DM Rich's Carrion Crown

Game Master Briccone

THa's a very good Meryl Streep movie.

I think an occultist will easily fit in some horror-themed adventure.

Ok - I think that’s three votes for the occultist, and I agree it’s the best fit.

If you want to add 6th, I am a little concerned because the scenario is designed for 4, and I don’t feel comfortable in my ability to fairly upscale the danger. But I hate to turn away enthusiastic players. Let me think on that - but definitely no evil characters I think.

I don't think we need to add a 6th player.

I was also in the 5-player camp.

And when I said I liked the archer submission, I did not notice it was an Evil character. Not a good fit for this party (particularly this party playing this AP) at all.

I agree - the tanky occultist (not "tacky," bad autocorrect!) is my first choice. I like the stonelord too, as an alternate or if we take a 6th - but I don't think a 6th is needed.

Cool - I have asked the occultist to work up a character, and let the other player down, but said if we have an opening, we'll give him dibs on the spot.

Hey, I just wanted to check in as the player who's been offered a spot here! I meant to finish my character last week, but didn't quite do it. Working on pulling it together this week, sorry for the delay. The basic outline at the moment is a Dex-based occultist going Trappings of the Warrior. Maybe he will be a tacky occultist too!

Welcome Tazo! I love Occultist and Trappings of the Warrior in particular. Glad to have you aboard.

No problem! Welcome!

As an update, here's the crunch for the occultist! More specifically, Varian is a half-elf occultist, dipping Inspired Blade Swashbuckler to ease his path into finessing rapiers and getting +Dex to damage. Varian has various ways of riposting attacks, and can also use Shield Ally (spending 2 points of mental focus) to redirect attacks from an adjacent ally to himself.

I still need to work on the background. But as a baseline, Varian gets access to object reading and occult skill unlocks, which I think will be pretty fun in terms of learning more about the horrors we'll inevitably face.

More than happy to adjust the crunch and eventual background based on any feedback.

Welcome, Tazo & Varian! I like the crunch - the Panoply Savant archetype looks like it would be fun to play, doubling down on a lot of what makes a standard occultist interesting. I had forgotten about (or never read) the Skull of Lost Secrets section of Psychic Anthology. I'm looking forward to learning about his background.

Also, Varian’s abilities make it a lot easier for me to make a decision about Niculaie that I’ve been waffling over for most of Book 3: I'd like to retrain out one of his gravedigger investigator levels into another level of dirge bard. The only ability Niculaie gained from the second investigator level that he ever used was "Read the Bones," which is just a limited version of the occultist's Object Reading. We've gotten some helpful information on a couple of occasions when Nic used it, but as long as Varian hasn't traded that out for something else - which he hasn't - the party doesn't lose anything if Nic can't do it anymore and Varian can do it better.

The benefits of the additional bard level aren't outrageous, but they'll be helpful. As an 8th level bard, Niculaie gets one more level 3 spell slot/spell known (he'll learn arcane concordance), and for a 6-level caster, there’s a big difference between being one level behind in spell progression vs. two (his caster level won't change, because he has the magical knack trait). At bard level 8, Nic also gains a new Bardic Performance: Dirge of Doom, which should be fun; he gets two more rounds of performances, and one extra skill point, which he'll add to Knowledge (Dungeoneering), given what we've been told about the theme of Book 4.

I don't plan to ever retrain Nic out of his one remaining investigator level; inspiration has been a useful boost to his bardic knowledge, and being proficient with scythes - and being able to use shovels and lanterns as weapons without the improvised weapon penalty - is perfect for his background.

GM - I think you said Pontia had time to do some crafting between books, so I assume the time isn't an issue for retraining. Based on Ultimate Campaign, it should take 7 days (assuming no synergy with bard; the table in UC doesn't include any of the hybrid classes from Advanced Class Guide) if Niculaie can find a trainer in whatever town we're in, or 14 days if he can't; either way, the standard cost would be 630GP. Is there any reason (in game or out) for Niculaie not to retrain a level at this point? Anything you can think of that I've missed or should be aware of?

Happy to have you on the team, Varian, the build looks fun. I love Occultist; definitely my favorite class in the game.

Does anyone know how soon we're starting the next book?

Hey, sorry for the continued delay. I'm super behind on everything at the moment.

If you guys want to start the next book and allow me to make a fashionably late entrance, that might make the most sense. Sorry again!

No worries, Tazo. We are more waiting on the GM than you right now anyway.

Yes, retraining now is just fine. It is a chase, but a long term one, so some downtime is certainly fine.

Thanks, GM. Retraining is completed and I've updated Niculaie's statblock and taglines.

Does anyone need any specific wondrous items?

Not that I can think of.

Any idea when we'll be starting the next book?

Does anyone need any specific wondrous items?

Thanks for the offer, Pontia! Niculaie could use a circlet of persuasion. I just bought him a cracked ioun stone for a +1 competence bonus to one Perform check; if I undo that transaction, which would leave him with more than the 2,250 GP needed to pay the crafting cost. Getting a +3 competence bonus on all Charisma-based skill checks would be much better! Also, Niculaie has a scroll of eagle’s splendor, which he could use in the crafting effort if Pontia doesn’t know the spell.

Sorry folks - we are waiting on me.

I have a kid graduating high school and a father-in-law requiring surgery and memory care, and he is 3 hours away. Between this and work, I am just swamped.

If you all don't mind holding on a bit, can we look towards June to get started? Feel free to keep crafting, etc. And if Tazo is ready, go ahead and fabricate a meeting and introductions. I will post a little summary in Gameplay now.

I'm good with that. Congratulations to your kid, and best wishes for dealing with your father-in-law. I went through some of that with my mom.

No problems! Thanks for the head up!

That works for me. Best wishes for your FiL - my son is graduating high school in a couple of weeks as well, and that is enough to deal with by itself.

Sorry for being the holdup here. I've been swamped at work but that's changed recently and I will catch up!

Pontia doesn't know eagle's splendor, but can learn it from the scroll (her Spellcraft bonus is high enough that she can make the check taking 10) and scribe a replacement for Nic at her own expense. I'll dock her the 40 gp to learn the spell from the scroll, plus another 75 gp to write another scroll.

It looks like the DC to create the item is 10 (CL5 + 5), and it would normally take her 4.5 days. Since her Spellcraft bonus is +18, she can halve the time to 2.25 days; she spends another day on spell transcription and scroll writing, leaving her with 3 days to make stuff for other people.

Vivian, I can make a set of eyes of the eagle for you with the rest of the time--1250 gp for a +5 on Perception checks. Interested?

Very interested; I'll pay for that!

Thanks, Pontia! I'll get my statblock updated this evening or tomorrow.

Sorry for the delay in posting - my son graduates high school on Monday, and as expected, the last several days have been heavy on various end-of-an-era events and drama. Prom is tonight, so I expect the next 36 hours (prep, the event itself, and the sleep-deprived aftermath) to be more of the same but amped up to 11.

Just went through the same! It’s fun, but very consuming. No worries- I am just getting back into things, starting with a weekend away…

No I've never heard of Illearth War

Still here, still promising to put myself together.

There, finally posted. That's not to say I've figured out my background . . . but I've decided to let that emerge organically as we go along. Looking forward to gaming!

Glad to see you!

With your permission ,I figured Vivian and Varian might have a backstory together.

Oh, that would be grand, love it!

Heads up that I'm starting a weeklong vacation and won't post reliably during that time.

Thanks for the heads-up! Have a nice vacation.

Sorry folks - I’m at a conference e and thought I posted to let you know. Will catch up tomorrow.

Won't be able to post until Wednesday

On top of a work deadline (this Tuesday; my team will need an extension) I've had some stuff come up in my personal life that massively spiked my anxiety on Friday. I found it better to focus on some other things in order to manage it over the weekend, which is why I went so long without posting. Neither source of stress/anxiety (work + personal life) has really gone away, but I'm coping very well at the moment. However, my weekend has been pretty busy and I probably won't have time to post further until tomorrow.

No worries! This should be a source of release not anxiety so it you need some time away, please take it. We’ll cover for you (bot) as needed. Good luck with everything!

Oops, Varian can’t detect magic! So please ignore that part of my gameplay post.

I'll be on vacation this Friday evening.

It will be a very busy vacation, as I have a job interview next week, and I'm moving home the week after.

I might be a few days without internet, but I guess I'll be back at the end of the month. Will try to post when I can.

Good luck with the interview!

Thanks!

Good luck, Vivian!

On the spellcasting question: I was pretty sure there was a clear rule either in the CRB or Ultimate Intrigue stating that all spellcasting had a visible manifestation separate from the components (thus providing a reason for the Conceal Spell feat), but I took a quick look and couldn’t find it.

I’m happy to retcon Niculaie’s Bardic Performance to be Dirge of Doom (foes in 30’ are shaken, no save), if that will simplify things, although I do suggest we try for nonlethal damage, on the off-chance that the poor man is exactly what he appears to be.

I'll be away on vacation for the rest of the week, so don't necessarily take this as a prompt; are we waiting on anything in the Gameplay thread?

Sorry to be silent for so long - craziness at work, moved my son into his dorm for his freshman year of college at the beginning of last week, and on Saturday I picked up my daughter from the airport - she’s home for a couple of weeks before going back to campus for fall semester - and we got hit by another car while making a left turn, just a block from home. Spun us around about 120 degrees, set off all the airbags and probably totaled my car, but we’re both in pretty good shape. The other driver continued onto the sidewalk and into the glass storefront of our local Starbucks. She wasn’t injured, neither was anyone on the sidewalk or in the shop. Lucky all the way around. Apparently she blew through the red light, so she got the ticket. Anyway, we're all pretty rattled.

Sounds totally insane--I'm glad everyone's relatively okay given the big car accident.

Definitely--I've been broadsided like that under similar circumstances, and it's not fun. Try to take it easy for a few days.

Thanks. Today was better than yesterday, and hoping the same for tomorrow.