GM Kiora's Wrath of the Righteous

Game Master Kiora Atua

Its not presumptuous, I'd assume Ary knows the effects of praying at Iomedae's altars, having prayed at them previously.

But yeah, its not fear, so it doesn't help your troops much.

Yeah. Even then, I suppose hate might be too strong of a word. At the time, Daena was the most depraved enemy we'd faced. A true fanatic. Between that and the personal nature of her attacks, Ehren just wanted her dead.

But Ehren has grown since then. In hindsight, he might have realized that there is a reason she turned out that way. That Markus and Valaria were exceptions, and not the rule. That maybe even she could be redeemed? Ehhhh, probably not. >:P

Ditto on not hating Xanderghul. Ehren's more wary of him than anything, at this point, which is probably the biggest obstacle to him considering the wizard a friend. In fact, there's not that many people that Ehren does legitimately hate. The only person who really comes to mind is Daena, who managed to check off several boxes that made him just want her to die. :P

I also have to agree that Rally is a really clutch ability, that pretty much everyone is able to benefit from. The advantages of being able to reroll far outstrip the risks of getting a lower roll. As Isilme says, it can be a bit hard to miss at times, which I think we've all been guilty of at least once.

As far as mythic power goes... I don't have much to use it on yet, but I still feel like I never have enough of it. The cost of pulling even just a 2nd level spell out of my hat feels like it is rarely worth it. I imagine things will change pretty quickly once tiers 2 and 3 roll around, though.

If you take either the Path ability or the Mythic feat that gives you mythic spells, you'll use your mythic power one at a time quite often.

My plan is to alternate between Path abilities which are passive and which cost 1 mythic power so that I have a few options that won't drain my pool so quickly as Wild Arcana does but I'm not always spending my MP on everything.

Ary, you can have those by tier 3 - pick up Legendary Item at 2, and pick up Mythic Paragon and Mythic Leadership at 3. Then Confidence at 4, unless something else catches your eye.

That was pretty much the order I had in mind, save for maybe confidence at 4. I really want that next set of mythic goodies for my gear at 4. :)

I -really- wanna get Anevia some mythic goodies, though. So... ugh.

For Legendary Item I planned to take Intelligent, Intelligent (Shapechange), and then Resonant Regalia at tier 3. I'm not sure what power to pick up with Resonant Regalia, though.

At tier 4 I'd pick up Soul Drinker (or a modified version of it), followed by Eternal Bond at 5... then Soul Safe and other sundry shinies as time goes on.

That pushes Confidence to tier 5 or so... then the Cult of Ary and the other legendary item pickup starts devouring my options. :O

If you take either the Path ability or the Mythic feat that gives you mythic spells, you'll use your mythic power one at a time quite often.

My plan is to alternate between Path abilities which are passive and which cost 1 mythic power so that I have a few options that won't drain my pool so quickly as Wild Arcana does but I'm not always spending my MP on everything.

I'll probably pick up the Mythic Spell Lore feat somewhere down the line. Honestly, most of the mythic spells I want are really high level (terraform, elemental bombardment, etc.), so it doesn't feel worthwhile to splurge for it too early on.

My plan for path abilities is a bit similar to yours. Next tier I'm taking mighty summons, and then at tier 3 I'm taking mythic place magic and insightful interaction (with Extra Path Ability).

@Ary: The idea that a late-game backup character could theoretically be a cleric of Ary kind of cracks me up. :P

What mythic feats are you planning on taking?

I'm surprised there aren't any lower level druid mythic spells you're interested in. Mythic stone shape looks pretty neat, letting you do the initial thing + 5cu ft / rnd for 1rnd/lvl. Also picking up summon nature's ally and then mythic spell scaling would allow you to summon giant dire badgers and eventually upgrade them with mythic templates at higher tiers :o

It's a shame there's no mythic Burst of Radiance.

I'm definitely considering stone shape, that's a really good one for utility. Honestly, I haven't read into the 3rd party ones too much. It's such a long list.

Summoning augmented savage starlit dire badgers with epic damage reduction is probably going to be my MO in a few tiers. :P

Is Mythic Spell Scaling 3rd party? Having to select individual nature's ally spells is what turned me off to considering them.

Yeah, it's part of the mythic hero's handbook. Lets you get 2x your mythic tier in spells that are variants of one you know. So if you took spell lore + spell scaling, you'd get 10 mythic spells + 20 mythic spells that were scaled variants, like the other Nature's ally spells. It's not a bad cost, since you can pick up some other stuff (anything with Lesser, Greater, Mass, roman numerals, etc) that might be worth having multiple versions of.

Mythic Endure Elements is the best Mythic Spell. If you were looking for something to spend MP on every day... mmmmmmm.

Right now, my build is pretty much:
1: Perfect Aid, Mythic Combat Reflexes.
2: Legendary Item.
3: Mythic Paragon (trade for feat), Mythic Leadership.
4: Legendary Item.
5: Confidence, Mythic Bond (trade off feat).
6: Legendary Item.
7: Unswerving Loyalty. Divine Source (Trade off Feat)
8: Divine Source
9: Divine Source (Feat?)
10: (Other?)

It's not super fleshed out there at the end. I'd want to play with Divine Source much sooner if it weren't for the fact she can only take lawful and good as her first abilities (yuck).

Longevity and Mythic Sustenance are definitely cool. Always a chance from Champion, Mythic Tracker from Guardian, If I could gain some mythic maneuvers somehow (like mythic spell lore, but for maneuvers being cool), that would be super nifty for a pickup. Mythic Improved Bullrush is a great pickup if Ary grabs Improved bullrush (which she should, but ugh at getting the prereqs...).

For legendary powers, I'm still kinda 'wing it' mode, for now.

Just verifying: Is Valaria also okay with being left out of the go team?

That's actually something I was wondering when I posted, but I didn't put in there. She's certainly stealthy enough to come along.

In which case, is Ary all right with being left alone with her grumpy army? :P

From a player perspective: It makes sense for her not to go. She'll strictly add to the weight Ehren has to carry, she won't be able to slip in and out unnoticed as easily as pretty much anyone else. It'll suck just sitting around. But I think I'd enjoy just RPing while you guys are doing your raid as well. So I'm cool with that in the scheme of things. It's kinda fitting.

From an in character perspective: It's absolutely reasonable. :)

Sorry, I've been busy today and haven't had much time to get on. Honestly, I think Val would be more helpful on the raid team than staying behind at camp. Plus she's one of the best members for sneaking and bypassing traps and locks.

I'm totally going for Mythic Leadership at 3 as well, and paragon shortly afterwards. Beyond the other benefits paragon gives, getting to have Kule hit Tier 6 is a pretty big deal, since he gets to permanently negate the negative aspects of his curse :)

I am considering whether I can get away with only two legendary items, since I'd like to spend heavily on some bard stuff like mythic countersong and mythic lingering performance, and a bunch of my mythic stuff is going to be tied up with something else ;o

What is his curse, anyway?

The Curse of the Emocorn. You wouldn't understand.

Wasting, so even if I miracle his broken soul away, he'll still be horribly scarred and disease-ridden :p

Yeah, I was thinking about the raid, and although Hinagiku is not noisy (not armored), she is not particularly silent either. She could stay at the camp if necessary and be replaced by Valaria.

How many people will Ehren be able to carry? One on his back, and one in each leg? We had agreed on Isime and Xanderghul for the use of illusions and someone else right?

Formal Vilareth raid plan:

Step 1: Spend 2 hours scribing a scroll of dancing lights for Isilme.

Step 2: Turn Isilme and Valaria and maybe Ehren invisible. Ehren uses his scale to lift the pair into the base.

Step 3: If necessary, Xanderghul covers their approach via minor image.

Step 4: Isilme and Valaria sneak invisibly through the emcampment to the granary and load up on as much food as they can carry. If they're discovered, Isilme uses dancing lights to signal Ehren and I to attack (we can also color-code it for several different options) and Ehren and I hit the guard posts with all the magic that we have while they flee at top speed.

Step 5: If all goes according to plan, Isilme and Valaria sneak back out, hopefully under the effects of levitate still. If they are not still under the effects of levitate, they may have to bluff or climb or jump their way out, potentially covered by illusory distraction (maybe we have a dancing lights code-color for "distraction" and "attack"?)

Step 6: Ehren turns into a huge bird and we fly away.

I agree for the most part, it would be nice if we could feather-fall directly onto the roof of the building. I believe having a major illusion and using spike stones in conjunction could leave them certain there's an attack incoming from outside. Including tons of loud noises in the major illusion would also be helpful for sneaking in.

Val and I both have invis potions available, and I have one extra use of invis, so we are in good shape to infiltrate. I also have dimension door, and Val has quasit-moto in case of emergency. Since Xanderghul can turn super-invis and ehren can go subterranean, I think we should be ok with the distribution we have.

Need Val to chime in on her opinion about the plan.

Will be unable to post today, so please take the time to hammer out what you want to do.

For those curious, the reason why Erica has rarely come up is because I'd always intended to make Erica into Ellie's story to tell. She'll still have a significantly better idea of who her mother was, and have more stories if she ever gets to stretch her legs. :)

Ironically, Erica is more cemented as a character with a class than Ary's father: She's a Fated Champion Skald 7 with VMC Oracle (Battle and Lame)

I'm looking forward to seeing Ellie one day. If not in this game, then almost certainly in another in the same setting. "Oh gee my sister is a literal demigoddess now."

Ellie is intended to unite the river kingdoms in a mythic kingmaker. :)

Sounds like a pretty tall order. ;P

You mean Ary's father isn't a ranger?

Ary's father may have some levels in Ranger, but I feel like he's actually a paladin that abandoned his oath here. It's more fitting, but I don't know that I fully dig him being just a fighter-light. So he's less set in stone as I feel like maybe he retrained as a ranger or a fighter during his life after he left.

Re: Vilareth Raid

I didn't think the primary goal of this raid was supplies, we've got 10 days which is plenty. I thought the goal was to keep the demons confused and distracted, since if they find us with scouts, we're going to be in really bad shape.

I don't think that 10 days is "plenty". I think 10 days' supplies is more like "barely adequate", which is not a margin for error that I'm comfortable with.

Remember also that it spoils pretty quickly once we're in the worldwound proper.

Fair enough.

I suppose 3 days of hanging around plus another two of march does start to get pretty low when you consider spoilage as well. Still think we should at least leave them spike stones in the middle of the fort :P

Home sick today, and got bored, so I wrote up a cleric archetype for Torag worshipers who focus on building/maintaining fortifications.

Siege Architect

Heading out for dinner, will post afterwards. However, I need Xanderghul to describe his illusion (if he wants to cast an illusion to cover their ascent up the wall) before I can resolve anything regarding that scene.

Nicely done Isilme. So, too sick to write the novel, not enough for an archetype? Btw, I hope your rest paid off!

Yeah, been hard to focus these last weeks on anything major. Writing the book requires literally sitting down at a desk and cutting myself off from everything else. Hard to do that when feeling crappy :p

It helped some, will see how tomorrow goes.

Siege Architect

I feel like it gets a lot for what it gives up, but then again, it seems more appropriate for an NPC, so maybe that's all right. I love the flavor, though!

Speaking of archetypes, I just learned that this one exists today. It makes progression toward bad ending Demon Lord Ehren more plausible! :P

I've always felt that clerics were the weakest of the full casters. Aside from oracles getting spells slower and druids being less capable as healers, clerics just don't get as much in the way of cool to me. Domains are neat. But other than that, cleric mostly doesn't inspire me. I like to play other classes that happen to be religious, I guess. And when I can play a ranger as just as pious as a cleric, with more everything else besides spells... It loses the draw.

It probably hurts that I suck at spell information. :P

Also, I really dig that archetype, Ehren!

For Siege architect, I'd suggest putting 'minimum 1' in the channel earth ability.

Does the caster level check against his warded stone work against all spells or just spells that directly target the stone?

I don't know about them being the weakest, but I kind of feel iffy about clerics too. I'd probably never play one without an archetype. Domains have never been my favorite type of character option, and those are all a cleric really gets. Mysteries, bloodlines, and even arcane schools all strike me as far more interesting. Maybe that's supposed to be balanced by the fact that unlike wizards, clerics could easily wade into battle and smack bad guys around when they don't feel like blowing spells. :P

Isilme wrote:

Siege Architect

I feel like it gets a lot for what it gives up, but then again, it seems more appropriate for an NPC, so maybe that's all right. I love the flavor, though!

It does get a lot, but most of what it gets is essentially Su variants of spells that the cleric gets already at lower levels, with some neat polish. In exchange it gives up a lot of power in spell casting and domains, as well as half of its channel energy.

I agree, Ary. Honestly I've always thought clerics were exceedingly dull. They offer so little leveling-wise besides domains and spells, and the domains usually don't have new features after level 8. You end up basically only having spell selection as your differentiation.

Swapping out some of the cleric's spell power and a domain for more flavorful stuff I think makes it way more palatable. If I had to tone down the casting a bit more, I'd probably take away the cleric's ability to heal living/harm undead via channel entirely.

Also, that planar extremist archetype *is* pretty cool :)

Xanderghul, roll a stealth check so you can be counted as having cast your spell stealthily so that they don't auto-succeed on hearing you cast from 250' away.

Why do they auto-succeed on that? Don't they get -25 on their Perception checks (against what I assume is DC 0)

Have you ever tried to hear somebody talking from 250' away?

Sigh.

I issued a statement about how I am handling hearing vocal components roughly a year ago, and posted the table on the campaign tab specifically so you can calculate the exact same DCs I can.

To answer your question, a quick google states "The normal intelligible outdoor range of the male human voice in still air is 180 m (590 ft 6.6 in).".

But anyway, they don't auto-succeed on hearing you, I decided to add a modifier in on the fly because snow does dampen sound, and the table doesn't really account for that. The schir still auto-succeeds, though. It's a DC 10 from 40' away.

Fair warning, I am rescuing the cat. :p

"Rescuing" the cultist witch/wizard/whatever's familiar, you mean? ;P

Yeah I've spent the last 20 minutes listening to my boyfriend go on about how much he wants to rescue this cat :p

#justDMthings

Haha, sure, possibly!

When you get awaken I'm gonna make it one of my followers via leadership :p

/eyeroll

Celestials are so sentimental. Back when I was a kid we'd have to walk on a road paved with spikes! In a driving hailstorm made of ice knives! Uphill both ways! And when we got there, we'd just eat the cat!

To be fair, the abyssal cat would've probably eaten you if you didn't.

Operation Requiescat in Pack-e: Success!