GM Kiora's Wrath of the Righteous

Game Master Kiora Atua

Through about 7 (2-12) years of hard studying. Same goes for Inquisitor, Warpriest and Paladin.

Luckily the lower bounds fits within the time-scale of the book.

I think you should check the statblock one more time. A really quick look, don't even bother with the numbers.

So, I don't know how much this would cost, but I was gently pressured into selecting a magical item that would be cool and I have made my choice.
-I want a tree. A tree that helps skill checks to drive people away from evil. Like +X to will save for penances or reducing number of penances by X or improving the bonus from sponsor. The idea is that people would meditate or pray close to it and receive the boons. I have no idea what kind of power level we are talking about though... Also, the idea is that the tree starts as a sapling and grows as more and more people are redeemed thanks to it. RPwise, I would expect Ehren to have created it and infused it with ley/hinagiku power. So... wonderous item?

-Also, depending on price of number one, I was thinking of adding this ability to the legendary item via upgrade. But I was wondering whether the coast x1.5 for having various types of magical properties would apply.

-If the 1.5 applies, and if the tree is way out of our league, I won't buy anything and support the list of healing supplies Xanderghul suggested.

Magical plants are under the domain of the Cultivate Magical Plants feat. Though I believe Ehren intends to take Crocris as a follower and make him have Cultivate Magical Plants.

That's a really good ability so I would have the x1.5 apply. I didn't apply them to Isilme or Valaria's items because the benefits of the added items were extremely minor/niche.

Variska has Skill Focus in Survival.

Gotcha, I had Improved Initiative instead for some reason. All good then!

Isilme - You still need to make corrections to Kule as requested. You won't be able to use him in combat until you do.

I had a GRAND PLAN for Lann, but it fell apart when I realized that he is not proficient with medium armor. Maybe I should have checked on that before tearing apart his statblock, hehe. In any case, I've updated everything, so it should be correct now.

I'm reevaluating my plans for retraining him. If I don't settle on something right away, well, there's always more downtime in the future.

Alright :)

GM, can Xanderghul grant someone divine powers even if they don't worship him?

I'm thinking that I can give people cleric spells if they want to leave, so that they can prepare endure elements by themselves to survive the cold and come with me to Drezen. However, that depends on your interpretation on how Xanderghul's divine power is shared.

They'd need cleric class levels (or VMC cleric and a whole bunch of regular levels) to cast cleric spells. To get cleric class levels, they need to train for roughly the amount of time outlined in the CRB for adjusting age of PC according to class levels. Note that I use Human training times for Tieflings because in my setting half-humans don't age or develop slower than humans (my assumption is they age normally to adolescence, have an extended period of looking like a teenager compared to normal humans, then hit young adulthood and benefit from looking eternally youthful for a time proportional to their lifespans). Elves, dwarves, halflings, and other non-half-breed races do age slower.

So a couple of years. You can circumvent that by taking on followers and cohorts, and leveling them up as you level up or investing funds into retraining them.

The fastest method would be to convert an existing cleric of another god, or an ex-cleric, to your cult, as they already have cleric levels to use. Same goes for other divine classes, naturally.

The second fastest would be to create VMC clerics, who generally at low levels can't cast spells, but they could call upon Xanderghul for Guidance assuming he grants them Favor starting at level 3. It would take a similar amount of time to retraining the feats that would be invested into such a thing.

As for oracles, when you have the 3rd divine source you are equivalent to canon demi-gods and therefore should be able to curse people and force a level of oracle upon them. I'd probably assign some sort of MP cost to this proportional to the creature's HD and allow mythic creatures a saving throw against it so that it wouldn't be viable in combat against CR-relevant foes, but a useful story-telling tool for using on low-level creatures.

Final statblock:

Drezen
LG small town
Corruption -2 Crime -4 Economy -5 Law +3 Lore +0 Society -1
Qualities holy site, strategic location, tenacious
Danger +5
Disadvantages ruined

Demographics
Government overlord
Population 1,200 (930 humans, 80 dwarves, 40 tieflings, 15 half-elves, 10 elves, 10 halflings, 10 aasimars, 5 gnomes, 5 half-orcs, 5 other)

Notable NPCs
Chevalier Ary Bishop, Lord-Commander of Drezen (LG female half-elf Ranger 7/Warden 2/VMC Figher)
Chevalier Irabeth Tirablade, Seneschal of Drezen (LG female half-orc paladin 7 (oath of the Mendevian Crusade))
Spymaster Chevalier Isilme (CG female elf aasimar Bard 8/Cleric 1/VMC Magus)
Court Wizard Aravashnial (CG male elf Wizard (conjurer) 5/Riftwarden 2)
Chief of Staff Ser Markus (LG male dhampir White Necromancer 7)
Treasurer Horgus Gwerm (LN male human Aristocrat 7)
High Priest Triumvirate composed of Father Briathos Cassiel (LG male tiefling cleric of Iomedae 5), Sosiel Vaenic (NG male human cleric of Shelyn 7) and Archdruid Ehren Ferron (NG male human Druid 9)
Warden Ser Hrut Ingvarson (LG male human Warden 7)
Chief Engineer Aron Kir (CN male human rogue 5/low templar 2)
High Inquisitor Chevalier Urumwi Glabrant (LG female human Inquisitor of Iomedae 8)
City Council

- Magister of Urban Development, Salmir Leufkens (CN male tiefling expert 2/rogue 3)
- Magisters of Beautification and Restoration, Ayavah Deckland (CN female tiefling sorcerer 7) and Chevalier Annabelle Kir (LG female vampire cavalier (ghost rider) 5)
- Magister of Civil Liberties Chaleb Sazomal (CG male human cavalier 5/low templar 1)
- Magister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Crocris (NG male elf druid 4)
- Magisters of the Kellids Ailig (CN male human barbarian 4) and Isbeyl of Clan Unbroken (CG female human barbarian 4)

Marketplace

Base Value 1,000 gp Purchase Limit 2,500 gp Spellcasting 2nd Minor Items 2d4; Medium Items 1d4

Notes

Ruined Decades of demonic rule, combined with recent mass combat, has ruined the city. Most of its buildings bear damage and it doesn’t have enough citizens to function at full capacity. Economy is reduced by 6, purchase limit is reduced by 50%, spell casting is reduced by 2 levels, available magic items is reduced to village level.

Tenacious Despite its devastation, Drezen is now a bastion of law and goodness. Reduce Corruption by 2, Crime by 2.

I'd like to know what Ary did to Ogol and Rix. Are they still in prison? Executed? Sent to be Condemned?

She could have also let her High Inquisitor decide.

I think she ultimately spoke with Ogol (I thought it was Lurog?) for a time to see if he'd respond at all, and if he wouldn't, ultimately had him executed. He's a skilled rogue, and I don't think the Condemned would be a good place. He had a pretty awful life, but if he won't talk then she can't do anything for him. If someone spoke up on his behalf, they could try to redeem him, though, in which case she'd go with prison.

Rix... I don't really know anything about. Probably attempt the same thigns as with Ogol. He was just a gunslinger, pretty much, right? I've got nothing to go on there, memory-wise.

Rix would have begged for his life given the opportunity, but also have been a bit of an a~#$$*$.

I think she'd treat him as a captive audience, talking with him and getting to know him and his story. One of Ary's flaws is that she sucks at sense motive and just notices when things are 'off' by knowing what would be off in a situation. :P

If he's unrepentant and had a lame story... I don't know. He doesn't seem a noteworthy foe, but is dangerous enough to be of note, you know?

Isilme, my estimation of all magus spells that are useful for you (because they don't rely on saving throws or having a high caster level) sorted by level and purpose.

I did some cleric too, but I'm tired and I want to go to sleep instead of doing 4th and 5th level spells (not to mention it will be many years until you can use them).

It occurs to me that I've never calculated Ehren's Leadership score. I'll go ahead and post the breakdown now - let me know if anything is off. :)

Leadership Score: 14 = 9 (Character Level) + 1 (Charisma modifier) + 2 (Great renown) + 1 (Fairness and generosity) + 1 (Special power) - 1 (Lann is Lawful Good) + 2 (Base of operations) - 1 (Moves around a lot)

Remember some modifications apply only to cohorts and some modifications apply only to followers.

Ahhh I have always overlooked that part, somehow. I will fix it when I get home.

Base Score: 10
Reputation Adjustment: 14 (+4 for great renown, fairness and generosity, and special power)
Cohort Score (Lann): 13 (-1 for different alignment)
Followers Score: 15 (+2 for Drezen, -1 for moving around a lot)

So I can nab 20 1st-level followers, 2 2nd-level followers, and 1 3rd-level follower. So I can't pick up Crocris quite yet. Ledsa I figure can be picked up a little later on.

The cohort score seems to matter a little less unless you screw up massively, or are trying to recruit someone who absolutely 100% doesn't like you.

You forgot great Renown and special power. Also I think base and moves a lot are mutually exclusive. If you have a base they don't have to follow you all the time.

I am tired and can't read. But I would still say you can't apply base and moves around a lot.

That looks solid, Ehren.

Just as a heads up, I won't be available to post from about 9pmish tonight (EST) to 7pmish tomorrow. I'm moving straight from an evening shift into a very early morning 12 hour shift.

Xander: Anevia has no way of doing our gambit if you do not use invisibility on her in some form or fashion. She'll just go into the ethereal and then be plainly visible to all three hags. As a result, I don't think she's willing to do that. Since she doesn't -know- the hags are there, she can't gambit v. them.

Also, Anevia has the incorporeal type right now when she goes ghost, resulting in her being unable to steal from the hags unless she also has blink (which means casting blink, Anevia stealing it with transfer magic, then being normal invis'd to sleight of hand on them, so it does anything...). Ugh. I didn't read my ability well enough :(

So basically all she can do is go in, transfer magic, and boop back out until the next round. So... ginvis or bust, unless we use a blink scroll and she transfer magics that.

I've fully updated the NPC Masterlist Document to the most current page of the campaign. Sorry for letting it get so behind.

It currently stands at 47 pages and documents 442 different NPCs.

Ok, I can spend some MP to cast greater invisibility on her.

Please post in gameplay and deduct the usage of mythic power then!

FYI the windows have no glass so you can move through them on the map. They have wooden shutters to keep the rain out but they're open since it is a nice night.

Hinagiku: Don't forget to use Legendary Fortification and Absorb Blow! You can reduce the damage you took by 40.

I need to know:
a) How far it is to the pillar the children are hanging from
b) Whether Swift Action spells are subject to concentration checks for violent movement.

a) 120'
b) Yes

Does Xanderghul know where there might be someone on guard duty right now, if I wanted to use whispering wind to warn someone that we're about to TPK?

Of course you do!

I was gonna make Bowie make a save too but then found out:

The Arctic fox lives in some of the most frigid extremes on the planet, but they do not start to shiver until the temperature drops to −70 °C (−94 °F). Among its adaptations for survival in the cold is its dense, multilayered pelage, which provides excellent insulation.

#natureislit

I updated Isilme's description in her profile. In case anyone wants to read it, here's the new description:

My parents have just arrived to the Netherlands and are going to be staying with me and my wife for 2 weeks. We will be traveling and visiting a lot, so my posting rate is probably going to be extremely erratic (or nonexistent). So, please, don't hesitate to bot Hinagiku. @Xanderghul, same goes for the riftwarden's game.

That's great, enjoy your time with your family :)

I'd like to encourage pre-rolling from:

8. Kule (invisible)
9. Anevia
10. Xanderghul
11. Ehren

since so many of the trolls are locked down by confusion

Hey, I'd like to not target a confused troll... I'd like to target troll 5 instead.

Kiora: Please add the following to the houserules section for posterity:
Path of War: Maneuvers may not be used outside of combat.

There's no need to, because it's not a houserule, it's RAW.

Because of this, you can usually employ each of your readied maneuvers once per encounter, unless they are recovered so you may use them again. Stances are never expended or used up and are always available to you.

An encounter is a period of time from when initiative begins (starting with the surprise round, if any) to the last initiative has ended and after a total time amount of one minute has elapsed without combat resuming. This means that martial disciples have had time to recover all expended maneuvers and abilities that are used and depleted within the span of an encounter.

Most martial disciples are able to refresh some of their expended maneuvers in the course of a battle by taking a special action to do so. The type of special action required depends on a martial disciple’s class (or feat) selection.

The fact that maneuevers cannot be used outside of content is furthermore hinted at with the Mystic, who gain the ability to choose specific maneuevers to use outside of combat as a class feature.

Because of this, they do not have full control over their readied maneuvers; when a mystic readies her maneuvers, she selects two of her readied maneuvers to be immediately granted to her for use at any time (when these two maneuvers are used outside of combat, they recover on their own in the following round), with the rest of her initially randomized maneuvers waiting to be granted in combat.

I actually didn't know that maneuevers had to wait a whole minute after combat ceases to auto-refresh, so I'll be explicit about that in the future! I was operating under the assumption they auto-refresh as soon as there are no hostiles remaining.

The first quote does not say you may not. It says how often you may use them during an encounter without restoring them.

The second quote defines the time a combat counts as (and I've asked if things like that apply to an inquisitor's judgment ability, because I thought it was a cool way to work all combat things, so you don't get screwed out of judgment by a false surrender or what have you).

The third quote is telling you that you have special regeneration options (such as gambits, which may only be used in combat) that are only usable during encounters (which in their mind, extends for one minute after the end of a combat - which makes sense as it doesn't make sense for Anevia to know with certainty whether a fight is over or not, and for us to know because Anevia suddenly can't recover maneuvers sneakily.)

The fourth quote does not explicitly state no one else can. It explicitly states that they may use them every round if they are their primary maneuvers, until combat has started.

Response from the Writer on Usability outside of combat.

There is nothing that says that you may not use them outside of combat. There is only a line that states that during combat, you must refresh them, and outside of combat you must wait one minute, or manually refresh them.

Because of this, it is my opinion that I may use a maneuver outside of combat and then spend actions to restore it. I even differ from him in the fact that my opinion is that you may not use them every round, but must spend actions to restore them or wait a minute without combat.

You never needed to know that there was a one minute cooldown after combat ended because I always enforced it personally - even during the 10 minute drezen citadel countdown to explosion, Ary and Anevia adhered to those rules, recovering maneuvers between and during combats. It put a heavy strain on my ability to continue fighting, but you can definitely go back and see that I was following that rule. Did you never find it odd that I was recovering maneuvers that I'd used multiple fights before during later encounters? Do you not remember me complaining that if we'd have waited another round or two before the Vhane fight and prepped with like 1-2 more actions, I'd have been able to recover all my maneuvers for free?

If that is your ruling, that is your ruling, but I view it as a house rule as nothing in the documents state that you must be in combat (only the methods for regenerating them and that there must be no enemies for one minute outside of combat for them to regenerate with the explicit exception of Mystic which allows you to recover their primary maneuvers every round outside of combat, which is the difference in my mind.

I do not think it is reasonable that I cannot use a boost to gain a bonus to jumping only inside of combat. I do not think it is reasonable that Anevia can only teleport during combat. I do not think it is reasonable that Anevia may only go ethereal during combat.

But it is your game, and I will accept that ruling.

I think it's pretty clear, that maneuvers can only be used "once per encounter" and that an encounter has a hard-coded definition of "from the surprise round to at least 1 minute after combat ceases". This means that everything that isn't that time period, is not considered an encounter. Otherwise the definition would be "A unique encounter is a period of time between two different rolls for initiative" or, alternatively, maneuvers would not have a "once per encounter" rule associated with them, and would simply be expended until regained again using the various class features.

This entire argument is incredibly munchkin-y, and I am disappointed in that. Your argument is entirely based on rulings of omission ('well it doesn't say I can't do this, so therefore, I can!), which is how munchkin arguments work, whether its shenanigans around weapon cord exploitation or "i am my own ally" and teamwork feat exploits. Pathfinder is a permissive rule-set by default, meaning you should only assume you can do what a rule explicitly says you can do, the rest is ultimately GM fiat. The reason for this is because it's not realistic to make rules for every little thing you can do, it makes more sense to simply make a list of things you are allowed to do.

In any case, I'm done arguing about this. I'm honestly at the point that I'm considering dropping this game entirely, the drama and the constant whining is becoming not entirely worth it for me, and the thought of the free time I'd gain from such a move that I could invest into other hobbies, like switching over to a casual face to face group, or furthering my career by expanding my list of accreditations, becomes more and more appealing by the day.

Is there something that I can do to make things better for you?

I'm honestly at the point that I'm considering dropping this game entirely, the drama and the constant whining is becoming not entirely worth it for me, and the thought of the free time I'd gain from such a move that I could invest into other hobbies, like switching over to a casual face to face group, or furthering my career by expanding my list of accreditations, becomes more and more appealing by the day.

Similarly, do you feel that running this game for us holds you back from the things you want to be doing?

By definition, this game prevents me from doing other things I could otherwise be doing. So, all that matters is whether my enjoyment of this game outweighs potential enjoyment (or personal benefits) gained from other stuff I could be doing. If the scale veers too far in one direction then I won't hesitate to drop this in favor of other hobbies. Right now, I gain far more enjoyment playing video games than I do running this game, and they require far less effort also.

As for Ary, not b@%!%ing incessantly the moment things don't go your way is one thing you could do.

Unrelated, after this fight I'll be using the RAW for pinhole gambit. Anevia and Valeria can choose a different gambit to replace it for free if that is preferential to them, since you selected it pre-errata.

By definition, this game prevents me from doing other things I could otherwise be doing. So, all that matters is whether my enjoyment of this game outweighs potential enjoyment (or personal benefits) gained from other stuff I could be doing. If the scale veers too far in one direction then I won't hesitate to drop this in favor of other hobbies. Right now, I gain far more enjoyment playing video games than I do running this game, and they require far less effort also.

As for Ary, not b%@%+ing incessantly the moment things don't go your way is one thing you could endeavor to do. You should feel free to ask for a ruling, but if that results in something you do not like, there is nothing further to argue. Argument only serves to be inflammatory. If you are not having fun with how the game is run as is, please quit. I enjoy having you as a player here majority of the time, but also this game is intended as stress relief for me, not a source of additional aggravation.

Unrelated, after this fight I'll be using the RAW for pinhole gambit. Anevia and Valeria can choose a different gambit to replace it for free if that is preferential to them, since you selected it pre-errata.