GM ShadowLord's Rise of the Runelords Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master GM ShadowLord

I think it's safe to narrate through the rest of this scene. It's definitely not working out too well for the format and I also agree that the holidays didn't help any.

I’m fine with switching to narrative.

Being honest this is not the most clear of the encounters we have played on this campaign, but taking into account how experienced roleplayer you are, and how active you Rysky are in these boards, I was expecting you could offer us more to help this encounter move and be fun.

Because otherwise we keep not knowing what is your intention for this game and we either remain here silent letting this die or we continue skipping rounds until Sandpoint is destroyed and we have to run away and concede the village to the giants.

I’m not sure what I could offer. There’s no real tricks or alternative options to employ that I can see, we only have one person capable of flight (Krysta) and it was revealed Sunday had the bow just a lil while ago.

I’m not trying to intentionally sabotage the game, but I can’t keep track of what’s going on, when our options usually don’t work or just consist of moving for multiple rounds, especially since we’ve been in this encounter for three and a half months.

I’ve pretty much hated this encounter from the get go, we weren’t equipped for it, didn’t get to prepare for it, and even if we try and fight there’s little to no positive outcome, in what weeks, months later? When we can just narrate throughout and move on with the game.

I hate skipping stuff, it killed my favorite game on here, it still eats at me, but I’m just not seeing a point in wasting our time here running around doing nothing.

I don’t want to skip if it is going to grate at you. I’m open for other options if you or someone else has them?

After 3 months I’m fine with skipping this single encounter.

That is just it... personally I cannot think of a third line, so to speak, beyond a cooperative narrative vice a dictatorial one (by which I mean something along the lines of you broad strokes major events, we post how we would react in general terms vice round by round rolls, you then using that input to determine what happens next, rinse, repeat until we get to the end of the siege... depending on how things go, perhaps determine if any of us are dead or dying).

The only other options are (as far as I can tell, perhaps someone else can think of something out of the box) are to 1) keep plodding along through as we are round by round; 2) have a dictatorial narrative where we just get told what happened and have no input on outcomes at all; or 3) have us all "fade to black" cinimatic style and wake up with whatever survivors remain (or town remain, depending) after the fact, the victims of some kind of memory loss. Of those three, the last one is probably the least tasteful and the first one is seemingly the most frustrating and time consuming.

I am fine with the narrative.

Alternatively I suggest we just assume the party faces the largest group of giants in the streets at some point and set a normal urban housing map for that, while Krysta resolves her fight with the dragon (I have come to believe she looks for an epic end for her character). That would apparently set the limits of both encounters in a way that most people here would feel comfortable.

If I am going to do the narrative, I would likely just hand-wave the encounter and move on. Going back and forth with you on what you want to do is essentially the same thing we are doing now and I don't think that is going to move us past this very quickly unless I'm not understanding what you are thinking of (please clarify for me).

We can assume everyone will focus on the dragon until it's down or has moved on at which point you'll turn to giants. That's all there is to this fight, just a bunch more giants. This is a good way to write Krysta out, but I'll need some feedback on Jessica before we do that.

This is... acceptable to me.

Do you want us to do some sort of survival check? I only ask because Vivi took a lot of damage so far and was going to have to engage our foes in melee. We saw how well that worked previously, so there would have been a serious possibility that he (at the very least) might have fallen in the course of this battle.

(I mean, seriously, even after all that healing he got that boulder hit dropped him right back to 2/5ths of his HP...)

Not really. It's unfair to handwave an encounter and have someone die in it unless that is specifically what they want (like a way to phase out Krysta if she wants). Otherwise, everyone takes some damage, probably gets knocked out but lives and we move on.

Makes sense... I only bring it up because I was clearly not doing well in this encounter. ;)

Unless folks want me to replace Vivi with something else (a possibility I am open to but not actively asking for, if that makes sense) I am more than cool with him somehow surviving this fight, deserved or not. ;)

Jessica, what do you want to do with Krysta here? Do you want her to go down fighting if it comes to it or to survive and be queen of the dragons? :)

Preferably become Queen of the Dragons. She has a little one to protect while I'm away after all.

Very good. I'll read through the encounter in its entirety, summarize and move us on tomorrow.

Looking forward to it. No real rush, Shadow... we know that trying to summarize an entire encounter in "cinematic" form will likely take time and not be easy.

As a separate question (this one for all) are you guys happy with Vivi and what he brings to the table? I mean, I know everyone was trying to bend over backwards to figure out how to *not* kill him off from his (retrospectively) suicidal charge into enemy territory... but there is a difference between not wanting to see a character be killed off and being happy with what he provides.

You all can feel free to answer here, or by PM if you prefer your thoughts to be private... but I figure now would be a good time to retire him if the majority think he isn't pulling his weight. We have enough down time that I can draft a replacement more tailored to what we need as a group. Or not. I am not asking to retire him, after all... I am just asking what your opinions are on the matter. ;)

Regards all!

As is evidenced by my lack of a post, I missed my mark. Trying to do it today!

I'll let the others chime in, but I personally so no reason to retire him unless you aren't happy with him. If a player isn't enjoying their character then I do encourage them to find something else they want to play for fear they drop from the game due to lack of interest.

I've had minimal interaction with him so I don't really have much to go off of either way. if you're considering effectiveness I personally at love monks but they tend to lag behind other melee characters in the damage output and effectiveness categories.

if that's part of your decision then you you know if you want to swap them out that would make sense. If you enjoy the character and his backstory and his ties to the others then I don't see any reason to do anything different.

I like Vivi as a character, for his personality, and also for the flavor you imprint on him. Also, I find interesting how his kindness moved him into defending Sandpoint, and how the tenets of his order move him to research and protect all kind of old scrolls and lost information about Thassilion.

If you feel you need some extra deepness or inspiration, I recommend to have a look at this video.

Stats-wise though I am convinced he will need some tweaks here and there if he is to withstand our kind GM unmercifully ravenous critters. Nothing that cannot be solved with a visit to Magnimar's most notorious magical shops :D

I like Vivi as well. He's an interesting character and you give him a lot of life. While I would like to see him stay, Jess would like to have another of her friends back, I believe you should do what you want to do.

I'm indifferent, so I'd say do want you'd prefer to do.

I appreciate all the feedback from you all.

I love the character, personally... I just have concerns about being useful in situations involving combat. I will think about things... it could just be the way I am approaching combat that is causing problems.

Sorry it's taking me a while to get a post up on this. I have been a bit busy and this is one that is going to take some serious thought and effort so I don't want to half ass it.

So... hypothetically... if I was to roll up a new character for a short while (short being relative, of course) what would folks say our weak area is? I am leaning toward something arcane as being out weak point, though traps and locks... or ranged abilities... might be areas of concern.

I am not committing to rolling a new character, mind you... just noting that the situation as it stands might require it, at least temporarily. Vivi is not entirely in his right mind at the moment. Grief does that.

Arcane trickster?

Traps and locks are well covered by Delendir (he has the trapper archetype which means he is as good as a rogue on that concern). He is not the best of archers but he is strong on that too.

Yavanne is a witch, and she has demonstrated she covers pretty well the arcane needs of the group.

With Jessica back, the sacred is also covered.

Daud covers well the damage dealing.

In my opinion what we need the most is a strong defender, able to hold enough time in front of giants. Monks do have ways to sky rocket AC. But if you want to try a different character... may I suggest a stalward dwarven warrior looking for ancient Thassilion secrets of weapon crafting? He might be better fit to hold a bow than a monk if the need arises once more.

Yeah, their AC can go up, but not the way I built him... and as we have seen, their HP totals aren't the greatest when those inevitable hits do finally land (hence mostly playing him as a hit-and-run type in combat... no sense it even allowing them to try a melee blow in the first place, but that is my thought).

Hm... no knock against Yavanne's magical abilities, but they seem focused on debuffing the ever living hell out of our foes (very very useful) and buffing us up to god levels (also very very useful) instead of unleashing pure magical destruction on our foes outright (which was what I was thinking if I went arcane). Perhaps there is a way I can mix the two needs.

Please note though... while I am going to draft up something, I will not swap to it unless either:

1) Vivi is forced to retire for a spell. EX: y'all have to imprison him to keep him from trying to kill the mayor.

or

2) Vivi dies along the way like what nearly happened earlier.

Blasting or another martial would work to take advantage of the buffs.

"Tank" based characters don't really work since you need to be able to keep attention on yourself, so doing a lot of damage is where that comes in.

Yeah, Yavenee is built with the concept of twisting fate hence heavily de-buffing enemies and heavily buffing allies. Her overall damage output isn't much to talk about.

A blaster would definitely be useful. And help with both the arcane weakness and the range weakness. As far as melee goes a straight-up heavily armored war machine that can get up in a giant's face and throw down, would definitely be nothing to frown on.

I am on a ski trip and may not get a game update in until Monday.

We do not have any diamonds available, but we have stuff to sell for a value of 36,415.20 gp we could buy the diamonds from that money and split the rest among us. Given each diamond is 5,000 gp, that will leave us with around 5,000 gp each, in case you want to order Yavanee to buy some equipment for you during her trip to Magnimar. Delendir would be pleased to teleport with her to help with the logistics.

Also there is a stack of useful items waiting for you people to pick up and a few items for you casters to identify.

Yeah we have almost no loot for our level.

I would recommend buying three diamonds (2 for now) and at least 2000gp of diamond dust. That way we will have the materials for a raise dead and restoration to treat the negative levels should the worst happen later on.

So in character, Yavenee is completely on board with going and getting the things we need to bring them back. Out of character Sunday makes a really good point about our wealth by level,

Patinkin blowing all our resources on bringing back an NPC in an alternate character, panted important ones with story significance, is only going to make that worse. we're setting ourselves up to get brutally killed by an opponent for which we're in no way prepared to face soon.

Sunday actually wouldn’t have an issue with raising Ameiko and Krysta.

Sunday would also suggest stealing or ransacking the the pretty rocks from some rich f$@& rather than buying them.

Actually checking numbers, WBL for level 10 is 62,000g

Sunday’s equipment:

Nualia’s sword: 2,335g

Belt of Giant Strength: 4,000g

Boots of Swift Fury: 7,500g

Sunday Wealth: 13,835g

Didn’t factor in Lamatar’s bow since I didn’t even know he had it till the other day.

Sorry for the wall of text

There is a pile of potentially useful items to split among and includes some items still to identify (could Yavanee or Jessica please do it?).

Also, I feel we do not deserve it, but the fallen giants and dragon sure had some equipment which if we mind collecting will close our gap to WBL.

According to the Treasure Sheet, Daud has claimed at one moment or another:

- mwk handaxe: gp 306
- Arrow x20: gp 1
- mwk composite longbow: gp 400
- Nualia’s sword: gp 2,335
- Cure moderate wounds potion: gp 300
- Adamantine longsword: gp 3,008
- Ring of Protection +1: gp 2,000
- Reaper's mask: gp 12,000 (CL 7, Confusion 2/day; '+2 Perception vs creatures non immune to fear. +1 damage with slashing weapons. -1 Cha damage)

Which shall push Daud's wealth up to: gp 31,350

And the quartermaster has handed gp 16,114 to each of us this far (without counting this book selling yet), which makes me think you should have some spare coin in your pouch.

As for Delendir his wealth is: gp 63,941
Adventure stuff
- +1 adamantine vicious trident (large): gp 11030
- gloves of swimming and climbing: gp 6250
- Belt of strength +2: gp 4000
- headband of alluring charisma +2: gp 4000
- Ring of Jumping: gp 2500
- Cloak of elvenkind: gp 2500
- boots of the winterlands: gp 2500
- +1 longsword: gp 2315
- Protection +1 ring: gp 2000
- amulet of natural armor +1: gp 2000
- Buckler +1: gp 1155
- mwk thieve's tools: gp 100
- Composite shortbow: gp 75
- Healer's kit: gp 50
- Donkey: gp 8
- Shocking burst arrow +2 (x6): gp 3876,12
- +1 elf bane arrow (x4): gp 640
- Arrow (x78): gp 3
- potions of cure serious wounds (x3): gp 2250
- Cure moderate wounds potion: gp 300
- Cure light wounds potion (x2): gp 50
Bought stuff
- Cloak of resistance +2: gp 4,000
- Nualia's bow improvement to +1 adaptative: gp 3,350
- +1 agile breastplate: gp 1,550
- Healer's kit: gp 50
- Thief's tools: gp 30
- Alchemist's fire flask: gp 20
- Minor stuff: gp 28.71
Gold remaining
- gp 7.260,82

Of course I have been equipping stuff that continuously remained unused but would be of more use on other characters, like the +1 natural armor amulet or the headband of alluring charisma.

I have an automatized sheet for Delendir at the treasure spreadsheet that helps me keep things on track for him without consuming time. If anyone is interested just let me know and I can configure one for your character too.

About the diamonds
I do agree with both Jessica and Yavanee. We can stock a bit on diamonds just in case as Jessica proposes. On the other hand, agreeing with Yavanee and somehow in line with Daud's statement, I would suppose an NPC like Ameiko who recently inherited her family richness would compensate us generously for raising her. At least paying for her own costs.

I would not mind paying for raising Krysta, she is a NPC now, but I consider her akin to a party companion and deserves same treatment in my opinion.

I had thought I had fuly upgeared myself when I was getting Jess ready to return but I apparently never finished. She's sitting at 39520 herself.

It was never my intention for you to pay for the materials to revive Krysta and Ameiko from your party funds. Deverin will obtain what she needs (and more) from the Magnimar mayor for this.

Also, there is a few items from the raid which are yours to claim as well, I listed them out in gameplay.

On the subject of WBL, One of the problems could very well be all of the people who have come and gone from this game are taking loot with them which should probably go towards your gear level as well. Not to mention that ROTR is notoriously light on loot to begin with.

Sunday gave the ring to Elisai, and Delendir tossed the sword to him to help free the rangers from cages, I didn’t assume it was a permanent trade.

And y’all made me sell the mask and split the gold >_>

Fortunately Krystal isn't doing that, her fear was specifically hers and I dont think she took anything from party loot at all.

I think it's safe to say you can take all of Elisai's gear and assume it to be yours to sell or use as you see fit.

Wow talk to text while on a loud train definitely requires proof reading

I tried to use it once on my way home while I was driving, thinking I could use that hour and a half commute to knock out some posts... Wow it was terrible, it basically took me 45 minutes to do one post due to the massive mistakes it was making!

So everyone isn't blindsided completely by this, Vivi is suffering from a modification of the hellbound curse (from Horror Adventures, and using the same corruption/manifestation rules, with some modifications for flavor). That roll I did behind the crunch block was his attempt to fight off a temptation for corruption... and he got a nat 1. Short of being physically restrained, I don't think Vivi can be stopped at this point (though obviously GM Shadow has the final verdict on that).

Kinds figured that’s what that was.

Sunday gave the ring to Elisai, and Delendir tossed the sword to him to help free the rangers from cages, I didn’t assume it was a permanent trade.

And y’all made me sell the mask and split the gold >_>

Well... Daud never handed back the adamantine sword neither.

We have 5 rings of protection +1, so at least Daud must have one.

Ok, I have set now Daud's mask for selling with the next batch of equipment.

Everyone else please, pick up stuff from the item's pile or the treasure sheet. Remember we still have rings and potions to identify.

Given Delendir asked for Jessica's aid, will wait to see what (if anything) she tries to do before reacting to Sunday.

It's not every day you see someone talk a raving homicidal maniac down.

Spellcraft (Unidentified potion 1): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24
Spellcraft(Unidentified potion 2): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (11) + 14 = 25
Spellcraft (Unidentified Amulet): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27
Spellcraft (Unidentified Ring): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (2) + 14 = 16
Spellcraft (Unidentified scroll 1): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30
Spellcraft (Unidentified scroll 2): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34
Spellcraft (Unidentified scroll 3): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 26

As far as the unclaimed Items, I have +15 to UMD so even though Acid arrow isn't on my spell list, I can make use of the wand with a roll of 5 or better, which would definitely up my offensive capability.

The boots of the winterlands would help with surviving in harsh environment if no one wants them.

In terms of what she'd want to buy:
Cackling hAG'S Blouse 6,000
Hexing Runes 10,000

Ok, I have decided it will be more operative to distribute myself the items among the group. Please, make sure to write down your new equipment and recalculate your stats accordingly.

Let me know what do you want Delendir to buy for you in Magnimar like Yavenee already did. Current sellings will give us 24,000 extra golds to each of us (except Jessica who just entered with WBL) and leave 12.985,93 golds in the party pot. It was suggested to buy 1 diamond for the group and 2000 gp diamond dust. That leave us 5985,93 golds in the party pod. Shall we buy a couple of healing wands or do you have other recommendations?

I have created a dedicated tab for each character at the treasure sheet to help me track the equipment and wealth of each of us. I based it on your current character profiles and the sheet claims tracking. I hope it also helps you.