JCServant's Council of Thieves (Inactive)

Game Master JCServant

So I must punish you with THE LAKE! That will teach you to have fun!!!

Seriously, I couldn't make an encounter like this in my homebrews if I *TRIED*.

I REALLY have the feeling it IS going to be painful...

Re: Table Talk
(Asked in the other game, so I'm sharing it here as it applies to both). This is a great topic, and it differs from GM to GM. I should have been more clear about this right from the get go, and I'll add it to the house rules.

Generally, at my gaming tables, I insist on minimal meta discussion once a session starts. Before and after the session, as well as during the break, all bets are off. But, once started, I have two modes.

Out of combat, I allow some discussion during strategy/preparation times as long as it does not drag on. Forcing players to talk in character during those times can be daunting as players try to come up with 'in character' words for common game terms that don't sound just right in the world.

In combat, players may only say one or two lines as a free action per the combat rules. Anything above and beyond that is technically meta. Those lines may be heavily driven by meta thought, and that's OK as long as its short, sweet and generally in character (e.g. "Adrios, move around to the other side of this beast!") And, yes, if its yelled out (as is generally the case), the baddies will hear it. There may be magic items that help overcome that limitation if you do some research.

Since we don't have the benefit of 'after session discussions' that we would have in a local or verbal group, I encourage you to use the discussion forum to discuss strategies. I can understand that doing deep strategy discussion 'in character' can be a little inconvenient, so you're welcome to just talk about those things here, out of character. Keep in mind that our Pbp's are generally on a time table, so you will need to do back and forth discussions rather quick. You may also use IM programs such as skype (personally, I'm available often... jcservant7 ) to facilitate those discussions. (This is also a great way to ask me clarification questions and get a faster response sometimes).

Once a combat is started, I can't STOP you guys from IM'ing or something...but in the spirit of the game, I would encourage you to generally keep it to non-meta combat communication guidelines above. As always, you are welcome to ask combat situation/rule clarification questions during battle (though if it's more than a line or two, use discussion forum please :)

Today is going to suck for posting for me. If not everyone escapes the vortex this round, Beppo will charge in (entering the water if necessary) and attack.

I hope to be able to post late this afternoon, though that is unlikely. It might be sometime tomorrow before I can get back on.

Guys, what should we do against the creature? Fire? Acid?

Kyles prayer revealed that outside of will based spells, the creature has no magic vulnerabilities. The good news is, unlike weapons/physical damage, it has no specific magic resistances.

I did not prepare my 1d3 acid attack cantrip this morning, reducing our magical damage pool to Kyle's limited 1d6 lightning. If we can get Kyle to land, he can use that. Hopefully the 'lake' is about to join all of Edmond's other victims on the 'What the Heck was THAT?' bench in Hade's foyer.

Yeah, Tess, we need a wizard. Closest we have is a Magus. Buy me a wand. :)

Nope I got sucked in. If I get another chance ill switch to Morningstar to avoid that.

Hey - I really have been thinking of doing a level or a few in Wizard or Sorcerer - thoughts on that in terms of benefits/complements to the rogue vs. diluting the progression solely within that class.

Oh - I have an INT of 14, 15 if I put my last ability point raise in it.

I'm just going to sit this fight out and have a little splash about in the pool for abit.

We might want to take a page from the 'Sir Robin' playbook. What is west of the island?

This is not good. I think we need to escape - I don't see any of this changing anytime soon. We have no way to attack it effectively. How do you even distract this thing. Best we can do is another aid on the swim roll unless you guys can think of anything else?

You see some land on the far west of the island, though you don't know if it's an escape or a dead end at this viewpoint.

Your knowledge would tell you that "The Lake" can follow and attack you on land, but it is weaker and no longer has the advantage of keeping you floundering.

I have to say I have no idea how we can tackle this one... I keep looking at Tessai over and over...

Now that all of you are on land, it's a different ball game...as you don't have fight 3 terrain conditions, lol. And Kyle would explain they aren't quite as good fighting opponents on land. Of course, the danger is far from over.

Its one of those defining moments - Tessai will take the brunt of it for the others to escape, that's how the girl is ;)

And if she dies, she comes back as a Barbarian to make GM-JC weep :D

LOLz. I don't know what's worse in my S&S game..the barbarian of the summoner. Well, it must be the summoner...I nurfed the class in my house rules just to keep me from wanting to punt the class, lolz.

I have refrained from playing summoners thus far but I guess I will get to it eventually :D

Hey guys, getting on the road for Cincinnatti, will be MIA for about 4-5 hours, but will be active again later tonight/this weekend. Please play me as needed.

Taking OOC stuff here, Aemon really needs some healing i'd like to take a mod and a light if that's ok.

Yeah I hope we get through this soon, we are so low on resources

Take it guys, that is why I offered ;)

One Mod and one Light to Aemon and one Light to Brandon.

I'm gonna chug the other Mod and the other Light since Tessai is about at 50%

So far you have...

Wand of Cure Moderate (21 charges)
+2 Light Steal Shield (+4 AC)
+1 Composite Longbow 4 STR
The Bag has assorted gems and coins worth 3,287 gold including a magical vial of magical transformation*
Unknown Unholy Symbol of Asmodeus

*Turns any masterwork weapon or armor into a +1 weapon or armor. And instead be used to turn 50 ammunition into +1 ammunition.

I think one more of you could attempt to spellcraft the unholy symbol that's radiating strong magic.

I need to if you all want to keep the stuff (I pretty see Kyle has the wand) or if you want to keep it...and if so, who is holding it.

If I do not hear about these items by Monday 10am EST, I will presume that all items are to be insta-sold outside of the wand and unholy symbol

Let me know! :)

Well the Longbow seems like a no brainer for Aemon.

The shield is very nice but currently no one who can use it is employing a sword and board style so if anyone wants that shout out.

Wand is helpful for everyone and carried by Kyle

I think Beppo would benefit most from the transformation vial.

Brandon hasn't had a huge amount of loot so far so I wouldn't mind a chunk of that money to get myself a strength boosting item or an amulet of mighty fists.

I would like the shield.

Also, any blue light specials this weekend?

At some point I'd like to get a +1 rapier so that I can have a better chance at hitting all these DR foes, but it should go to our heaviest hitter first.

Isn't a +2 light shield a +3 to AC? Is there something special about this shield?

Will the longbow need repair? Will Aemon need more STR+ to use it? It still seems obvious it is 'his'.

The vial of Mwk>to>+1-ness, Beppo, check. I want to point out, using it on armor 'wastes' the difference in cost between +1 armor and +1 weapon.

Bag of cash, Brandon requesting consideration of his unique natural weapons, which seems reasonable to me. So my share of that bag, I'm sending to Brandon, which is all I feel I have the authority to do.

I'm in support of all the above.

Holy symbol creeps me out. Is Kyle willing to carry in in the Haversack's extra-dimensional cootie-proof space? :)

I'll be adding this to the QM report:

.Kp Wand of Cure Moderate (21 charges)
.Tt +2 Light Steal Shield (+4 AC)
.Aa +1 Composite Longbow 4 STR
.$e The Bag has assorted gems and coins worth 3,287 gold
.Bb Vial of magical transformation
.?? Unknown Unholy Symbol of Asmodeus

You all have to send JCS email to take these things. I'll be sending him this:

Devil passes his share of that 3287 gold to Brandon.
Devil puts all the other items into the Haversack Kyle is carrying.

I'd like the bow yes, but the description was it was broken? and i would need more strength to use it also +4? could be awhile before i get that much, so could be best to sell and make my current one a +1 magic with the money we get.

What do you think?

If we can repair it, we have several good options:

Boost your STR.
Let Beppo/Tess use it, for the rare times we're at range.
Sell it.

But selling it broken is probably less smart than selling it after it's fixed.

So I've got it as yours, on this QM report:

I put the bow onto Aemon as it seems to be the consensus. I need to know what's going on with the oil before Monday please. Thank you. Gold and other items posted.

Thing is, usually the biggest hitters have the less issues with hitting :D

Or I would suggest Beppo

I agree, Beppo, or actually his Greatsword, should have that oil. I hope he emails to that effect.

I'm going to email JCS that Devil takes everything. And that Devil will yield it to the others. Just to prevent the automatic cash-out on Monday. The cash WILL NOT save our lives in here. The items might.

If we had time to be what Devil thinks is 'sane' about this, the +1 would go on a special materials weapon. But I suppose it's not unreasonable that we all feel stressed by our circumstances.

Thanks again BD - I think that he wants one e-mail so that should work. Appreciate your help with this.

What special materials weapons do you think are the most advantageous ... I am saving up for a super rapier.

LOL. That's not really the point of me putting deadlines on this stuff. I'm trying to get everyone to make decisions within a day or two so that these things are either put to good use quickly or insta sold (for this very gold starve group). Dumping items of debate onto one character's sheet usually means it is quickly forgotten (and y'all are wondering later why you're just so broke!)

Y'all are behind the gold/magic item curve for your level, and a part of the reason is because these things aren't getting sold, used and/or fall between the cracks.

Advantage depends on the setting. I would guess silver here in Devil Central. Mithril counts as silver, and does not lose damage for being soft. (But that's not a big deal for a precision-damage fighter like you. A point off your weapon damage isn't really a big deal for most people. Still, Mithril seems a win.

And with a lot of us thinking and doing that, some Cold Iron is a good plan. Enchanting CI is costly, though, which makes it SOooo tempting to use that oil on a CI longspear. Why longspear? It's a simple weapon, literally any of us can use it. It's a two-handed weapon, all the Big Strong Power Attackers are already built to use it WELL. And it has reach. But I'm digressing.

I would say you want a Mithril Rapier. And you might find Silver and Cold Iron daggers a good stop along the way.

Wasn't aware mithril counted as silver, that's good to know for future.

Mithril can cost you a lot more than regular silver weapon, depending on the weight, IIRC. it's not like there are DR/Mithril monsters (I haven't seen any just yet). It does make the weapon lighter...but a rapier probably doesn't weight much to begin with.

Mithril doesn't have the loss of damage. And it's not 'silvered steel', so at least in some realities, it's not rustmonster-fodder. But yes, it can get expensive.

I'm curious. Was my making the second reflex save to the gameplay thread not enough to establish I was the second? Or were we waiting for somebody to fail the save for plot purposes? Or did we need somebody who would take damage from the fall? I'm feeling rather abused, both for myself and on behalf of Beppo.

I think it's silversheen that takes the penalty on damage (though it is super cheap). Regular silver deal takes no damage penalty, but costs more. Mithril costs the most (unless your weapon is under 2 lbs) but weighs half as much. Again, though, I could be wrong on some of this...but its my understanding. The rust is a good point. I've had a few campaigns with Rust Monsters in them. They're so CUTE!

I believe I saw Corellon's save first (So that secured him a position) and I had it stuck in my head from earlier that Beppo was either in the lead or the second one....maybe from something I read a long time ago. Unless someone could show me otherwise, I wasn't going to let him off the hook. (Sorry, Beppo). Rushing to post the reflex, while awesome, didn't push Beppo & Corellon (since he posted before you) out of my head. I was completely willing to change that, however, if someone showed me a declaration from earlier that I missed.

Play by Description does have it quirks, as you have mentioned before. The players don't have the benefit of the GM's eye, so to speak. At the table, everyone is constantly rearranging their characters (But at the same time, they don't know reflex save is involved until they are done).

Save the melodrama, hahahaha. You're not abused. Not yet! :P

Ok...so final answer on the oil?

GM-JC, maybe the interested ones cannot answer for the time being. If no one does can we agree it stays on Devil?

It's been three days (and one business day) to discuss this. There has to be a way to resolve magic items delegation in a somewhat efficient manner on Pbp that doesn't result in us forgetting about items. If we put it on BD's sheet, I assure you, it will be forgotten. If we don't figure this out now, when is a good time to figure it out. While I don't need an answer right this second, I would like to see magic stuff resolved much faster so that, unlike items of the past, it is not forgotten.

If it helps, at the table, I just ask "Who wants it." If no one, sold. If one person, they win. If more than one person, roll after a short discussion. The longest item discussion we had was over a staff, mainly because no one knew exactly how they worked in PF :P Once it was figured it out, each player gave a one minute speech of why they think the party should give it to the cleric or sell it (The cleric is a party NPC). And 4 minutes later, it was sold :P

If you guys know you can use it , choose someone, or roll for it, and move forward. If you don't see a clear use for it, sell it. But an item sitting in someone's backpack (especially one that isn't really a consumable, but an upgrade) isn't doing anyone a lot of good :(

Speaking of...

Blue Light Special
For 48 Hours, all "Chest" slot items are 30% off. And, no, chest slot is not armor, hahahaha. It's things like shirts and vest. Find them at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items#table-chest-slot-wondrou s-items . Don't delay. 48 hours just isn't very long!

Well, for the time being, Tessai is sitting on about 570gp so I guess no Blue Light for her ;)

Thanks for the opportunity but nothing jumps out at me - I'll keep saving my money for later

Well, for the time being, Tessai is sitting on about 570gp so I guess no Blue Light for her ;)

That's why I'm trying to get you guys to decide on stuff. There might be some gold in them there items! :)

Definitely some of them are worth some decent cash, but I guess we can find a real use for almost all of them.

That oil should go to Beppo in my opinion.

The non magical ring Brandon has should be sold.

The wand of levitate, unless anyone wants it, should be sold. I can't use it for example.