GM Arkwright's Enduring Rise of the Runelords (Inactive)

Game Master Arkwright

Playing three people, no matter how you slice it and even if we're gestalt is difficult. It's really our fault for not playing it more cautious. We could always retreat more often and loading up on consumables is something we could do but haven't yet.

You're mostly running around with a Paladin who prefers to keep going but who may have just learned that sometimes you may need to back off a little in order to keep going.

But hey ding!

Ding!

My problem is that my low strength and tiny size means I need to be carrying 3 lbs. or less in weight for light load. I wanted to get a Handy Haversack but that's 5 lbs in itself. My spell component pouch, which I need out for easy access to cast, weighs a constant 2 lbs. My headband of charisma and intelligence +2 also weighs 1 lb. so when I'm wearing it, I'm already at my maximum carrying capacity for light load if I don't want to suffer movement penalties.

There's Pathfinder Pouch which only weighs 1 lb. and carries less but remains extradimensional and is more sneaky. Still puts me over my weight limit.

The best solution I've found is to get Muleback Cords to get my maximum carrying capacity to 33 lbs. then get a normal backpack, assuming I don't want to spend more than necessary.

As a side-effect, it makes the wearer's muscles look larger than normal.

I swear magical items automatically resize themselves, including weight changes.

That's a fair ruling, GM. As for the bulky looking bird, I'd say Muleback Cords are a great idea. We should do that.

Masterwork Backpacks also up your carry weight.

GM, will there be any sort of downtime after this mission?

I've decided I'd prefer a re-build for Spectrum rather than introducing a new character. I want to give him some time for retraining.

Well, as you may have guessed, you're headed for Magnimar. Your mission there isn't hugely time-sensitive as far as you're aware; you could probably take a week or more of downtime. Plus the travel time could count as downtime.

Happy to discuss your thoughts on Spectrum's rebuilds; I've built a few few magi in my time.

My thoughts exactly. Provided that we are able to deal with the cleanup here, we are at a point in the adventure where we have information to act on our own time. Now that the focus is no longer on the imminent peril of Sandpoint, we can secure the home front, gather information, recruit allies and contacts, finish side quests, train, gear up, and prepare for travel.

I'm considering dropping Magus altogether. Spectrum is too squishy to be mixing it up in melee.

I'm considering another kind of caster instead. Maybe an arcanist or sorcerer.

In a party of three, having two melees to hold the line seems sensible. Or I suppose you could try your hand at some form of summoner.

That's not a bad idea.

You're correct in that it's explicitly stated that most magical items do resize themselves but there's nothing stated about weight changes and if that affects the item's functioning in any form. 'Course, GM interpretation and we could go handwavey.

Also interesting is that armor for unusual creatures, including tiny ones, have different rules.

Also, let's not forget there's still that other person who may be joining our party!

Assume the resizing changes weight as per small armor and below.

That will definitely help! So sizing wondrous items such as the headband and haversack will follow weighing 1/10 of medium size? (Instead of the assumption of a progression of 1/4 of the larger size for gear other than armors/weapons i.e. small is 1/4 of medium so tiny should be 1/4 of small which makes 1/16 of medium.)

And since I'm increasing my carrying capacity anyway, can I purchase barding for Isme as armor? I'm thinking something made of leather, maybe Darkleaf Cloth. (Oh, wait, I just checked and Witch isn't proficient with light armor. Specifically "Armor interferes with a witch's gestures, which can cause her spells with somatic components to fail" which makes me think that even if bard spells are fine with light armor, Witch spells aren't.)

Yeah, that's what Arcane armor training and the still spell meta magic feats are for.

Haramaki with an Armor Kilt has 0 Arcane Spelfailure and no Armor Check penalty.

I'm not sure what that would look like on a bird, but mechanically it's a +2 to your AC. If it's Masterwork you can even enchant it as armor.

In my games I call that combination "castermail."

Okay, total run through of our treasure gathered. Not a whole lot from inside the manor house but then again we haven't cleansed it completely either. Items sell price will be thrown at the end.

Gems/jewels/gold:
356 Gold

Weapons:
+1 War Razor, 1,154 gp. Don't know about you guys but I'd rather not be noted as the Demon barber of fleet Street. We should sell it.

Other magic gear:
Hat of Disguise, 900 gp. Useful overall. Might be very useful for information gathering in the next section of the game.
Ring of Jumping, 1,250 gp. Meh.
Ring of Protection +1,000 gp. Probably want to keep that one actually.
Stalker's Mask, 1,750 gp. Actually even more useful for the next part of the game than the hat of disguise... but no thank you. Wyam will definitely pass on this one. It's origins are too creepy.

Ooh, thank you again for compiling all these, Wyam! I was interested in the Stalker's Mask "the wearer can cause the mask’s features to take on the appearance of any creature" but then "of the wearer’s basic size and shape" so mehhhh. Unless Spectrum wants it. The hat of disguise would be useful for everyone. Isme could use it for pretending to be other birds and not a very conspicuous bird wearing a lot of armor and gear.

I actually forgot it was Winter. You're really good at writing the details, DM. Really takes us into the place.

And castermail sounds great!

DM can we get a quick overview of the cities limits of buying/selling items, spellcasting services, and maybe a random list of items for sale?

If the city doesn't have it you'll be able to get it in Magnimar before your adventures there, so no particular limits.

Basically GM I'm just looking at getting a +1 enhancement bonus for my Adamantine longsword and my Large steel shield. Which will be 3,000 of my gold. Actually considering picking up Craft magic arms/armor but can't till 9th due to reduced caster level.

As a general question to everyone, I get a combat feat this level and am stuck between Power Attack and Lunge. Both are pretty good for ombat effectiveness. Thoughts?

Power Attack.

Power attack, you fool.

I have an ongoing list of loot we've collected but never sold.

Here's the stuff we've been hanging onto-

masterwork heavy steel shield, 170 gp
masterwork bastard sword, 335 gp
composite longbow, 100 gp
Masterwork Composite Longbow (+3 str), 700 gp

+1 banded mail, 1250 gp
+1 breastplate, 1200 gp
+1 bastard sword, 2035 gp
+1 War Razor, 1,154 gp.

+1 Ring of Protection, 1,000 gp.
+1 Cloak of Resistance, 1000 gp
Everburning torch, 110 gp
Hat of Disguise, 900 gp.
Ring of Jumping, 1,250 gp.
Stalker's Mask, 1,750 gp.

Gold lamashtu holy symbol worth 100gp
145 in valuable silvers, clothes, artifacts
856 Gold

Assuming we sell everything except the ring of protection, that comes out to

13,055.

Decided by two (because characters aren't allowed to sell things for anywhere close to what they are worth).

6,527.5

then divided by the three of us, comes out to-

2,175 gp
8 sp
3 cp

Some of those figures are incorrect. I think Wyam already divided the amounts he listed by two because I know Hat of Disguise is worth 1,800 gp.

Dammit, Wyam!

New figures incoming.

Actual total: 18,109

Individual cut: 6,036 gp, 3 sp, 3 cp

The loot from he tomb is another 3800, plus the two scrolls, which I'll hang onto.

That's another 1266 gp, 6sp, 6cp each

Since we're on pause, I'm going to work on purchases in Magnamar.

I've spent very little of my cash since the game started. Mostly I've been running around with random found gear. With the latest bunch of cash added in, I'm sitting on a little more than 12k gold (which is right around where i should be for our level).

As soon as I come up with a complete purchase list I'll post it here.

Purchase list:
+1 enhancement for Adamantine Longsword, 2,000 g.
+1 enhancement for Mw. Heavy Steel shield, 1,000 g.
Masterwork Lance, 310 g.
+1 Cloak of resistance, 1,000 g.
Horseshoes of speed, 3,000 g.

Consumables:
Holy Water x 10, 250 g.
Anti toxin x 5, 250 g.
Alchemists fire x 5, 100 g.

Cl. 1st:
Potion of cure light wounds x10, 500 g.
Potion of Protection from evil x5, 250 g.
potion of expeditious retreat x5, 250 g.

Cl. 3rd:
Potion of cure moderate wounds x3, 900 g.

Total: 9,810 g.

Remaining wealth for Wyam= 1,551 g.
If possible he would like to convert 1,200 of his wealth to platinum coins and the remainder will stay as gold.

If none of this or the quantities I would like are available, just let me know and I will adjust accordingly.

Oh yeah, I should level myself first. Hmm.

You should prestige class into Dragon Disciple on your Bard side. I've never actually seen anyone do it in game before but it would be awesome. Plus you'll eventually gain an intelligence boost.

Hmm... Tempting but it doesn't really fit with Isme's background as she is now. Could work with it though. I was thinking of going into Sleepless Detective but that doesn't give spellcaster levels so I was planning to just stay with Detective (Bard). Hmmmmm.

Spectrum scribing scrolls he knows so I can learn from said scrolls would be more efficient than buying them, if that's acceptable. I might also buy more scrolls to shore up my spell collection but Spectrum can copy those spells first.

I'll probably save my money. A huge chunk of it is going to getting Chaise resurrected and I don't think I have enough yet. It costs 10,000gp minimum just for the components not to mention getting a caster of sufficient level to perform the service.

Well we actually just got 6,032 gold from items and 4,200 gold from so we got 10,232 gold plus whatever else you had leftover from before.

For a 7th level spell and 13th caster level casting it's going to be 910 gold.

Also, remember you do have a Paladin who does care about Chaise, so paying for some of that is totally something you can ask for.

Hey gang! Excited to be here. I'll be away for most of today while I'm at PAX East (helping to run a Megagame) but I'm looking forward to getting started soon. :)

Howdy! Welcome to our ragtag bunch.

Welcome, nice to see another Paladin in the group.

Welcome, Kejal! Nice to meet ya. Hope you have a good time with us. =]

Ding!

Also, GM, in what skill does my Headband of Charisma and Intelligence +2 give skill ranks in?

Profile not updated, will get to it later. Note to self: Get a scroll of Ill Omen to learn. Probably should buy a wand of cure light wounds too.

Changing my bonus spell from Arcane Investigation into Detect Thoughts instead of Blood Biography.

Also, Kejal, may I just mention that your stat sheet on your profile page looks very well-done.

So, I'm happy to welcome our fourth. Let's run through a few things.

-Kejal, do me a favor and add your backstory and other sections to your sheet.
-Also, add a stat line (Initiative, saves, HP etc) to your character as per everyone else.
-Finish up your items, mundane and magical.

Otherwise;

-Tell everyone a little bit about your character
-While you and I work in integrating you into the story.

Hopefully we'll have the group assembled in Magnimar, ready to meet the new member recommended by someone, probably Ameiko.

Also, Kejal, may I just mention that your stat sheet on your profile page looks very well-done.

Why thank you. :)

-Kejal, do me a favor and add your backstory and other sections to your sheet.

-Also, add a stat line (Initiative, saves, HP etc) to your character as per everyone else.
-Finish up your items, mundane and magical.

Yeah, phew, after a very busy week I didn't realise how little I had actually done getting this alias together. Aside from Mundane Items and having to add the Backstory to it (which I want to tweak and rewrite somewhat anyway) that should all be done.

-Tell everyone a little bit about your character

-While you and I work in integrating you into the story.

Yes, of course.

So my build is a bit... unorthodox, probably. I'm going for kind of a Divine Monk style of character, which will be reflected in her personality, as well. She'd have sampled a few different religions (Irori, Sarenrae, Iomedae) and traveled a bit, trying to find a place where she really "belonged". Because of Elf aging, she'll have adventured around some with a different years before you'll meet her. In fact, she'll be essentially retired, and you'll be dragging her back into some excitement.

I'll be playing her as kind, but a bit distant to start, keeping people at arm's length (as she's still getting over a loss), but she definitely has a palpable desire to belong. I'm going to pin down her Paladin's Code over the next day or two, but she'll definitely be more the "lead by example" style rather than lecturing. And she'll try to keep a cool head, but there's a righteous fury in her that will certainly show itself at times, particularly when people she cares about are in grave danger. She'll believe very strongly in self-improvement, and in redemption.

I have a few things that I'll be nailing down with GM Arkwright over the coming days, but those are the broad strokes at least. Hopefully I'll fit in well (or at least interestingly...) with everyone!

If you'd like to tie your backstor in with either Wyam or Spectrum as an old friend, that would work. Your background could fit with either of ours.

You might even be able to tie into Chaise's backstory. He's dead at the moment, but your character might not know that.

For Chaise's backstory, you'd either be a friend (an adventuring friend perhaps) of his mother and may have stopped by when he was younger.

And I actually have more gold than I thought because I didn't spend anything from our last adventure (when Chaise died) and Chaise still has all his items on him too. Noro's share of that gold may or may not have gone towards that endeavor also.

In any case, I have more than enough money to resurrect Chaise now (plus a restoration) if anyone would like to RP that while Kejal nails down their character. Chaise was intended to become a crafter/researcher/scriber semi-NPC most of the time because he can't really travel anywhere with his illness coming back, but I'll have to check on that with you, GM. Not sure if we could do with making him a cohort with the Leadership feat next level but hopefully he can stick around in the background.

Also, GM, should I assume that the familiar bond between Chaise and Isme is already completely gone, along with its benefits (e.g. Natural Armor, Improved Evasion) since Isme's creation of her new bond?

Tying your backstory to Wyam would be very easy. As you were testing out various religions, in this case Iomadae's, you could have come across a younger Wyam while visiting the temple. He would have been well mannered and easy going upon first meeting but more sullen at the time too. The more you got to know him the more he would express his unhappiness at how the church of Iomadae looked at the bigger picture about stopping evil and ignoring those who did not have clout. He would have often expressed his desire to help the common folk directly rather than simply waiting to slay larger evils that became problems for all.

You could have even been the one who inspired him to strike out on his own with your "lead by example" attitude.

There's the question if there's any caster in or near Sandpoint of the appropriate caster level so we might have to bring Chaise's body to Magnimar as a last resort.

Isme's starting gold: 14,609.99 gp

Costs for resurrecting Chaise

Material Components
10,000 gp = diamond for Resurrection
1000 gp = diamond dust for Restoration

Spellcasting Service
910 gp = Caster level 13 (assuming lowest) × [spell level] Resurrection (7th) × 10 gp
280 gp = Caster level 7 (assuming lowest) × [spell level] Restoration (4th) × 10 gp

If the same spellcaster casting Resurrection casts Restoration at an adjusted price, it'd be 520 gp.

Resurrection Total: 12,190 gp
Isme's resulting gold: 2,419.99 gp

Gear Purchases
1000 gp = Muleback Cords
750 gp = Wand of Cure Light Wounds (CL 1st)
25 gp = Scroll of Ill Omen (CL 1st)
25 gp = Scroll of Ray of Enfeeblement (CL 1st)
150 gp = Scroll of Spectral Hand (CL 3rd)
375 gp = Scroll of Lightning Bolt (CL 5th)
50 gp = Masterwork Backpack
6 gp = Tiny Barding of Haramaki

Isme's ending gold: 38.99 gp

The scrolls I'll use to learn the spells. I still need to roll a spellcraft check to see if I learn them successfully so just give me the go-ahead, GM.

Kejal, how are you going?

Ah, sorry I thought you folks were still discussing Chaise. Yeah, I'm pretty close to being ready - sorry for the delays, work has been a bit nutty. I still need to write my Paladin code, but that doesn't necessarily need to hold up the game, since I assume it would be at least a couple of posts before it came into play, haha. Anything else in the background as far as reputation and connections can be fleshed out as we go.