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

Game Master Cthulhu, Jr.

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.

I split the items up. I don't usually have all that in my sheets but I got so much at once I needed to know what it all did.

In the AC breakdown you missed 2 Nat AC and 2 Shield.

In the Attack you missed the +4 from the weapon and +2 in strength.

EDIT: I missed an item in my gear. There should be an Amulet of Natural Armor +2. It's there now.

I split the items up. I don't usually have all that in my sheets but I got so much at once I needed to know what it all did.

In the AC breakdown you missed 2 Nat AC and 2 Shield.

In the Attack you missed the +4 from the weapon and +2 in strength.

EDIT: I missed an item in my gear. There should be an Amulet of Natural Armor +2. It's there now.

The amulet was part of it fixes part of it. But I assume the shield bonus is coming from the Ring of Force Shield. You can't use that and wield a two handed weapon. It is still considered a heavy shield and subject to the same rules. That ring might actually not benefit you since I see no one-handed weapons.

As for attack. I think your base is still 20 but in modifiers I accounted for both of those. Rage adds 2 and furious adds another 2 on top of the enchantment bonus. I did forget Power Attack though and that reduces it further actually.

Breakdown AC:
Armor Plate: 9
enchantment: 2
deflection: 2
dex: 3
faction: 2
Luck: 1
Nat: 4
Trait: 1
total: 34

Attack Breakdown:
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
Power Attack: -3 attack
Totals:
Attack - 27
AC - 29
Damage - Out the wazoo

You're an actual cannon though. No glass here.

Damage:
Str: 5
Two-handed: 2
Weapon Training: 2
Specialization: 1
Greater Specialization: 1
Enchantment: 2
Total: 13

Modifiers:
Rage: +2 Damage
Reckless Abandon: +3 Damage
Witch Hunter: +3 Damage
Furious: +2 Damage
Power Attack: +9 Damage
Powerful Blow: +3 Damage
Total: 35 Damage Holy S!#%.

William Grove wrote:

I split the items up. I don't usually have all that in my sheets but I got so much at once I needed to know what it all did.

In the AC breakdown you missed 2 Nat AC and 2 Shield.

In the Attack you missed the +4 from the weapon and +2 in strength.

EDIT: I missed an item in my gear. There should be an Amulet of Natural Armor +2. It's there now.

The amulet was part of it fixes part of it. But I assume the shield bonus is coming from the Ring of Force Shield. You can't use that and wield a two handed weapon. It is still considered a heavy shield and subject to the same rules. That ring might actually not benefit you since I see no one-handed weapons.

I was under the impression it acted like the shield spell. If it acts as a heavy shield then I have no use for it and I'll need to swap it out. Without the shield I agree with your numbers.

As for attack. I think your base is still 20 but in modifiers I accounted for both of those. Rage adds 2 and furious adds another 2 on top of the enchantment bonus. I did forget Power Attack though and that reduces it further actually.

Breakdown AC:
Armor Plate: 9
enchantment: 2
deflection: 2
dex: 3
faction: 2
Luck: 1
Nat: 4
Trait: 1
total: 34

Attack Breakdown:
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
Power Attack: -3 attack
Totals:
Attack - 27
AC - 29
Damage - Out the wazoo

Only a couple nit picky differences here. I don't ever intend to attack non-raging so I haven't done the math on that. Neither Superstition nor Witch Hunter give any attack bonuses. An you forgot my Faction bonus to attack.

Attack - 26
AC - 29 without shield

You're an actual cannon though. No glass here.

Damage:
Str: 5
Two-handed: 2
Weapon Training: 2
Specialization: 1
Greater Specialization: 1
Enchantment: 2
Total: 13

Modifiers:
Rage: +2 Damage
Reckless Abandon: +3 Damage
Witch Hunter: +3 Damage
Furious: +2 Damage
Power Attack: +9 Damage
Powerful Blow: +3 Damage
Total: 35 Damage Holy S!+#.

Reckless abandon gives no damage bonus and your forgot my faction bonus to damage. So if I use everything it looks like +34 Damage.

Brooks and Ham,

I must be missing something on your sheet as this is what I come up with for your claws:

A:bab + str + enhancement - (power attack)
D:STR+ enhancement + (power attack)

Basic
A:9+5+2=16
D:5+2=7

Basic Power Attack
A:9+5+2-3=13
D:5+2+6=13

Raging
A:9+7+2=18
D:7+2=9

Raging Power Attack
A:9+7+2-3=15
D:7+2+6=15

If you use powerful blow that's another 3 damage.

Does your mutagen give you more than scent, darkvision and +2 NA? I can see +1 to hit and dam when you shift form and gain +2 STR for all of these modes. Also natural attacks don't get a second attack, so on a full attack you get 1 bite and 2 claws and on a regular attack you have to pick one of those attacks. Too bad you can't get a wing attack.

Flint,

I only took a look at your basic revolver attack.

Attack Breakdown:
BAB: 9
DEX: 5
Focus: 1
Enchantment: 1
Faction: 2
Total: 18

Damage Breakdown:
DEX: 5
Enchantment: 1
Faction: 2
Total: 8

I have you 1 higher to hit and we agree on damage. Modifiers will change this.
TWF: -2 to attack
PBS: +1 to attack and damage
DA: -3 to attack and +6 to damage

Wait, really? I built this whole g&#@@+n character around a tactic that DOESN'T WORK???

As regards the other stuff, shifting gives me a +2 to strength, and mutagen gives me a +4. I knew there was a reason to do both! Damn. Now I've gotta either take a round to shift, or do even more math. Let me see what else there is. I redid the calculations on his claws and bite so damned many times, there's almost guaranteed to be a few errors, but I don't think they're that bad. If they are, this build actually turns out to be really disappointing.

And seriously, where the hell does the -2 penalty to attack bonus come from?

Now everything works William. And I think I forgot Weapon Focus. Odd because I also forgot the jump in Deadly Aim. Full Attack is actually correct but my basic attack is off by one.

As for Brooks: it isn't as bad as you think. Until you get more Cymist levels you can rage and shift for a +6 to strength. The shift can be maintained indefinitely. You just need two-weapon fighting or your stuck with only two attacks. In bad moments you can stack the mutagen for another +4 to strength and a bite. Less attacks and more damage and other nice things.

You can actually mutate 2 times a day: once for mutate, since the dm was nice, and once for mutagen. Its just that shifting and mutating are both standard action. Unless you get the Fast Shift feat which reduces to move.

In essence, you can rage and do decent damage. If there is a break for a moment in battle, or you can prepare, you can stack Shift and mutate for big damage and tankiness.

William, the Ring of Force Shield can be activated & deactivated as a free action, & you can remove one hand from a 2-handed weapon as a free action as well. Essentially, you're: Attacking with both hands on your greatsword, then removing your shield hand as a free action at the end of your turn, & activating the ring as a free action after removing your hand (essentially only using the shield during everyone else's turn, and using the greatsword on your turn). The shield is a force effect, so while it confers the benefits of a heavy shield, it has none of the penalties (hand still free when you need it, no AC penalty). The only problem here is that you can't make AoO's with your greatsword if you're using the shield (kinda important, but it's up to you whether the otherwise free AC is worth it), but you can attack normally on your turn.

Professor, with the discovery, your mutagen gives you Claw/Claw/Bite on a full attack, and, as with every class that has multiple attacks/round, you can only use one of those if you can't make a full attack. No need for two-weapon fighting (doesn't apply to natural attacks anyway) or anything of that nature. If you wanted to wield a manufactured weapon and use your natural attacks in the same full attack, you'd need the Multiattack feat, but your claws are better than manufactured weapons anyways. Technically, if you grabbed Multiattack, and carried a sword, you'd replace one claw attack with the sword, and your bite & the remaining claw attack would be at a -5 offhand penalty. As it stands, on a full attack you can use all your current natural attacks, & they're all primary attacks (no -5 offhand penalty).

I didn't go over anybody's sheet :P but feel free to check mine.

EDIT: William, as we'll soon see, your Sunder AoO could be very crucial. Technically if you had the ring active during that time, you wouldn't be able to make that attack (can only use a free action on your turn). Just a timely example to consider.

Weird. For some reason it won't let me select the "Professor Brooks and Ham" profile now.

As far as your racial shifting ability goes, Professor, it makes sense for you to generally be normal when Professor Brooks is in control, but given the unlimited duration, perhaps in the future The Professor can shift as we enter a dangerous area (simply maintaining readiness & whatnot, without loosing the violent madman), and then mutate & cede control to Ham as we encounter enemies (& rage of course), giving you benefits from all three at the start of the battle, without taking extra time after combat starts.

RAW, that would work. Story telling, not so much. The story idea is that Ham is the shifted/bestial form. The Professor can't shift without Ham taking over.

Also, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of two facts. One, Ham is still in the Victorian era gentleman's outfit, 'cause it's actually glamoured armor. I just point this out for amusement. Secondly, Ham will register as evil to Khazia's detect evil.

Natural attacks add str not str and a half unless you have only one. You do not have one. But all of them are primary, even when Feral mutagen kicks in. Which is why Alchemist can be as broken as hell at level 1. 3 attacks with no penalty for the duration of a mutagen.

G@& d&#mit. Raging without the mutagen grants claws. More f~$$ing math... I think I'm gonna cry.

Also, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of two facts. One, Ham is still in the Victorian era gentleman's outfit, 'cause it's actually glamoured armor. I just point this out for amusement. Secondly, Ham will register as evil to Khazia's detect evil.

Quite amusing, and good to note. Khazia isn't your "kill all the evulz!" sorta Paladin, but she will be incredibly distrustful of both The Professor & Ham, especially since, as far as she's concerned, The Professor was hiding Ham's existence. Ham being evil just makes it that much more suspicious.

Natural attacks add str not str and a half unless you have only one. You do not have one. But all of them are primary, even when Feral mutagen kicks in. Which is why Alchemist can be as broken as hell at level 1. 3 attacks with no penalty for the duration of a mutagen.

Technically level 2, since that's when Alchemists get the Discovery ability, & this is probably a point of contention, but I believe all of Ham's natural attacks use 1.5 Str mod because they're all primary attacks. Nvm that's wrong.

Level 1 feat Extra Discovery. I thought about it once.

Level 1 feat Extra Discovery. I thought about it once.

As did I. Extra Discovery has Discovery Class Feature as a prereq; that feature is not gained until Alchemist level 2. RAW - can't take Extra Discovery until level 3.

Actually, the Professor informed his companions of Ham's existence right away. It's not his fault if Flint was the only person present and paying attention to the explanation. He would have gone into it again, but no opportunity arose.

Discovery is a class feature of any alchemist, whether or not you have any discoveries yet.

It's not his fault if Flint was the only person present and paying attention to the explanation.

I know that, but Khazia does not, and would find such an argument irrelevant anyway. Her views are similar to Flint's - Ham is not the sort of weapon one should rely on, and it's The Professor's moral duty to go out of his way & inform his traveling companions.

*lisping* Morality's a big deal guys.. *pushes up glasses*

I'm leaving work now, gonna come back for that Class Feature argument.

Discovery is a class feature of Alchemists, but a feature they do not have access to until level 2.

A level 1 Paladin cannot take channel feats, because Paladins gain the Channel Positive Energy class feature at level 4.

Channel Smite prereq: "Channel Energy class feature"

"When a paladin reaches 4th level, she gains the supernatural ability to channel positive energy like a cleric."

Extra Discovery prereq: "Discovery class feature"

"At 2nd level, and then again every 2 levels thereafter (up to 18th level), an alchemist makes an incredible alchemical discovery."

The wording is different, so there's definitely an argument there, but that's semantics - an Alchemist doesn't gain discoveries, they make them. Not counting the subject of our debate, Alchemists clearly do not have access to discoveries at level 1, & Extra Discovery requires you have access to discoveries, granting you "one additional discovery."

Also, a google search just now led me to When do I count as having a class feature?

Without such a designation, I'm sure there's plenty of tricky ways for you to get feats & abilities a character would not yet otherwise qualify for.

See, without that link, we could have had this argument all night. With it, all I can say is "poop".

Truf.

I'm almost a little sad about it.

I will forever play devil's advocate in most situations, until I either prove my point or am proven wrong. Just flick me if it gets annoying.

Holy s%~+, people, 33posts, LOL. At least it was mostly player to player banter. Good to see you all helping each other out :)

Gonna post Initiative Rolls and Order momentarily and then do your next combat progression post.

So long as you don't touch my firm belief that if Pluto isn't a planet, then neither is Earth (which is actually true), we're good.

Alright, having just reviewed your combat posts, firstly, thank you Flint for summarizing the initiative, saves me some time.

Secondly, I'll only say it once but the tunnel is still 15ft by 15ft, calling in a buttload of extra helpers and nuking areas with spells will make your already tight confines even tighter. My only heads up, otherwise, nice moves and I'll get a posting in in a bit.

Yeah, I was kinda wondering what the hell Savyon was thinking. Clearly, he's been getting into either my or Flint's supplies.

The purpose was to hinder their movement, making it difficult for possible other ones to have a clear sight through the storm. Obviously didn't work out that way.

Hadn't even considered the fact that we're not walking on the ground. Good thing to keep in mind with those Tremor Boots. Won't help in snow of any significant depth either.

I got you Savyon; I thought the difficult terrain/poor sightlines would be a nice benefit for us as well, considering we probably aren't gonna move too much until we squish all these buggers. You did delay one of the three Stalkers behind us, so Flint was the only one taking heat from them that round (which is exactly what we want if we're getting rear-ended).

Given that they're monstrous spider things living on a planet cold enough to kill you, I'd guess the mistake was the choice of element. Not sure if Khazia would make that connection, but a more dedicated arcanist such as yourself could probably surmise such, after seeing the Lolthilk shake off the cold.

The thought of the seemingly taciturn Savyon partaking of Lord-knows-what concoctions from the Alchemists' supplies really gets to me though ^.^

Miskatonic, I just came upon the Suli Race Trait Dualborn. It looks like more of a drawback to me - essentially giving up 2 types of energy resistance to be able to apply half damage of two other elements at the same time with Elemental Assault. But, the flavor is awesome - perfect for Khazia.

I'm wondering if you might redesign it as a feat she could take as part of her exploration of the Mystery behind her powers, now aided by the wisdom of The Brotherhood. She discovers she isn't Suli-Jann, but Suli born of some Dual Positive/Negative, Earth/Air being. Seeing how she used acid already, that's an obvious choice, and then Air is a good complementary opposite.

For redesigning, I'm thinking something like adding 1d6 of each element, it could scale in some way maybe with prerequisites or even if you developed a whole chain of feats, with increasing resistance & damage for the chosen elements. That would be awesome; I don't have any plans for feats beyond some metamagic & misc combat feats like Weapon Focus & Imp Crit.

Otherwise I'll just use that flavor of discovery in her story, but if it's alright I'd like to forgo choosing the weaker (for our game) Extra Trait feat to make it mechanical.

I wouldn't call that suprise round unfavorable. One enemy killed, in exchange for like 30 damage across the board? Not a bad round at all.

The first Lolthilk was killed in the first round. The only attacks in the surprise round itself were those on Khazia & The Professor. That's all the surprise round was. Round 1 Recap has the first dead enemy; surprise round recap before that was first damage to us. It's late, I'm tired.

But it is going well. We'll see how the next round or two turns out, but I'm thinking Khazia will at some point check on you two in the front; see your combined success (and Ham's gleefully murderous rampage), and may call for William to turn around & help us in the back. We are none of us true front-liners, although we are powerful, and pretty good at killing things. I'm hoping Flint put his target down, and Savyon will likely come out with more damage. Also let's hope these are the only ones coming up behind us.

Strategically, Ham would be the better one to come back, being more mobile than most of us, with William being the true tank, but IG that's not gonna happen. Yay murder spree! Passive Sense Motive likely indicates you're both raging; Ham is clearly much different than The Professor, although strangely half-disguised yet in their glamoured armor (if you ignore the ichor-covered claws & fangs, sudden wings, scales..? & general psychotic presence).

Also, as I said, Khazia will be immediately distrustful of the beastial, evil duality to Professor Brooks and Ham, but will understand, roughly, the situation (she knows Ham fundamentally views the world through an evil perspective, & himself perpetuates evil on a large scale). Some monstrous persona is cohabitating your body, acting in current mutual interest with us & yourself. Scary powerful & vastly different. Khazia will probably refer to Professor Brooks and Ham's strange dichotomy as The Possessed. Also, I can see her coming to better understand their situation as part of her personal growth, leading to all kinds of relationship opportunities.

/ramble.

TL;DR: Khazia's gonna call the binary situation that is Professor Brooks & Ham (The) Possessed. Unabashedly snide at first, and eventually, maybe, as a sign of affection.

--------------

I did not intend this specifically, but I'm proud of the fact that I'm able to produce a 4-attack full-round action in the second round. It's with slightly lower bonuses, & overall smaller damage output, but I also have a wide variety of damage in those smaller numbers; something is guaranteed to get through. & steady force damage is a plus.

If we're not wrapping this up soon I might pop off Spiritual Weapon, which just hovers over things & smashes them until they die. Good to drop on fresh enemy so it can unload for a few rounds, if Khazia can take care of the enemy in front of her for a bit of breathing room.

-------------

The Suli Racial Feat Incremental Assault allows you to selectively apply rounds of Elemental Assault & thereby stretch the ability throughout multiple battles in a day. This would be cool if there was also a way to increase Elemental Assault's damage; it could function well as part of a feat chain. Should I come up with proposed descriptions & numbers, Miskatonic? I've never tried making items or feats before, but I do understand feats fairly well and can try.

In the future, Ham will be more cooperative and able to strategize. But it's been a while since the Professor has been on a job, and Ham is currently lost in bloodlust at the first opportunity for a fight in a few months. On later occasions, he will be capable of rationalish thought, even when raging. Just not right now.

Just remembered a little detail- If somebody would be so kind as to find a way to provide me with flanking, I can get an extra 5d6 damage out there.

So I wrote this back when we were first chatting with Altaen, saved it somewhere, then forgot about it, & just found it again. Having spent like an hour researching the names referenced here, and reading it again now I thought it was still worth sharing. It was directed at Altaen.

I did later use a version of the part addressed to Flint, more effectively than what I wrote here, I think.

On that note, I hope I'll get the chance to flex Khazia's beefy social skills - I've never played the party face before, so it's kinda exciting for me :P

& Miskatonic, if you see this before he does so, please do bug Savyon IRL to post in gameplay. Savyon - no pressure, just eager to keep things moving. :)

This is a fun battle so far, and the party's operating better as a whole than I thought we would in our first foray.

Where are the words? GIVE ME WORDS!!!

Yus

EDIT: Wants.

All posts stopped the exact same day. Something in RL must have happened. All we can do is sit and wait I guess.

ATTENTION PLAYERS
I apologize for the delay and that for the time being I'm going to be postponing my activity with the game. I won't be shutting down the campaigns, so you can all discuss things amongst yourselves and still post.

I apologize for any hassle this may cause but I need to take a break.

You have done a significant amount of work to set this up. You deserve a break to recharge. I just hope it isn't too long or permanent. This kind of opportunity doesn't come by often.

So what should we do until then guys?

We could get drunk and start a bar brawl.

In case anyone is still paying attention to this post, Miskatonic is taking a longer leave of absence, due to significant changes going on.

Thank you for the update. Give him our best.

Still here. Still interested.

Changes in the game, or life in general? Just curious - neither is bad, & I wish him well in both. Lol nobody's ditching this game that quickly ;)

Life in general.