GM Miskatonic's 9th Level Homebrew Campaign: Trail of the Dead God [Group #2]

Game Master Cthulhu, Jr.

The second part was for William. He asked about taking more benefits later on earlier but later benefits will be static and based on factors I decide on, largely they will be based on the locations you travel to.

Was making edits to my character sheet, and something occurred to me. You said that while I'm transformed and raging I gain the keen and furious qualities. I'm assuming you mean transformed in mutagen form, not simply in my bestial form. Is that correct?

Indeed, sir, that is correct: Mutagen + Rage = Keen & Furious.

EVERYONE
Alright, I, your GM, am now officially bored of my own campaign. Why am I bored? I am bored because you guys haven't killed anything yet. Trust me, I too know the itchy feeling you get when you have to roleplay for too long. I realize this is my fault, I do apologize... to you guys and to, well, myself... weird...

This being said, I am going to wrap up the initial phase: PART#1-Welcome to Hideaway, and then throw you guys into your first combat-oriented portion of the campaign so you can all whet your appetite for wandering hobo murder-sprees... I figured a Sunday, or top of the week, would be a nice place to begin the next portion.

Those of you with character sheets I have not reviewed, congratulations, my patience has evaporated for minutia right now. I will check everyone's eventually but for now, I'd rather light a chracter sheet on fire than read it, MWAHAHAHAHA! Seriously though, keep track of your information and be honest, or I'll kill you with like a big dinosaur or a hungry shoggoth or something fun, like a hundred thousand compsognathuses... compsognathi?

Anyone who would like a personalized line of discussion with their faction leader(i.e. a Q&A Session), message me in a private message and I'll slip a retroactive spoiler into a post for you, no problems about that whatsoever.

One questions as we go. Do we get the campaign feat, Echoes of Genesis, now or later?

Right before you leave, so right now is when you get it. It's something you all realize rather subtly at first, unless you're a divine caster. Divine casters feel a strange and sudden influx of power suffuse them as they regain their spellcasting and slowly realize that they no longer need to pray to use it...

Thanks for the clarification, Miskatonic. Apologize for my delay. I'll PM you some questions Khazia had for Kale & her general demeanor for the encounter.

For the Echoes of Genesis campaign feat I chose The Divine casting, of course, as well as Dermal Enhancement (+1 Nat AC), Denser Skeletal Structure (Dr 1/-), Cardiopulmonary Enhancement (Immune Fatigue, Exhaustion), & Arboreal Aptitude (Climb speed=movement speed). It's all in the alias now.

I took 2 points of natural armor, immunity to exhaustion, darkvision, and 5 points of DR. Could I swap out a point of DR for an extra point of natural armor, even though my Con is 14? It's absolutely infuriating to be just 1 point away from another point of AC.

Actually, I have a different request. I put my 8th level stat point into dex, 'cause I forgot about armor's max dex bonus (I've never played a martial character before). Could I swap that over to Con where it'll do some good? It won't make the slightest difference yet, 'cause Con is a 14 and Dex is 15- the extra point doesn't move the stat up to the next bonus yet.

Wait, can we take Supremacy twice for eight choices?

If you're not a caster, you get 8 choices. It's at the bottom.

Oh. Cool. You have 9 by the way. 2 nat armor, immunity to exhaustion and darkvision is 4 points. 5 DR is a total of 9.

Bah. I'm too tired to do math. Shut up.

Echo of Supremacy (Current Benefits):
Arboreal Aptitude- Climb Speed Equal to Movement Speed(Must have a Strength Score of 12 or higher.)
Denser Skeletal Structure- Damage Reduction 4/-*(Must have at least a +1 Natural Armor bonus. Must have 25 Hit Points per DR1/- gained in this way.)
Denser Musculature- +10ft to Movement Speed*(Must have a Dexterity Score of 12 or higher. Must have a Dexterity Score equal to the bonus gained in this way)
Olfactory Enhancement- Scent(Must have a Wisdom Score of 12 or higher.)

I chose:

1-Arboreal Aptitude- Climb Speed Equal to Movement Speed
2-Dermal Enhancement- Natural Armor +1
3-Dermal Enhancement- Natural Armor +1
4-Antivenin Lymph Glands- Immunity to Poisons
5-Cardiopulmonary Enhancement- Immunity to Exhaustion & Fatigue
6-Denser Skeletal Structure- Damage Reduction 1/-
7-Denser Skeletal Structure- Damage Reduction 1/-
8-Denser Skeletal Structure- Damage Reduction 1/-

Ummm... Flint, how are you getting DR? You need natural armor for that.

Amulet of Natural armor. Was it addressed if items applied to prereques. Speaking of.

William, is your racial bonus in con? I assume so or else you can't get poison immunity.

Amulet of Natural armor. Was it addressed if items applied to prereques. Speaking of.

William, is your racial bonus in con? I assume so or else you can't get poison immunity.

William mentioned previously he put his racial ability bonuses in Str & Con.

Amulet of Nat AC gives an enhancement bonus to Nat AC. It does not give your character Natural AC. Characters without Natural AC are considered to have Nat AC +0, which the amulet modifies, again, with an enhancement bonus. It is the same as an enhancement bonus to armor. Wearing regular clothes grants you +0 armor bonus, and bracers of armor +2 will add a +2 enhancement bonus.

Your mutagen (Prof & Flint) does give you a natural armor bonus while it is in effect (stackable with enhancement bonuses to Nat AC), so there might be something there, otherwise nobody qualifies for DR/- without first getting Nat AC.

EDIT: William, good move not taking Disease Immunity. I should have mentioned this when we discuss it earlier, but I took Remove Disease for one of my Mercies with Lay-on-Hands, so even if we catch something (provided it isn't some horrid god-crafted malady), I'll be able to clear it up pretty well.

Re-Edit: Barkskin Link to help clarify enhancement bonuses with regards to Natural AC.

Echo of Supremacy (Current Benefits):
Arboreal Aptitude- Climb Speed Equal to Movement Speed
Denser Skeletal Structure- Damage Reduction 2/-
Denser Musculature- +10ft to Movement Speed
Olfactory Enhancement- Scent
Dermal Enhancement- Natural Armor +2

Updated

EDIT: William, good move not taking Disease Immunity. I should have mentioned this when we discuss it earlier, but I took Remove Disease for one of my Mercies with Lay-on-Hands, so even if we catch something (provided it isn't some horrid god-crafted malady), I'll be able to clear it up pretty well.

Thank you. I figured that while diseases can be nasty, they are typically nasty over the long haul, not in the middle of a fight like poison. I figured a climb speed would be nice to have and added it in instead.

And as you said, I did put my racial bonuses into STR and CON.

Alright, everybody, just getting on right now. Took a bit of a break yesterday to recharge the juices... the imagination... juices... yeah. So, I'll be responding to everything as quickly as possible.

Derp. That answers my question in gameplay.

William, I don't want to clutter up gameplay, but you have Trap Sense as well. Barbarians, Rogues & a few other classes & archetypes get it.

I'm pretty sure Rogues used to have an ability (I feel like it was part of the Trapfinding ability) that gave them an automatic Perception Check to notice any traps they came close enough to detect. But I could be thinking of an old version of Pathfinder, DnD 3.5, or 3.0. Or it could be a houserule from one of my old groups...

Ah, actually... the rogue talent Trap Spotter does exactly that.

EDIT: Armored Hulk archetype replaces Trap Sense with bonus AC vs critical confirmations. Miskatonic, I believe The Professor is actually the only one with Trap Sense.

The Trap Spotter info is in regards to Professor Brooks' question about there being an ability in Pathfinder to detect traps ahead of time.

Also, just for clarification Miskatonic, you only mentioned the Life Link with William in your recap. I'm guessing the other actions didn't happen, so the spells I cast aren't in effect & nobody else is connected with Life Link?

Establishing Life Link with the other 3 party members and the 2 spells Khazia cast would take an additional 36 seconds (5 six-second-rounds). That would be done after the first Life Link with William, while everyone is coming through the portal and moving into the cave. Khazia also has 100 ft of movement during those 36 seconds to keep up.

I'm just breaking it down because you didn't specify we're moving into combat format when we came through the portal (one round of actions before you recap the round). I don't have an issue with that - combat can happen unexpectedly, and Khazia is the most likely to be unaware of a threat until the last minute anyway. While my first action wouldn't have changed, if I knew I was only allowed the one, I wouldn't have posted so many other actions (expecting them to apply).

Mainly, if we actually aren't in "initiative order" immediately after stepping through the portal, I believe there is adequate time between everyone coming through and us getting to the cave for all my actions to occur. Of course that doesn't matter if we are in combat format, but I'd like to respectfully request for the future that you give us a heads up when our next post(s) should only include one round of actions. (I'll admit I felt a bit salty at first when I saw you ignored my other actions; my problem, certainly, but a heads up before or just a mention after would make me feel better :) as I did take the time to post the actions).

Alright, combat is about to start but not quite. Luckily for everyone our only 'Trapfinder'(Kudos to the Professor) has found the first trap, though to be honest wandering into a deep dark tunnel full of horse-sized spiderfolk means traps will be frequent and the tunnels are designed for things with quite a few more legs than everyone so avoidance of said traps will not be easy. They eat people.

Concerning your abilities and concerns, Khazia, I was simply going off of the beginning of your post and tagging everyone in. Your ability will resolve as normal, give me a chance to resolve everything, and 100ft movement speed is all well and good in standard terrain but when moving down a steep incline covered in a strange, pliable substance... meh, feel free to sprint, actually. I do not mind. In fact at this point, I urge everyone to simply lunge headfirst into the warm resin-plastered cave...

I am having difficulty posting at work right now due to some differences of opinion and I left my damn charge cable at home so I'll try to get as much posting in before 11pm as I can but I can't make any promises right now.

The Professor is a front-line fighter, but requires up to three rounds to be fully combat capable. Because of this, he will, as a rule, stay near the front, but behind William, who presents a more obvious target to any enemy, and therefore a distraction while he shifts/transforms/rages. I am a fish. He has no weapons, except for his crossbow, which is unloaded and on his back. When on a job, he makes it a point to be stealthy if reasonably possible.

William, as the tank, will be up front, greatsword at the ready and attempting to be stealthy as a rule. Even if they hear us coming, no need for them to know how many of us there are.

Sounds good, thanks Miskatonic! Mostly I just wanted clarification on how things were working.

I will, however, suggest that we don't run down the web-covered tunnel into the heart of the horse-sized people-eating spider-monster den. :P

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I think we can all agree William should take the front. If the tunnel maintains the 15ft x 15ft dimensions of the cave entrance, however, I will suggest we have 2 front-liners. This will help prevent enemies from edging past our first rank. Also, taking up more space as a party (width, rather than length) will give us more room to maneuver among ourselves so everyone can get into the most effective position possible. Finally, with most of us being melee combatants, stacking up will allow more of us to reach the enemy.

(Assuming a single-file line; If William is 1st, The Professor 2nd, & Khazia 3rd, with a monster in front of William we have limited means to get both The Professor & Khazia in a position to hit it, and there's likely already monsters coming along the 10ft space on our sides to get at the tender bits - we could hit those, but they can also hit our whole party at this point).

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Glancing over Savyon's alias it appears he's the squishiest, so I'll suggest this for a marching order: William & Ham in front; Khazia & Savyon in the middle; Flint brings up the rear.

Khazia has reach, & so can attack anything behind Flint or in front of William & Ham. Savyon & Flint both have range, so they can hit everything. William & Ham can hit everything we run into, & keep everyone else from getting merked.

I don't want to put you in a position you don't want or feel comfortable in, though, Professor, but take my points into consideration as you weigh the best spot for you to be in.

*Professor, I don't know how you're figuring a full 3 rounds to get combat-effective (no pressure, but that's dangerous for the rest of the party, as a front-liner), but I just want to point out that both beginning & ending a rage are free actions, unless there's aspects to it you & Miskatonic agreed will take longer.

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As far as stealth, I'm sorry to say I'm working with a negative modifier, so we'll have to work around that (send a scout down first?) if we want to be sneaky.

Ah. As I said, I'm unfamiliar with martial characters. And it occurs to me that he only has to use either his mutagen or his bestial form, not both, so one round to shift.

As for having Ham in the front, that won't be happening. It'll be the Professor until we actually see enemies, at which point Ham will take over.

I'm perfectly fine being in the middle. I'm heavy with spellcasting, so range is my thing.

@ The Professor: Alright, givn your experience with it, popping a mutagen and raging can be combined into the same free action, no qualms about that, in fact we could say that Ham kind of thrives off of that 'rush'.

EVERYONE
The tunnel does not taper into the distance but the steep incline will have you all moving at half you base speed to not slip or touch any of the trip wires. These bugs are big so narrow tunnels is strategically absurd for them, especially given other anatomical features you'll soon discover.

What I see so far is:
Scout: The Professor
Lead: William
Second: Khazia
Center & Tail: Flint & Savyon

That look correct?

I like it.

If The Professor is scouting, we will hopefully have some advance notice before running into enemies, & he can fall back to shore up the front with William (although I'm not sure if that's where he wants to be).

Just a heads up, Miskatonic, in addition to possible knowledge rolls, every time we encounter a new enemy, I'm going to ask you whether they're alive, undead, or neither (Deathwatch Eyes), and if it's evil.

Just a heads up, Miskatonic, in addition to possible knowledge rolls, every time we encounter a new enemy, I'm going to ask you whether they're alive, undead, or neither (Deathwatch Eyes), and if it's evil.

Alrighty, danke.

...Did you say something offensive? Should I be angry? I'll be honest, I tend to miss social cues in the best of circumstances. Online? It's hoepeless. And yeah, I made the same mistake. All my extracts are buffs. It only recently occurred to me that I'll have to use my sipping jacket for all of them.

Extracts are like spells so you have to keep an eye on duration. And the sipping jacket can only be used on one potion a day.

I am also fine with that marching order. Since the prof saw the wire, he should probably be close to the front.

...Did you say something offensive? Should I be angry? I'll be honest, I tend to miss social cues in the best of circumstances. Online? It's hoepeless. And yeah, I made the same mistake. All my extracts are buffs. It only recently occurred to me that I'll have to use my sipping jacket for all of them.

Seems I misread your tone more than (I assumed) you misread mine. My bad on both counts there. For what it's worth, I was quite hungry at the time.

Buffs are one area Alchemists can definitely shine. Looking at the vivisectionist/master chymist build in general, it feels like the sort of creature you're supposed to load up with buffs & send screaming into battle. It's just hard to accomplish that efficiently given many buffs' short duration & Pathfinder's action economy.

Suppose I'll wait a bit longer to post in gameplay now, so I don't get ninja'd by Flint.

I added a little tracker for per day spells/abilities near the top of Khazia's alias.

Also, how did I manage to get a lower stealth roll than the f*@&ing PALADIN? That's just not right. The paladin always has the worst stealth roll. It's like a law, or something.

Shh. Do not question my tricksy ways.

While going over spells & abilities for some ideas on combat tactics, I took a better look at the archetype spell Ill Omen. It allows SR, but there's no save. Forces the target to roll twice on the next d20 & take the lower result. It applies to an additional d20 roll for every 5 levels. This is the most awesome fallback for any situation >:D

Does anybody have any idea why I would have a +4 misc. bonus to Perception on my character sheet?

I don't understand your character sheet at all. Your Eyes of the Eagle should grant +5 Perception, but under Perception there's only your 9 ranks and the +4 misc. Then the total skill bonus from that comes out to 16... ???

Also, what is the "Amulet of Growing Menace?" I'm curious and I can't find it it on the SRD

I don't know why I've got the +4 bonus, unless I mistyped the +5, but, pretending it's accurate and ignoring the Eyes of the Eagle, it works out. 9 ranks + 4 misc +3 for it being a class skill= 16.

The Amulet of Growing Menace is one of Miskatonic's shiny custom-made items. It's an Amulet of Mighty Fists with a +2 bonus, a +2 value enhancement, and the Growing quality.

Are there other confusing aspects to my character sheet?

Ah, very nice. I see the class skills are marked with a little check mark. I never used mythweavers before; it's free?

I'd guess you probably misstyped the +5 from Eyes of the Eagle.

Yah, it's free. I recommend scoreforge, though, if you have excel. It's vastly superior- it does the math for you. But if you don't have excel, Mythweavers is the way to go.

I suppose. It's bothering me, though. I'm normally pretty good with those kinds of things.

Lol the numbers are next to each other, so it's an understandable mistake.

I don't understand the numbers under your attack bonuses, but I don't feel like trying to figure out the math to see where they came from and what they mean.

I'm gonna check that out, but it'll have to particularly impress me before I'll actually use it.

When I first started playing Pathfinder a few years ago (after a lengthy hiatus from 3.5, with intermittent games in 4.0) one of the guys in our group had spreadsheets that did all the math, factoring BAB, base saves, etc from the class & everything else from other numbers entered (AC penalty, ability modifiers etc). The s~!& never worked right, & I had to manually correct half the fields anyways. Since then I don't trust character sheets that autofill too much info. It's more work to come up with a fix for something not calculated correctly than it is to just do the sheet right the first time.

The numbers reflect the different conditions Ham can be in- regular attack, (power attack), raging attack, (raging power attack).

I've never really had any problems with scoreforge, that I can remember. If something seems to be wrong, it's invariably because you entered something wrong.

Okay, new question. Can anybody figure out why the hell I have a -2 miscellaneous penalty to my attack?

God, this is annoying. I'm starting to hate Mythweaver.

Brooks may be right. My math puts AC at 32 and attack at 20 as a base.

Breakdown AC:
Armor Plate: 9
enchantment: 2
deflection: 2
dex: 3
faction: 2
Luck: 1
Nat: 2
Trait: 1
total: 32

Attack:
BAB: 9
Str: 5
Weapon Training: 2
Focus: 1
Greater Focus: 1
Enchantment: 2
Total: 20

Modifiers:
Rage: +2 Attack -2 AC
Reckless Abandon: +3 attack -3 AC
Superstition: +3 attack
Furious: +2 attack
Total: Attack - 30 AC - 27 Damage - Out the wazoo

Also, can you split up the items on your character sheet. And feel free to critique mine. Lord knows I probably made a mistake somewhere.

What do you mean, split up the items on the character sheet? And who are you asking to do it?

William. It's hard to tell where one item's description ends and the next begins.