Luca doesn't like sea voyages, but she's willing to go. XD Mostly she just doesn't want to get attacked by pirates or shipwrecked on an island.
Oh c'mon. What are the chances of that happening twice in the same campaign? *laughs in GM*
And yep, I'm basically taking your decision as "take big ship to Athekor" so that's what my next post will start you down.
Makes sense - do you want a post from us?
Nope! Didn't have the time on Friday or the weekend, making the posting rounds now. It'll be up in a half an hour at most.
You've left the cursed city of Keldradt and its attendant guardians. Because this campaign moves at an admittedly glacial pace, You first arrived on (in real-world time) Feb 23rd 2016. In IC time, you spent roughly two months in and around the area (I haven't added it all up, but I think that was about right) I hope you enjoyed your stay in the city and its surrounding jungle.
You can complete your level-up now. Tyrus, you can delay until an RP-appropriate time or do it now at your leisure. Tyrus, I'll let you know that in a couple days you will have another disease check and roll, so the affected stat might switch for you (not sure if you're planning different 'modes' for each stat).
I'll move us along further tomorrow, react to the current post in the meantime.
(Levelup in progress)
What level are we supposed to be now? I think I've got Kien at level 6 right now.
Level: Summoner 6
HP: 7 + 0 Con
FCB: +1 Skill Point
New 2nd Level Spell: Invisibility
Various skill points
Improvements to class abilities (does not get some 'cuz of altered class choices, but Life From Beyond improves to 3d6 healing and gets another use)
Fluffy gains a HD and shuffles features a bit. Little tougher and more accurate, but with the 1/2 progression of the Master Summoner, still more for show than anything else. XD
Well. The moment of truth. Tyrus finally qualifies for the Prestige class. Do I take it, or stay a 'vanilla' wizard? Hmmm....
Kien: Highest level should be 6. I believe Tyrus is a level behind you guys.
Keep in mind that retraining is an option even for class levels. If you feel that you'd rather wait for another time to take the prestige class due to RP or other reasons, you can keep advancing as a regular wizard then later, when the time is right, the group takes a few months off and you spend it trading in the 'extra' wizard levels for the prestige class.
Hm - No, Tyrus was behind, but levelled to 5 a little while ago. I suspect if the others are levelling to 6, hes probably still at 5 for a little while.
Hopefully he's not too far from catching up though.
As for the prestige; this is actually your fault! ;)
One of the smaller advantages of Vanilla Wizards is that when they level, they get 2 bonus spells to learn for free. With the new spell research rules you have, this is one of the best times to research a new spell.
Arguably a researched spell is not much better than buying a "standard" spell from another practitioner, but I very much like the flavour that goes with it.
Hmm; how would retraining work in this case? Would the additional cost need to be paid back at some sort of standard time/gold rate?
I suspect if the others are levelling to 6, hes probably still at 5 for a little while
Incidentally, this is something I would be delighted to be wrong about
The voyage is a golden opportunity to do... something. Holding off a little on posting while I work out what.
I'm torn as to which
(A) scribe scrolls
(B) Alchemy (Troll Styptic could be a literal lifesaver, and we're out of acid)
(C) Research a new spell
(D) Learn new spells
(E) Retrain... something. I've actually considered retraining to Arcanist - though that pretty much spells the end of Bloatmage.
@Mercy: which of these are available, please?
@Kien: Have you mentioned to Tyrus a desire for Darkness spells? Did you do your retraining?
Hmmm.
@Mercy: you have said before that you do not like the spells like mount that make the game too easy.
On the other hand I see Tyrus has a very real (and increasing) drag on the speed of the group, in places where a lower speed is a huge limitation. I see he would have a strong incentive to find a way to go faster.
I've looked at a couple; all could work, all have a cost, all run the risk of ruining what you're going for.
I have a preference for solving the problem with magic, but have included the others.
I would like to get your opinion.
(A) Tyrus gets a horse, and learns to ride. I feel sorry for the poor horse, but it could work, and is completely mundane. Not very magical though, and brings in a companion.
(B) Floating Disk now has a Magic Trick feat that lets you ride it and gives a 30 ft movement. Costs a Feat, though.
(C) Mark of Buoyancy Allows levitating 10lbs/caster level. Cast a couple of times it could levitate enough weight to counter out Tyrus's weight.
(D)Conjure Carriage/Mount/Phantom Steed. All conjuration, but al conjure something that makes travelling easier.
(E) Research a new spell
(F) Retrain Bloatmage Initiate, and restore normal speed to 30ft.
I have done my retraining. I have not mentioned my desire for darkness spells. Right now Tyrus hardly seems able to manage his own breakfast, so Kien didn't think to ask him about difficult magical requests.
Fair enough!
Tyrus actually was catching up vis-a-vis experience level, due to some excellent RP and the bonuses thus applied. Chances are you'll catch up officially some time in the future, but not quite yet. I'd forgotten that you had ascended to 5 already, so yes you won't actually be going up to 6 quite yet. Sorry! Our overall rate of leveling is going to speed up though.
As for what to do on the voyage, making scrolls and simple alchemical stuff would be a good option. You'd have a slight penalty to crafting due to lack of equipment and motion of the ship, but nothing crazy.
Spell research... maybe at a reduced rate? Again, lack of equipment and a non-ideal workspace hampers you, but insofar as early spell research is largely "thinking about magic and s$!*" I don't see what you couldn't get something done. Learning new spells only if you have the material you're learning it FROM handy, just as always.
Retraining depends on what you want. Mostly it just requires time, but retraining a Feat, for instance, can probably be done in a couple weeks of travel. Retraining a class level is much more arduous.
Incidentally, due to the stage of your character story and what I have in store for you, a good 'time' to potentially switch your class and build could be coming up. It may even come with reduced cost!
I dislike the Mount spell because it offers a way to trivially circumvent something that should be a concern for early parties. Also it breaks a key trait of summoning spells (limited time in existence) for out-of-universe reasons (expediency).
Option A is certainly the simplest and most sensible in most situations. Animal companions are less troublesome than true NPC's, too. I like the floating disk idea, I'd be fine with that (and you'd basically be a Slaan...). C is fine as well. D are somewhat similar to the Mount spell, so I'd have to think about it (though I'm actually mostly fine with Phantom Steed).
E is always an option, and you've previously used your False Life spell to good effect. Also, this might be a good situation where Item Crafting could offer a solution. Plenty of ways to approach it there.
Very busy irl right now. Kien will buy anything Tyrus asks for, and will try to find some silken ceremonial armor for him. He will also look into a mitral buckler, although I know that's much more expensive.
But at least you asking about it will force me to make decisions on how much such things cost. :)
I couldn't tell if Tyrus had anything he actually wanted bought or was just roleplaying (that's a good thing to clear up in OOC text at the bottom of a post, when necessary).
As for the mithral buckler I've decided that mithral increases base price by ~10x, and base price of a metal buckler is 5 silver. So we'll go with 50 silver for the mithral example.
Unfortunately there is nothing alike to the silk armor in Orlen - or rather, nothing non-magical that acts as armor for casters.
No haramaki either?
Hmm, x10. Sometimes I forget how weird money is in this setting, and the fact that we're kind of scraping together cash despite being into the mid levels. I don't think it's worth dropping that much on.
The good news is that even if we don't have money, we have friends! 8D ...Whether we want to or not.
Fortunately, gear is basically optional for summoners, so I don't have to worry about it too much. XD
The harakami is... essentially the same item as the silk armor. Hadn't seen that before. Now that I'm thinking about mithral, I might bring them in as mithral only.
Anyways, yeah. Money is weird here when compared with Golarion. Or most any other RPG setting. Not quite as easy come/easy go.
RE: Shopping
Reasonable...
Definitely after more pen and paper; I'm not sure when Tyrus's spellbook scribbling are going to fill his book up, but he's been jotting notes for four levels, so probably soon.
He's interested in books for spell research; there were a lot of interesting things in the Makon temple, and in the dwarf's book, so he's trying to capitalise on it. The beginners books were because he was planning to try to help teach Luca to control her power; and Kien, if he shows interest.
The spellbooks were because generic spells are normally not that expensive, and he was hoping to find a reasonably priced spellbook with new simple spells, or at least some scrolls.
The armour and shield were because he, unlike me, does not realise how incompatible with armour wizards really are. He's got an idea about picking up the basics of combat (specifically the avoiding part) from Kien. So leather and a heavy or light shield would work. An armoured coat and a quickdraw shield make sense, I suppose, from actually getting some utility beyond mage armour. I suspect it'll be largely a sunk cost, though at that price mithril actually becomes an option! Heck, for 20 gold it sounds like Kien could have a mithril breastplate, if he has the proficiency.
RE: Travelling
I think I can see a story in a huge man on an Ant-Haul reinforced light riding horse, or some-such.
The Floating disk tricks does appeal, but would need (A) a spell and (B) retraining.
If you are fine with Phantom Steed, maybe that's the way to go. I'm convinced it is based on Reynaud's "Smoke Horse" from the Callandra series, and I do love that series. I have to confess I'd prefer Transmutation to Conjuration for long term; maybe a spell to transform Torble.
RE Retraining: Understood, in which case I will definitely hold off.
Given the situation, Tertius' comparative naivety, and Tertius' dislike of necromancy, I figure Tyrus has the following memorised;
1: (5/5) Mage Armour, Air Bubble, Air Bubble, Touch of the Sea, Touch of the Sea (enough for two friends to survive a boat capsizing)
2: (2/4) Extended Air Bubble, Extended Touch of the Sea.
3: (0/3)
I probably should have just posted rather than edited the response, but Kien yes a double move will get you there (on a successful swim check, as I understand it, will get you half your speed as a full-round action. DC 10 - calm waters).
Kien left before the second spell!
Youth today are so impatient.
Kien should have enough of a swim bonus to get along on his own, and I'd rather not give this creature an extra round to cause damage.
Sorry for the radio silence last week - was busy and needed brain rest during my short period of down time. I'll get us back underway soon.
Right-o!
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Contrary to our last big fight, this one is making Kien's build feel much more useful. Who else could jump down into the water and wrestle this kraken-esque enemy? Awesome.
You make a good point, Kien - I think that is likely to be true a lot! Different challenges are going to highlight different builds, given just how different our builds are from each other, and from 'standard' builds.
I'm glad you are getting a chance to shine :)
Luca's gonna have a fun time supporting the party when she finally starts displaying real mastery of her powers. XD I'm particularly looking forward to Nightgaunts and Vampiric Mists.
I was rather having fun with the psuedo combat (even though it had settled into a routine, what with Kien figuring out he had the strength to snap the sea monsters legs like big squishy fingers) but I'll end it there. Work and pretty much ALL of life have gotten hectic and I don't have the time for combat type posts right now (part of why I kept this one looser).
Vis a vis life, at least part of it is for happy reasons: I bought a house! But now that I've bought it, I also need to clean, paint, and move, then yard and such... etc etc etc. I asked for this.
Congratulations!
Is it your first house? (As owner)
Yes indeed. The good thing is I've got a couple months overlap on my last apartment lease, so I have lots of time to learn, prep, and move.
Ah, the freedom to actually renovate when something bothers you!
Hope the cleaning is short, and the celebration is long!
All I'll say is that this is a very, very good time to get rid of things you don't actually want to keep, and the more of that you do now, the better. XD
Indeed, though I'm also acquiring new things at a ridiculous rate. Yesterday: lawn mower.
Allllright. I have power and internet again! Storms over the weekend knocked my area out for almost five days. Also, I found out the forums don't seem to like my phone - (or vice versa).
Anyway, new post up later today.
Yow!
Without power for five days? That is one heck of a storm!
A power line fell and lit two cars on fire. Apparently one exploded. Very exciting (I only saw video of the fire though). The storm was pretty heavy but it was only a limited area that had no power for that long. Thankfully I didn't have much in my fridge...
Sorry for the wall of text. A crash ate my first post, and by the time I'd managed to rewrite it we'd moved on. In retrospect might have been better as two posts.
No worries! I always like seeing people reacting to my own purple prose in a like manner.
Vis a vis: Make Whole - this is another of those way-too-useful utility spells that I kind of dislike, as it lets players simply skip over challenges of many varieties. So I'm going to rule that Make Whole will only work on items that have been damage or broken for a number of weeks equal to or less than the Wizard's caster level. (For Greater Make Whole it might be months, instead). And as usual I reserve the right to make exceptions in either direction.
I mean, make whole takes 10 minutes per casting and only does a little, so it's not like you can wave your hand and fix a ship. In fact in a lot of circumstances it takes longer than mundane repairs would take.
I'm largely thinking about restoring ancient artifacts to 'like new' status or the like, which isn't the feel I'm thinking I want my world to have. As with many things, I'll see how things go and adjust as needed.
We are still in a fairly freeform area. You can explore or talk or whatever, or let me know you want to move on to the Library.
I don't have anything in particular, Kien will let off some steam and then wake up in the morning and deal with his hangover. Ready to move on!