GM Bold Strider's Dragon's Demand - Flaxseed Lodge (Inactive)

Game Master rpblue

Levelled up and ready to buckle any swashes I come across.

I will be away this weekend (Thursday evening through Monday evening, California time) with limited access. Bot me as needed.

General strategy is to use Acrobatics (with Derring Do as needed) to get into a flanking position where I can get +2d6 Sneak Attack +2 Bleed +Debilitating Injury damage. Against tough foes I'm likely to use Opportune Parry & Riposte once or twice, but try to keep at least 1 Panache in reserve for emergencies.

Leveling is done, though I won't be able to update my alias until tonight at the earliest (also Cali time).

Taking Leg Sweep for my Style Strike, so I can get a free trip attack when I hit (once per round), and then Vicious Stomp for this level's feat, so I get AoO's against anyone I trip.

I think you and I are going to be best buddies, Lukas. :-)

I think you and I are going to be best buddies, Lukas. :-)

I was thinking the same! I even considered a level in unchained rogue, to get sneak attack, but it didn't add much else at this point. And the trip and stomp mechanic could be a lot of fun, especially since I get 4 AoO's per round with Combat Reflexes.

@Sarasha: Looks awesome. Can you format your tagline to just say URogue 4 / Swash 1? It'll reduce the amount of text in the tag line which I would appreciate! :D

@Lukas: I see you are going to be the bane of the enemies, huh?

@Lukas: I see you are going to be the bane of the enemies, huh?

Well, at least enemies that can be tripped.

Like Dragons?

Like Dragons?

Or at least dragon's helpers.

Thought of another fun wrinkle to help out Asha - with Ki Throw, any time Lukas trips someone, he can place them in any square he threatens. So I can knock someone prone into a square that Asha and Lukas flank - and get an AoO on them in the process!

Special delivery for Asha!

Cobb's leveled up. I seem to have misplaced his Herolab file so I needed to create that from scratch, but I believe I got everything exactly as he was at level 4.

At level 5, noteworthy changes are that he picked up lesser restoration and Deadly Aim.

Late night with lots of driving. Get a post up tomorrow.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Flying to the states today. Likely no posts over the weekend from me.

I'll be travelling Aug 20-25, posting will likely be limited during that time.

I'm unavailable due to my brother's wedding this weekend. I should be able to post again on Sunday.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Okay, gang, I think the mummy's ultimatum merits a moment of discussion here. I do not see how we defeat the thing. It evades Jeb's Fire, catches Cobb's arrows, can barely be hit in melee (and seems to have some DR?). Knowing mummies in general, I'd say we try to burn it, but we haven't been terribly effective in our efforts to do that.

Having said that, no part of me wants to leave Asha and Celes to be sacrificed to Irori. So what the heck do we do?

I don't wish to leave them also. I have four snowballs left to throw at the mummy and one burning hands. Touch AC is about our best bet if we don't wish to leave them. Though we have to roll higher than a 3. :(

See my post in game. I think we are better off trying to win this than ducking out. I mean we're gonna have to kill a friggin Dragon soon...

Looks like Jeb's post made our decision, though I expected we were going that direction anyway.

If Tessa is going to take this thing down, it will need to be with fire - we did see that fire did extra damage to it earlier, so there's a solid in-game reason for her to do so, even if she normally uses cold spells.

Lukas can try to keep it focused on him for the moment, fighting defensively or getting in the thing's way and going full defense (for a 33 AC), so there's a chance for those in the back to blast it. But I'll be lucky if I last more than a round.

It's unfortunate Celes went down - she's essentially our best mummy-killer.

Presumably a good strategy for really tough foes is indeed Lukas acting as a "cork" - forcing a melee opponent to face him, while giving Celes reach with a spell like Longarm or a feat like Lunge... although I have a hard time advocating someone with a 12 Con being up in front. :)

With GM Bold's dice, the dragon's likely hitting AC20 for 60-70 damage a round whenever we get to facing it should it get a full round attack sequence off, which is enough to drop nearly 2 full party members!

Yea, if she saw it she would change to fire, seeing it do more. Though only fire spell I have is a very low level burning hands. If can hold it off for a few more rounds I will see what I can do. Though the dice roller essentially already killed 40ish damage from me in last two rounds.

I don't think it is unwinnable, but this party is lacking the normal synergy that Paizo might expect from a 5th level party. Relatively little healing, no Haste or Inspire, no other buffs or debuffs to overcome the high AC or protect from his high attack rolls.

So it seems to me as we tuck our tail between our legs and take this moment to regroup, we should evaluate our crunch and take the fact we need to slay a dragon a bit more gravely.

We certainly should try out best to cover the bases of:
> Resist energy against the dragon's breath
> Being prepared for the fear aura if it's large/old enough
> Being prepared to have someone soak up a full round attack sequence from it, or plan than nobody is actually in melee "basing" the dragon
> Being prepared should the dragon decide to swoop in, grab us and drop us 200ft, one at a time
> Haste or blessing of fervor for all that tasty goodness
> Getting off inspire/bless/aid or some form of "buff" so we can hit the dragon and high AC things like this mummy
> Having some form of "oh crap" healing besides wands
> Ensuring we have a proper melee hard-hitter that we can keep up (perhaps protected with a Shield Other type effect)

I agree with Cobb, we should give some thought on how we rebuild the group. For my part I'm not keen to bring back Jebediah.

Sounds like we need 1 guy with heavy armor and good saves and a big sword and 1 Evangelist Cleric.

I'd be happy to build a Tank. Maybe I could also come up with a buffer build.

Cobb and Bold Strider make some good points (though it's a pretty rare fifth-level party that's rocking a haste spell).

I think a bard or evangelist cleric would be very helpful, just to have some general buffs up for combat. Lukas could take another level of monk and get an additional attack each round with the BAB increase, or he could pick up a level of cleric (or warpriest, inquisitor...) to diversify a bit, be able to do some self-buffing for the tough fights. Curious what people think of that approach.

Also would like to think about how to boost Lukas' damage output. He can hit pretty hard with Power Attack, but if I used it in the last fight I would never have hit. I could take the Elemental Fury ki power this level, to add 1d6 energy damage to each hit, but it's of limited duration and uses. Any other thoughts?

One last question: did Jeb ever level to 5th? His sheet says he's 4th, and based on his stats, he has the spells of a 4th level oracle (though even with that, he should have another level 1 spell). It's a moot point now that he's dead, but it might have made a difference not having him be a 4th level character.

It appears that Jeb, pre-death, was still level 4 according to his stat block.

As for the Haste, I've heard whispers that Paizo balances around Fighter/Rogue/Wizard/Cleric as a four person party, so that would mean access to Haste, but this could be a fabrication, so I dunno!

I didn't say that clearly - I meant at this level we won't have the option of dropping Haste all the time. But at 5th, we should have it some, you're right.

Let's say that everyone needs to be ready to go by Tuesday. This will give a couple more days to those who needs to draw up new characters.

Jeb was leveled up. You just don't get much when leveling Oracles to 5th, Jeb got Varisian Tatoo(Illusion) but that's of little use versus mummies...the save DCs we were up against with all these Big bads made it tough for him to have any offensive impact in the last encounters.

I think the main reason why Lukas might feel a bit weak is that he tried to specialize in something that he can't be very good at ...tripping. Tripping is good at low levels but CMD rise quickly as CR increase and since we've been facing all these monsters he's had the same problem that Jeb faced with his spell DCs.

So I will attempt a rebuild, the only way we could get haste going at level 6 is a primary arcane caster or a Druid, neither of those options appeal to me. However before I can finalize a character I kind of need to know what Celes has planned. If I roll up what I want to play (a front liner) and Celes does the same we will lack in casting.

Here are the ideas I'm debating:

Front Liners: Order of the Dragon Cavalier or Paladin (Holy Tactician maybe?) .

Buffer: Evangelist Cleric/Duettist Bard

If you go front-liner, which is fine by me. I can easily and happily create an arcane caster or a can buffer for the group.

I was about to ask you what you had planned lol

Okay I'll likely roll up a Paladin then...looks like Tiefling Paladins are hard to fell...

I think the main reason why Lukas might feel a bit weak is that he tried to specialize in something that he can't be very good at ...tripping. Tripping is good at low levels but CMD rise quickly as CR increase and since we've been facing all these monsters he's had the same problem that Jeb faced with his spell DCs.

That may be part of it, but the main thing I think is that Lukas was really just an experiment in playing the Unchained Monk, once it came out. When our opponents haven't been flying - or been monks with insanely high CMD - the tripping has been reasonably effective, but it has become less so as we've gone up in levels. I knew going in that I was likely to have trouble tripping the dragon at the end of the module, but I've been having fun with him so decided to forgo some optimization. And since he didn't die in that last fight (which speaks to at least some utility...), I don't know that I have the option to make any wholesale changes.

Tessa is all updated

It's amazing how many tieflings are found by fey creatures in the woods that grow up to become paladins! *joking!*

Had a few of these running around my old lodge, though most started taking two levels in Life Oracle after a while.

--

Is everyone ready? Post tomorrow along these lines. You are all going to meet at the inn in town. Jeb and Celes were trapped by the roaming bands of monsters (make up something cool) and so they saw the town and came to find solace.

Cobb's updated to 6th. He picked up Invisibility and Coordinated Shot which were his key crunch changing variables.

Bold Strider - got any fun ideas for monk bonus feats or other things to spice up Lukas as he levels up? You're usually pretty inventive with such things. I'm not feeling very creative about it, but I guess if we can't come up with anything else, I'd ask if I could take Weapon Focus with my unarmed strike as a monk bonus feat.

I'm considering my ki power options also. Thinking about Elemental Fury, maybe the True Strike qinggong power for when I really need to land that trip attack, not sure what else.

Will try to have leveling done by tomorrow, would appreciate input and options!

@Lukas: I will look into it!

When slaying a dragon one should best bring along a cheese samwich...

Sorry haven't had the time to get my fluff written. Basic idea: dumb hero who hides his Tiefling Origin...so he's just this handsome tall braod shouldered guy.

Now ideally he and Celes would be buddies who heard of Belhaim's plight and came to the rescue.

Finally have a day off to get crunch going. Will get him statted out real quick, then make a quick post. Work has been stoopid busy of late. I work retail and Sunday was a big footbal day so brain has been mushy.

Gil here

Here is the bare bones so far of my new PC. I wanted her to be able to contribute past spells, since I have very few at present level. Will finish her up after I get some sleep.

Gil here

Here is the bare bones so far of my new PC. I wanted her to be able to contribute past spells, since I have very few at present level. Will finish her up after I get some sleep.

Nice 32 point buy you got going on there...

@Gil: I would go back over your point buy.

Also, Deadly Aim is going to be a waste. With+4/+4 on a flurry, you are never going to hit, let alone with DA's penalty.

I'd drop Zen Archer, imo, for either another level of wizard. Your BAB becomes +3 instead of +2 and you get more spells.

If you really want to archer, then go for a full BAB class, imo. Maybe fighter or hunter?

Either way, it is up to you!

-Posted with Wayfinder

It comes out to a 20 buy
Str: 15 (7)
Dex: 13+2+1 (elf+school) (3)
Con: 14-2 (5)
Wis: 10 (0)
Int:14+2 (elf) (5)
Cha:10 (0)

Another level of wizard will give me another 2nd&3rd level per day.

After I throw up Haste, Enlarge Person Jeb and maybe Lukas, Communal pro evil, Communal resist energy I have 2-3 1st left and 1 3rd left.

@Gil: Ah, this is a 15 point buy game. Also, why do you have two first level feats as a Wizard 6?

Couldn't remember if this was PFS so I swap out scribe scroll for Spell Focus or if I kept Scribe Scroll

I can easily adjust for a 15 point buy, that isn't the end of the world :)

S 13+1=14 (3) (base+trans)
D 14+2=16 (5)
C 14-2=12 (5)
I 13+2+1=16 (3) base+race+level
W 10
CH 9

HP: 6+4+4+4+4+4 (HD) + 6 (Con) + 5 (FC)=26+6+5=37

You would keep Scribe Scroll since we aren't using PFS rules.

@Lukas: I've been going over level 6 Unchained Monks and I honestly am not impressed by the Feats or Ki Powers. Ki Powers looks like you just have to choose some shitty chain-starter ability and the feats are almost all CMB-related. Weapon Focus is just as bland a choice, imo.

Tell you what, if you spend your bonus feat and the sixth level Ki Power, you can obtain a single 8th level Ki Power. That sounds fun and opens up some options since you won't hit 8th level.

Is it possible to start with extra spells in my spellbook as if I found something while traveling? I still have to pay the cost of putting into my spellbook though.

1st extra: 1d3 ⇒ 3
2nd extra: 1d2 ⇒ 2
3rd extra: 1d2 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0 0 is possible

I mean, if you are paying for it, then I don't see why not?

I would pay for the scribing cost but how in the Mod Master of Fallen Fortress there were a couple scroll found after an encounter.

I.E: I find the scrolls so I wouldn't pay the scroll cost, but just the cost to scribe into my book.

Does that make sense?

K, I think I am all set. I made a plethora of scrolls as back-up, and it never hurts to be able to give everyone a Cat's Grace lol

Everyone post up your introductions in the tavern.