the enemy’s main caster for 62 damage. That’s hopefully enough to kill him.
Bad news. Kazador is alone on an enemy ship surrounded by enemies.
Good news. The enemies are a wizard, a Druid, archers, and sailors. His armor just might be enough to keep him up.
Teleporting dwarves are so much fun. :)
I hate to be a spoil sport, but Brolin, you haven't got any ranks in Knowledge (Planes), and Mel didn't specify that the dretch can cast Stinking Cloud. So I don't think you can ready to counterspell that.
I hate to be a spoil sport, but Brolin, you haven't got any ranks in Knowledge (Planes), and Mel didn't specify that the dretch can cast Stinking Cloud. So I don't think you can ready to counterspell that.
True. I'll just try and counterspell the next spell that comes down the pipe, then.
Just a reminder for Algric, everyone should have a concoction of touch of the sea. It might not be worth the actions to dig it out and drink it, but it would make swimming out easier.
So, I do have sylvan hideaway prepared, I could make basically a semi hidden celler out of nowhere. It's a bad place to be, but we are in a lot of trouble at this point, we don't have a lot of options. Maybe we could all run in and the teleport away hopefully unnoticed?
Point of order! The senior mage used the immediate-action spell Emergency Force Sphere to cancel Kazador's crit. This spell works like Wall of Force.
Wall of Force cannot move. At all. Emergency Force Sphere inherits and does not alter that prohibition.
I checked the list of Spell Effects in Naval Combat, which suggests that Wall of Force can move with a ship if it is "specifically anchored" to the ship. The rules are silent as how exactly you tell whether a spell is "specifically anchored" to a ship or not, but I would argue that the Emergency Force Sphere is not, for the following reasons:
1. It's an immediate action spell taking place in a split second. That doesn't allow a lot of time to "specifically anchor" it.
2. The bottom of the spell meets the edge of the surface the caster is standing on, but it's open at the bottom. It may have been in contact with the deck in the exact moment that it was cast, but ships go up and down as well as forward, meaning the "relatively watertight seal" it initially formed would be almost immediately broken.
If that's the case, then Mr. Fancy Elf Wizard is now standing inside a 100% immobile sphere on top of a moving object and has made a severe tactical error. He's prevented a ton of damage to himself, but in the subsequent six seconds leading up to his next turn, the following things would happen:
1. The deck is moving forward, carrying him with it. Reflex save to avoid falling prone at the minimum -- success means he's bracing himself against the sphere.
2. Anyone standing aft of the mage on the ship would need a reflex save to avoid smashing into the sphere as the boat continues forward -- probably falling prone and getting shoved to one side if they fail. This might include Kazador, as he's on the ship right by the mage. His position on the map hasn't been updated.
3. Moments after that, the aft portion of the ship -- which appears to be a raised area -- smashes into the force sphere, damaging the ship and probably killing its forward momentum.
4. It's dismissible, so he can get rid of it on his next turn, which will cost him his standard action (barring metamagic or weird class abilities) and might avoid damage to the ship if he goes before the ship in initiative order. Doing so, however, will leave him unprotected next to Kazador.
GM, if you want to rule that Emergency Force Sphere moves with the ship, that's fine, and we'll be sure to remember it in the event than any of us ever get the ability to cast it ourselves.