Well, I could have it...tomorrow. I'm sure Torag would be happy to fix it for us, but I don't think we want to wait that long.
Right I wasn't expecting anyone to have it prepared. At least that's a plan C
I had meant to convey that Dervak agreed with Allegra on the idea of all going through together. He cast his prep spells, and then he would Rage just before going through with everyone else.
I could have been clearer. Totally see how Theophilus took it as Dervak had jumped through.
But really PbP games can take forever at this sort of junction, so I think it for the best that things happened as they did.
Not gonna lie; I am that type of player to open all the doors. This one was actually not on purpose...lol.
I'm very used to Theo's players antics, we've been friends for quite a while now. Allegra may be annoyed, I'm just laughing over here.
I will not have time to make any larger posts until Wednesday evening.
@DM_Delmoth: The wording of Blessing of Fervor says in part, "These effects are not cumulative with similar effects, such as those provided by haste or a speed weapon, nor do they actually grant an extra action, so you can't use it to cast a second spell or otherwise take an extra action in the round. Blessing of fervor does not stack with haste".
Can a PC select the option to gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and a +2 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves (for example), and get an extra attack from Haste?
Yes they can do that. In that instance they would get the speed and extra attack from haste but use the greater bonus of BoF for ref and AC
So... haste doesn’t stack with extra attack, but can I make a different choice next turn?
Correct (the extra movement option wouldn't stack either).
@Theo, in the future, before you try Evil Eye hex, it might be good to make Knowledge checks on foes and ask "Are they immune to mind-affecting?"
Hopefully not everything in the AP is, and you do have the Knowledge skills to find out.
Admittedly I should have but...
Here I am playing a Warrior Nun, and I finally starting watching a show about them. I’m only 2 episodes in, but the scenes of nuns practicing their martial arts and how the nuns relate to each other is kinda how I imagined Pocky’s experience at the convent.
Here I am playing a Warrior Nun, and I finally starting watching a show about them. I’m only 2 episodes in, but the scenes of nuns practicing their martial arts and how the nuns relate to each other is kinda how I imagined Pocky’s experience at the convent.
That show surprised me with how fun it ended up being. I'm hoping for more at some point, hopefully covid didn't ruin the chances of that.
My work internet died today so I had a little extra time yay.
Do you want me to bother rolling Reflex? My bonus is 19 with heroism (21 with fervor)... and improved evasion negates damage!
You can still fail on a 1.
Oh. A 1 auto-fails in saves. Right. Rolled anyway, so all good as-posted!
So... Dervak won't always have rounds like that.
On average he has probably been doing about 70 damage per round at level 10. Haste and triple-crit is pretty crazy (does bring back memories of the Tatterman fight, where Dervak lucked out with a reach AOO crit followed by a readied attack crit).
With now having three martials in the party I'd be happy to scale Dervak back. It was different when he was the sole true martial and had to carry a lot of the damage output (although Kat was a fairly solid frontliner for a skillmonkey). One reason for going Dex-rage was in fact to hold back a little bit on the offense. He doesn't use crazy stuff like Monstrous Physique into a Deathsnatcher - he just has a reasonably high Str with Power Attack and a two-handed weapon.
Dervak might look for Psychic Surgery to remove the knowledge of Improved Critical that he gained from the Dreamlands. That would be an extra edge he has over Pocky and Allegra that he does not need... and getting rid of that knowledge might be for the better. It was a 'boon' from a Dreamlands copy of the Necronomicon and I thought I would really need every boon I could get to keep up with the threats we would face. That is very much not the case now.
Basically, I don't want anybody to feel overshadowed, and I don't want combats to be so easy and over so fast that the AP loses its feeling of danger. I was briefly in a Carrion Crown game that ended at level 12; a high-optimization archer had joined alongside my cleric at level 11. The archer one-rounded every combat. The GM very quickly lost interest, the longtime players were overshadowed and lost interest, there was no sense of danger, and the game died.
Now, if everybody else wants one-round fights, and will not get bored, then I can just not hold back. Str-rage more often, take Reckless Rage, etc. But I want the game to be enjoyable for everybody.
----
I have to say, though, that this monster's tactics didn't do much to convey that feeling of danger. Using his turn to possibly make us all Shaken (save negates)? Dazzling Display does that with no save. The Tatterman had both Frightful Presence and a Fear Aura, for two stacking fear effects with no action required. This guy's Shaken Scream just seems like a poor design choice. And then a 10d6 Fireball? Kind of underwhelming for the boss fight of the Mysterium after the horrors we faced before. Perhaps this wasn't supposed to be a thrilling and epic battle but something else instead.
I came very close to death against the pile of organs, and I did a bulk of the damage there. After Mara saved me from dying.
This battle, I didn’t do much, but came out unscathed. I have no complaints.
A falchion with improved crit will get those moments. I don’t mind that Dervak will crush enemies because of this. Rather than hold back (which almost certainly will result in PC deaths), I’d rather you just let magic item distribution be the “equalizer.”
I’m in another game where I’m by far the weakling in the party. I am currently out of bardic performance and spells, so I just have my CLW wand and my familiar (a sprite mauler—which is just as powerful as it sounds). I have a blast RP’ing that character.
Having fun here too. Please don’t nerf yourself!
Hmm... we were finishing most fights pretty easily in 2-3 rounds before you joined (aside from one botched due to bad tactics) and now we have a lot more offensive firepower.
The GM already has made adjustments based on how we were doing. And now (Dervak holding back) + Pocky + Allegra + CiCi >> (Dervak not holding back) + Kat.
I'll take your opinion into consideration. I do not like the idea of magic item distribution being used as an equalizer, not with ABP. I might look more towards tactics - like Dervak casting Enlarge Person on Allegra to boost her Vital Strike damage to 6d6 and give her AOOs.
I also have several campaigns where I have chosen to build a non-combat-focused PC and that can be a ton of fun too. That's not really the issue I am talking about here, though.
Yes. Tactics is fine too. About enlarge... I *normally* don’t care to have my character grow, but if being enlarged will be the difference between Leg Sweeping and enemy and not, consider Pocky to be a willing Enlarge target vs. large opponents.
(I don’t mean I’d be unwilling otherwise, but Enlarge is useful on Pocky vs. a large, two-legged, non-flying foe. Else, yeah... Allegra benefits more.)
Fireball was really its best option at that point, Theo had just evil eyed his attacks against a party that has AC in the mid to high 30s. If it did a full attack I guarantee that it would have done less damge.
Even if Dervak had crit only once, it still probably would have been downed on the 2nd round.
Its big attack was the gaze attack which did a total of 32 ability drain on the party. That's a significant amount so I don't think I'd characterize this fight as easy.
It looks like I'm going to need to invest in Spell Penetration and Spell Focus feats, otherwise everything from here on out is going to just shrug off my spells.
The White Rabbit does feel a bit overshadowed....Theo is sneaky with his debuffs. He doesn't do damage...lol.
Agreed, Ci Ci. Theo took Spell Penetration at 9th for that reason.
Ah dang I forgot about my cornugon smash. Whoops.
I'm not too bothered, Allegra certainly isn't super-optimized for damage, that's fine. It does take some time for her to get to fully-buffed capacity, and if we don't get there then it saves on resources. Even without her big buffs, she's still getting solid hits in. She's not breaking any records but I'm comfortable with how she's been doing so far.
We've mostly seen single enemies since joining up, which I think is exacerbating the quick combats. Once we see multiple dangerous enemies, I think we'll really see the benefit of having multiple capable melee combatants. The fights we have been in have still carried danger even if they have been on the short side. I wouldn't go so far as to say that we, or Dervak in particular, have been trivializing them.
If you want to tone Dervak down, I think we'll still be fine. But I don't feel that it's necessary either. I've had similar strong characters in the past, I've had them in my parties and I've GMed for them. I don't think he's into 'broken' territory.
Can Mara pulverize a 1000 gp diamond to make 1000 gp of diamond dust? She needs to cast 9 Restoration spells to deal with all the stat drain.
She sure can, it will just take a days worth of work.
@CiCi, the Grand Destiny spell is an all-purpose buff that can help caster level checks (and crucial saves).
@GM, I probably will ask around about getting some mystical means for Dervak to remove the knowledge he gained from the Dreamlands Necronomicon (Improved Critical). It fits in with the Lovecraftian themes of his story - like his father, he is seeking out power because he thinks he needs it, but he can be blind to the price he will pay. He is trying to correct his error before it is too late. Just need to figure out the right Gameplay post and how Dervak would ask around for this.
Here I am playing a Warrior Nun, and I finally starting watching a show about them. I’m only 2 episodes in, but the scenes of nuns practicing their martial arts and how the nuns relate to each other is kinda how I imagined Pocky’s experience at the convent.That show surprised me with how fun it ended up being. I'm hoping for more at some point, hopefully covid didn't ruin the chances of that.
I think the day I started watching it, there was a note announcing that there will be a Season 2.
Halfway through now, and I think this is going to be one of those shows where I like the sidekicks more than the hero. (Not necessarily a bad thing.) I thought Shotgun Mary would be my favorite, but she’s second to Beatrice (video!) who is awesome in both martial artsiness and pulling off a devout nun in a way that’s genuinely bad-ass.
@Delmoth,
In my last post, Pocky is basically saying, in IC terms, she won’t use nonlethal strikes vs. slavers.
That said, I *would* like to default to nonlethal vs. people, if I can do that without needlessly risking the party’s safety. This seems like an AP where you think a person is a normal guy, but he’s really a doppelgänger or outsider or convincingly guised jelly blob.
Does this work mechanically?
• Pocky makes several nonlethal strikes (labeled as such in the first damage roll)
• A strike hits.
• The enemy is immune to nonlethal.
Would Pocky notice her first successful strike doesn’t hurt? If so, could the remaining strikes be lethal? (So I only waste one attack, not all.)
@Pocky, the reason I would put Dark Tapestry cultists up there with slavers in "lethal force strongly encouraged" is that I think imprisoning them could make problems worse.
With some of this Dark Tapestry stuff, the more people know about it, the more powerful the entity gets. So a cultist ranting in prison is far from harmless.
There is also the possibility that they could escape through the Dreamlands or something.
Now if we have to fight ordinary human city guards in Okeno, Dervak will also attack for NL damage. And try to just leave them unconscious while we get out of town.
Does this work mechanically?
• Pocky makes several nonlethal strikes (labeled as such in the first damage roll)
• A strike hits.
• The enemy is immune to nonlethal.Would Pocky notice her first successful strike doesn’t hurt? If so, could the remaining strikes be lethal? (So I only waste one attack, not all.)
There haven't been too many enemies that are immune to nonlethal, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. RAW when you choose to make a full attack you roll your attack, then resolve the attack seeing DR, immunities, and such, then decide what to do next. You don't even have to commit to the full attack until after you resolve the first attack.
That said the way you have been posting your attacks is great, it won't hold up the game by waiting for me to resolve things in the middle of your turn. If you find out after your first attack did nothing I'm not going to hold you to your full attack decisions and we can retcon the rest of your turn. If I forget about this just hold my feet to the fire.
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BTW you all level up, you should be 11th.
Going to take a couple days break while I re-read this part.
Nicely timed! All this talk about being merciless to slavers on the level I get Vicious Stomp!
Also, this is the second halfling I leveled this week. (I play two.) And my Shadow Run mission just ended yesterday, so three characters start 2021 leveling up.
Mara will take the Shake it Off teamwork feat if at least one other PC does.
I was thinking I'd take quicken blessing for tactical readiness.
Sure, Dervak will take Shake it Off.
Once we see how much money we have, perhaps one of us can get a Ring of Tactical Precision.
Theophilus was actually thinking greater spell penetration....I hate SR!
Theo will also memorized Lucky Number for everyone every day. He will use a Pearl for his.
He also uses
How useful is SR? (For a PC, I mean.) I ask because I could get a ki power next level that gives me SR22 (10+Lv.)
I like to plan ahead, mostly so leveling is quick.
@Pocky, SR is in my opinion generally a bad idea for most PCs. It can be good for clerics since it doesn't apply to your own spells.
But it is a standard action to lower, so you might miss out on Haste, and your SR might defeat a Breath of Life attempt. Which would be bad.
Hope someone else takes Shake it Off in the future. It is decent if 2 PCs have it, but awesome if 4 have it. It would be especially good if Allegra or Cerise were to eventually take it, since they could cast Shared Training.
Thanks for that. I was leaning more toward sticking to wind-themed powers anyway. That power costs 2 ki, and if I end up resisting life-saving spells… yeah, I don’t want that!
Theophilus is ready.
Apologies, Mara about Shake it Off. I am always hesitant because of the Adjacent restrictions on those; although they are really good.
True Seeing and SM 6 are my new 6th level spells. He also picked up Aklo and Gnoll for languages.
Int 26!
Hp 90 not bad for a Witch...lol.
If the White Rabbit took the Valet Familiar archetype it would share Theo's teamwork feats... but Frederick might take exception to having the White Rabbit usurp his role. The union would get involved.
Really trying to keep the White Rabbit purely comic relief...
Funny though, I was planning to put Unseen Servant back in the line up, but I need 5 slots for Lucky Number now...lol.
We still have friendly Semore!
Mara lvl 11 highlights:
Mental Prowess +4: Wisdom
+8 HP
+1 BAB
+2 6th lvl spells/day
Archetype adds Contingency to spell list
Adventuring Skill Ranks:
+1 Diplomacy
+1 Perception
+2 Sense Motive
+1 Spellcraft
Background Skill Ranks:
+1 Knowledge History
+1 Linguistics (Gnoll)
Add Cleric spell to spell list: Freedom of Movement
Feat: Shake it Off
Temporal Celerity is now roll 3 times for initiative and take the best.
Speed or Slow time is now usable 2/day
Really trying to keep the White Rabbit purely comic relief...
Its the only thing keeping him alive...
If Dervak had remained Aberrant, he definitely would have a Tumor Familiar by now. The Dark Whisper taking over his body as well as his soul...
Semore really does have an acidic personality; I grant you that, but wait until you meet Mr. Tickle!
Oh, I definitely realize that DM sir!
I thought the Nightgaunt at the asylum was Mr. Tickle. :)
I think we encountered it shortly before Theo joined the campaign.