Daseem moved forwards and found himself behind the enormous form Ivan had sembled into. He had no idea what they were facing other than they needed to die!!! Still feeling cautious he offered several prayers to Our Lord in Iron...
Move action follow Ivan in. Standard action casting Prayer let me know if you need a SR check. Swift action using 1 fervor to cast Shield of Faith, AC = 22.
The bolt bupkis shoots is deflected by the hard skin of the troll. Menrozzar manages to penetrate that and drive the spear deep into the trolls flesh. But the wound starts closing immediately.
The troll turns towards the short creatures and attacks Menrozzar with it's crystal teeth and claws. The other troll attacks Ivan. The Buggane stretches and then lays heyvily into the dwarf.
Male Human Bloodrager 7/Dragon Disciple 5 | AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 22 Uncanny Dodge | HP 109/109 (143/143 Bloodrage); 24 nonlethal | Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +9; Resist fire 10 | Perception +15; blindsense 30 ft. | Init +6 | Bloodrage 33 rounds/day | Active Effects: none
Menrozzar replies, "Sorry, can't get there until this troll is down. The rock trolls regenerate - you can stop the regeneration with acid or damaging sound!"
Menrozzar continues pressing his attack against the rock troll before him.
Bupkis has problems to find a line to the troll to shoot it without harming Menrozzar. And so the cave wall gets hit. Ivan hammers the troll into a prper shape, at least once. Menrozzar also gets one claw into the stone hard flesh. This takes the troll down.
Daseem shrugged when Menrozzar suggested acid or sonic attacks. That wasn't something he could do, although lightning looked cool so he thought to try that. He Whispered a word scared to Gorum and his sword became limned with crackling sparks!
Without any further thought he threw himself at Menrozzar's target, trying to cleave it from head to toe!
Daseem makes sure the troll won't get up anytime soon.
The buggane and the other troll keep attacking Ivan. To his surprise the beast is stopped by his armor and shield this time. But the troll finds a way through his defenses.
Bupkis moves up and shoots the strange beast attacking Ivan. In the back of his mind he knows that the troll might be regenerating, but he's more worried about the creature that's up and fighting.
GM I'm not clear if there's a charge lane here, since I don't know if Ivan moved.
Daseem noted two enemies going down and nodded, Gorum would no doubt approve of this glorious exchange. Of course that meant there was one left who needed dealing with and so Daseem gave a blood curdling scream as he charge it and tried very hard to lop something off with his oversized sword!
Bupkis steps to the side to get a clearer shot, and tries to shoot past his friends at the troll. But there's just too many people in the way, and his shot goes over the troll's head.
The troll's teeth and claws shredded Daseem's skin despite his armour, spreading a shocking amount of his blood. He wasn't dead yet though and he was as mad as hell! Screaming incoherently he spun his oversized crackling sword in a lateral arc which bit deeply into the Troll's side!
Wincing at the pain his movements caused to his shredded flesh he whispered, "Gorrrum!" and touched his side which sent a wave of heat rolling through his side as many of the claw marks vanished!
Swift action. Using fervour to cast CMW. Cure Moderate Wounds:2d8 + 7 ⇒ (4, 3) + 7 = 14
Bupkis shoots the wall of the cave. But between the spear that Menrozzar drives into the troll and Daseems enraged swing of the blade, the second troll is taken down too.
But even with all enemies down, the two trolls' wounds keep healing with tremendous speed.
Male Human Bloodrager 7/Dragon Disciple 5 | AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 22 Uncanny Dodge | HP 109/109 (143/143 Bloodrage); 24 nonlethal | Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +9; Resist fire 10 | Perception +15; blindsense 30 ft. | Init +6 | Bloodrage 33 rounds/day | Active Effects: none
Menrozzar stabs the troll on the ground before him. "Does anyone have an acid flask or a way to use sound to magically harm them so we can keep them from regenerating?"
Fighter 10/Ranger 1/brawler 1 HP:127/127, 0NL | AC: 40(44 vs giant subtype) FF: 37 T:20|DR3/adamantine|| CMD: 33 (37vs trip, 37 vs bullrush, 37 vs overun)(+4 vs giant subtype)|Fort: +17(+5) Ref: +17(+5) Will:+12(+5)| Init: +4 Perception: +17
martial flexibility to grab warrior spirit, use warrior spirit to apply acid quality to hammer for 1d6 acid 2/5 martial flexibility.
Ivan asks the stone to bless his strikes after a moment, his hammer begins dripping with the strength of the earth. He slams it into both trolls faces,
if he could bupkis, would ye mind doin' that healin' trick fer me?
The buggane wears a curious necklace consisting of a leather thong from which hangs a glimmering,reddish-black chunk of mineral with a hole bored through one end. The mineral is a piece of magnetite, and its magnetic properties are immediately apparent when it’s placed near any ferrous metal.
Knowledge(local) DC16:
You remember that troll eat - besides people - minarals and gems.
Daseem grunted in appreciation when Ivan's strange magic allowed him to make his hammer take on an acidic quality and slay the trolls. There was clearly more to the dwarf than met the eye.
Turning to Bupkis he asks, "C-can you heal me too please?" Happy to take the burn.
Re the kn local, Daseem has no skills and he doesn't randomly gut monsters to see what's in them ...
Male Human Bloodrager 7/Dragon Disciple 5 | AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 22 Uncanny Dodge | HP 109/109 (143/143 Bloodrage); 24 nonlethal | Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +9; Resist fire 10 | Perception +15; blindsense 30 ft. | Init +6 | Bloodrage 33 rounds/day | Active Effects: none
Knowledge (local):1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Menrozzar says, "Rock trolls tend to eat minerals and gems, if we want to cut their gullets open and see what's in there." He doesn't look particularly thrilled at the prospect.
Bupkis is usually very excited at the prospect of shinies, but rooting around in a troll's stomach sounds disgusting. "Bupkis OK to move on," he says, avoiding the subject.
The party moves on. And seemingly endless time walkin gthrough the dark later you arrive at a fork. Bupkis scouts a bit ahead and finds something that stinks like a filthy kennel. An opening in the passage leads to a roughly circular cavern with a single rock troll slouching in there. Meat scraps litter the floor while piles of dung and other refuse line the edges of the cave.
Daseem frowned confused, he was sure of one thing only, "Gorum put it here so we could s-slay it!"
I don't mind bypassing if we can avoid picking fights we don't need to. Still it would be annoying if it heard us fighting something else can came to investigate...
Bupkis does a little more scouting in the other direction and finds a small maze of tunnels.
(H3)The passage opens into a wide cave with a high ceiling and smooth walls webbed with cracks. A thick crust of cave sediment covers the floor, along with a scattering of broken bones and other refuse. The walls are smooth (aside from the cracks), and are painted with stylized primitive images in faded colors. The most striking of these paintings are four huge pictographic murals depicting enormous stone buildings in a variety of settings. An arch of painted runes frames each mural. The cave seems to be emtpy otherwise.
/H4) The roof of this wide cavern slopes steeply upward, forming a naturally vaulted ceiling. Two natural stone columns rise from the floor next to a pool of stagnant, brown water. In the northeast corner of the cavern stands a collection of roughly chiseled stones, each about three feet tall and carved with a single rune. Above the stones, dangling from a row of spikes pounded into the wall, hang long strings of dead bats tied together in clumps. Numerous tally marks have been scratched into the wall next to the bats.
Two giant frilled lizards and a cave giant with gray stony skin dwell here.
Assuming Bupkis only takes a look and doesn't enter any of the open areas.
Bupkis reports back to the party with his findings, "Big gray giant with two big lizards in cave ahead. Giant must be killing bats, because many dead bats hanging in strings from series of spikes. Looks like it counting them.
"In another cave, broken bones and other waste on floor, but couldn't see any creatures. But cave paintings there.
"Might have to fight giant to get through these passages."
Is H2 the troll cave? Did we come from the direction of H1?
Welcome everyone! Please be friendly and try to resolve any disputes in an exceedingly lovely fashion. It is fine for your characters to rub each other the wrong way, but keep it civil out of character and chat about how you can make your conflict interesting and avoid disruption, etc.
Please remember as far as posting expectation go, you are expected to post at least once a day, and your posts are expected to average about 2 paragraphs. It is fine to make a quicky post if necessary, but you need to give me something more substantial later and it cannot become a habit. But even a quicky post need to have a bit of description on it.
I would categorise myself as a rules heavy GM, feel free to dispute rules and decisions that do not seem to fit within the rules - I would be a massive hypocrite if I minded :) Generally we will not retcon unless it puts a PC at great risk in some way. Please do so here in the discussion thread.
If you do post out of character in the gameplay thread, usually to explain actions please ensure it is in OOC tags and thus shows up blue. Or if you are posting information about an ability, or spell, put it inside a spoiler, as seen below.
Move to move, cast Burning Hands to catch goblin 3 and 4, swift action to draw dagger from spring loaded wrist sheath.
Burning Hands DC 15:
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Effect
Range 15 ft.
Area cone-shaped burst
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Reflex half; Spell Resistance yes
Description
A cone of searing flame shoots from your fingertips. Any creature in the area of the flames takes 1d4 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 5d4). Flammable materials burn if the flames touch them. A character can extinguish burning items as a full-round action.
Loot Rules:
We will be handling loot distribution with a split based upon sale prices. The split can either be between the party, or between the party and a group fund for items like cure wands, etc. I will throw up a google spreadsheet and update it each time I award treasure. This is mainly a way of ensuring that characters who are not suited to the APs loot do not miss out. PCs can choose to "buy" items you find at half price which comes out of their share and it is perfectly fine to go into debt for more than your share. If two players want the same item roll for it, but if you are in significant "debt" please consider giving up the item.
@Ivan not a problem, I am about to sleep anyway :)
@Scuttler my apologies for sending you 2 invites, I noticed I had not switched to the GM alias at the last second and thought I had been able to catch it, but evidently had not.
@All I really should have sent links to the threads in your invites, but it only occurred in hindsight.
Please note that unless there are significant deviations from the AP I will be awarding levels where the AP suggests to rather than tracking XP. Happy to here arguments against this if you have them :)
CG Male Human Summoner (unchained) 2 | HP 15/15 NL 13/15 | AC: 14, T:11, F:13 | CMD: 11 Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +4 | perception +0 | Init +1 | speed 30 ft
Edwin:
AC 15, touch 11, flat-footed 14 (+1 Dex, +4 natural) hp 17 (2d10+2) Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +3 Defensive Abilities evasion; Resist electricity 5; CMB +6; CMD 17
I third the approval of lvling when the AP says it’s now I’ve always done it As well. I’ll have a proper introduction in the gameplay of thread by tonight.
Goodness two goblin PCs, if only the playtest forum knew ;) Interesting class mix, we'd better load up on CLW wands, best not tell the playtest forum about that either...
LOL, well I warned you guys that party composition was not really a factor in selection :) Please note that I will be putting all of the characters into herolab over the course of this week, as it gives me both easy access and a chance to see any potential issues.
@Scrabbler could I get you to insert your "essential stats" in the classes bar for easy reference please? Never know quite what to call that, must be a better name knocking about?
Bupkis could pick up the Kinetic Healer utility wild talent at lvl 2. It's healing with a price: either the healer or the healee has to take Burn (one point per level of non-lethal damage that requires a night's rest to restore).
Bupkis is currently built as a switch-hitter, using telekinetic blast and kinetic blade.
I thought I'd raise a rules issue/ambiguity with Kinetic Blade and Aether Kineticists.
Kinetic Blade wrote:
You form a weapon using your kinetic abilities. You create a nonreach, light or one-handed weapon in your hand formed of pure energy or elemental matter. (If you’re a telekineticist, you instead transfer the power of your kinetic blast to any object held in one hand.) The kinetic blade’s shape is purely cosmetic and doesn’t affect the damage dice, critical threat range, or critical multiplier of the kinetic blade, nor does it grant the kinetic blade any weapon special features. The object held by a telekineticist for this form infusion doesn’t prevent her from using gather power.
You can use this form infusion once as part of an attack action, a charge action, or a full-attack action in order to make melee attacks with your kinetic blade. Since it’s part of another action (and isn’t an action itself), using this wild talent doesn’t provoke any additional attacks of opportunity. The kinetic blade deals your kinetic blast damage on each hit (applying any modifiers to your kinetic blast’s damage as normal, but not your Strength modifier). The blade disappears at the end of your turn. The weapon deals the same damage type that your kinetic blast deals, and it interacts with Armor Class and spell resistance as normal for a blast of its type. Even if a telekineticist uses this power on a magic weapon or another unusual object, the attack doesn’t use any of the magic weapon’s bonuses or effects and simply deals the telekineticist’s blast damage. The kinetic blade doesn’t add the damage bonus from elemental overflow.
Telekinetic Blast wrote:
If the attack hits, the target and the thrown object each take the blast’s damage.
RAW, this would appear to mean that if you use a weapon with Kinetic Blade, it takes damage whenever you hit someone with it (subject to hardness), so once you're doing more damage than the hardness, the weapon is quickly destroyed.
I could always avoid the issue by sticking to a purely ranged build.
Male Human Bloodrager 7/Dragon Disciple 5 | AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 22 Uncanny Dodge | HP 109/109 (143/143 Bloodrage); 24 nonlethal | Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +9; Resist fire 10 | Perception +15; blindsense 30 ft. | Init +6 | Bloodrage 33 rounds/day | Active Effects: none
Worse comes to worse we can try to find you an adamantine stick or two to use with kinetic blade. That plus the mending cantrip should cover things.
I only half kid, btw.
As far as healing goes, kinetic healer is a good option to start, if not necessarily the best for prolonged use, and CLW or infernal healing wands should work fine, as well. Most groups use CLW or infernal healing wands as the main source of healing, so I don't see that as an issue. We have a few different people who can use them, too.
That is the way I read it Bupkis, but then it ought not to be a big loss, and a "club" will usually be available in most environments as a quick replacement. Plus you could always choose something more substantial like say a three inch iron ingot which would have 30hp since it can be any object, or more expendable like any random rock.
Fighter 10/Ranger 1/brawler 1 HP:127/127, 0NL | AC: 40(44 vs giant subtype) FF: 37 T:20|DR3/adamantine|| CMD: 33 (37vs trip, 37 vs bullrush, 37 vs overun)(+4 vs giant subtype)|Fort: +17(+5) Ref: +17(+5) Will:+12(+5)| Init: +4 Perception: +17
@ bupkiss,
you could always just use random items. I remember my first telekinectist, he was a "investigator" sorts.
he was inspired by harry dresden and gambit. Basically, he carried around a couple bags of marbles, a few decks of playing cards, and some containers of toothpicks. He would use the marbles for bludgeoning damage, cards for slashing, and toothpicks for piercing. RAW it works just fine too. It was also awesomely thematic when he killed an orc by literally mind-throwing a toothpick through its head.
that fixes any throwing problems.
For the blade, I would recommend just allowing him to form a solid weapon out of aether, like the other elemental types. It wouldn't change much, and makes for another thematic thought. Just my 2-cents.
Aether kineticists need to use an object. Unlike other kineticists, they can't form a blade out of their element (see the bolded text in my previous post).
Some people have argued that a length of rope wouldn't take damage:
Ineffective Weapons wrote:
Certain weapons just can’t effectively deal damage to certain objects. For example, a bludgeoning weapon cannot be used to damage a rope.
It's possible to draw a new object every time, although that can run into action economy problems (at low levels you need to Gather Power as a move action to avoid the burn cost).
Fighter 10/Ranger 1/brawler 1 HP:127/127, 0NL | AC: 40(44 vs giant subtype) FF: 37 T:20|DR3/adamantine|| CMD: 33 (37vs trip, 37 vs bullrush, 37 vs overun)(+4 vs giant subtype)|Fort: +17(+5) Ref: +17(+5) Will:+12(+5)| Init: +4 Perception: +17
Also, I'd argue that, the weapon used for telekinetic blade Doesn't take any damage, as the wording states the thrown weapon bolded for emphasis. Since you aren't throwing the blade for kenetic blade, it doesn't classify as a thrown weapon.
Bupkis could pick up the Kinetic Healer utility wild talent at lvl 2. It's healing with a price: either the healer or the healee has to take Burn (one point per level of non-lethal damage that requires a night's rest to restore).
Filbert has that in my Strange Aeons game. It's proved very useful for them although it is a bit of double edged sword as he recently found out when he'd built up enough burn to be KOd early.
Anyway like Edgar says I think we'll be fine for healing with that in mind. Daseem will certainly learn the various cure spells and presumably we can buy / find wands and scrolls for more situational things (healing ability damage, diseases etc).
Daseem, did you choose positive or negative energy for your spontaneous casting? Or does Arsenal Chaplain sacrifice that?
Molthuni Arsenal Chaplin sacrifices channel energy (for weapon training which is a good trade these days). He can use fervor normally and he'll select positive energy for sure.
A good warpriest (or a neutral warpriest of a good deity) can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that he did not prepare ahead of time. The warpriest can expend any prepared spell that isn’t an orison to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or lower. A cure spell is any spell with “cure” in its name.
An evil warpriest (or a neutral warpriest of an evil deity) can’t convert spells to cure spells, but can convert them to inflict spells. An inflict spell is any spell with “inflict” in its name.
A warpriest that is neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither good nor evil chooses whether he can convert spells into either cure spells or inflict spells. Once this choice is made, it cannot be changed. This choice also determines whether the warpriest channels positive or negative energy (see Channel Energy, below).
Male Human Bloodrager 7/Dragon Disciple 5 | AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 22 Uncanny Dodge | HP 109/109 (143/143 Bloodrage); 24 nonlethal | Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +9; Resist fire 10 | Perception +15; blindsense 30 ft. | Init +6 | Bloodrage 33 rounds/day | Active Effects: none
Bupkis wrote:
Should I be making a strength check at all? Would it help our efforts if Bupkis didn't pull, given his strength penalty? :)
I thought I'd answer this here. If it's most appropriate for Bupkis to pull, have Bupkis pull. If his Strength penalty makes it more inconvenient for us, that's half the fun of roleplay.
Daseem: As someone who's played a base Warpriest of Gorum, let me just say that if everything goes right, you won't need to use it much, but it's very good to have when you need it.
Also, around the time you get level 3 spells, the only level 1 spells you'll prepare are divine favor and shield of faith. I don't think I ever swapped them out after a certain point.
To be honest I am not wild about the tug-o-war mechanics, but it is just a bit of fun, you do get minuses for the gobbos low strength, but also for Ruby's, but removing a weak team member should not make you stronger so I will give a -2 for non participation - I will eyeball distraction so if down effectively they are, well, effective :)
And to be clear you cannot aid the strength score is your combined strength.
@Menrozzar: Menrozzar would likely have met Bupkis before, through Rodrik.
Relevant background exerpt:
That day the lookout was lax, and the raiders got quite close to the market, before they were spotted. Traders and townsfolk ran in panic as the alarm was sounded, and orcs ran through the stalls. Bupkis was filled with fear for Alicia's safety; he had to do something! Hiding behind a vegetable stand, he picked up a rock with his mind, and launched it at the nearest orc. The villain was closing in on a woman just a few steps behind Alicia, when the rock slammed into its shoulder. Surprised and angry, the orc turned and chased him. He dodged out of the way, scrambling through the maze of tables, and threw another rock at it. The commotion confused the other orcs, and delayed them long enough for the a group of guards, led by Patrol Captain Rodrik Grath, to arrive and drive them off.
Before this point, Bupkis had been very good at remaining unnoticed, but his concern for Alicia had caused him to throw caution to the wind. He had been spotted, but luckily for him, Rodrick had realized what had distracted the orcs, and that lives had been saved. Bupkis was cornered by the guards, but Rodrik ordered them to spare the little goblin.
Rodrik took a liking to Bupkis, and made sure he could get enough to eat without stealing, in exchange for a promise to defend the town if it came under attack again. The Patrol Leader also arranged for a place in a shed for Bupkis to sleep, so he didn't have to camp out beyond the walls. Bupkis now had two friends! Rodrik introduced him to his brother Kurst and some of the guards; if they had any reservations about a goblin in the town, they kept their concerns to themselves, deferring to Rodrik's persuasive manner. He continued to visit Alicia; he would amuse her with his slapstick routine, and she would play games with him (these were a lot nicer than the goblin games played back in his former tribe).
CG Male Human Summoner (unchained) 2 | HP 15/15 NL 13/15 | AC: 14, T:11, F:13 | CMD: 11 Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +4 | perception +0 | Init +1 | speed 30 ft
Edwin:
AC 15, touch 11, flat-footed 14 (+1 Dex, +4 natural) hp 17 (2d10+2) Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +3 Defensive Abilities evasion; Resist electricity 5; CMB +6; CMD 17
GM Placeholder of Doom! wrote:
LOL, well I warned you guys that party composition was not really a factor in selection :) Please note that I will be putting all of the characters into herolab over the course of this week, as it gives me both easy access and a chance to see any potential issues.
Honestly I think we are farely well balanced, we have plenty of muscle, a dash of divine, a bit of arcane, a sneak and it sounds like the kineticist has ranged options as well?
Also GM, if you like I can just email you my hero labs raw data file save you some time
Male Human Bloodrager 7/Dragon Disciple 5 | AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 22 Uncanny Dodge | HP 109/109 (143/143 Bloodrage); 24 nonlethal | Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +9; Resist fire 10 | Perception +15; blindsense 30 ft. | Init +6 | Bloodrage 33 rounds/day | Active Effects: none
Bupkis: Yep, although I don't think they'd necessarily be friends. Here's the relevant excerpt from my Intro post.
Menrozzar wrote:
Towards the front he saw Captain Rodrik Grath leading that goblin he'd taken a liking to to the front - it was a curious friendship, but the goblin didn't cause trouble, so no one would likely care.
Menrozzar just might not quite remember his name - I imagine they've only met once or twice.
@Edgar Bronson, no thank you Edgar, I generally learn a fair bit about characters while inputting them so I find it a useful process - appreciate the offer though :)
Fighter 10/Ranger 1/brawler 1 HP:127/127, 0NL | AC: 40(44 vs giant subtype) FF: 37 T:20|DR3/adamantine|| CMD: 33 (37vs trip, 37 vs bullrush, 37 vs overun)(+4 vs giant subtype)|Fort: +17(+5) Ref: +17(+5) Will:+12(+5)| Init: +4 Perception: +17
In addition to its great common room
for feasts and meetings, the structure also contains several
barracks where young unmarried warriors of either gender
can live in order to focus more on their militia training.
Chief among these is Jagrin Grath,
Ivan was going to the longhouse, but he would go the ramblehouse if kurst sent him there.
