Never played a PBP above level... like, 6?
In 3.5 dnd, played to level 30, but only ever got to like 15 in any pathfinder games. So... most of my build was made off theorycraft.
Ara: are allies immune to the effects of your Prismatic Wall of Light that is currently between zones 3 and 4?
They are not, but there should be enough room left for them to go around it- i doubt it was enough to even cover the entirety of the kaiju- it was more of a small barrier telling the kaiju "you can't go this way!" than anything.
Hmmm.... Though maybe I should invest in a Rod of Selective Spell. That could come in handy in the future.
What should the cost be of going around?
I mean, how big is the kaiju? I wouldn't mind the idea of it taking a move action to get around, as the whole idea at this point is to slow it as much as possible, but I'll defer to your ruling for this.
(Besides, so long as it's in antigravity, I don't think it can really move anyway, and I can keep boxing it in)
what do you other players think?
I think having to move around it would be fine. Since it seems to be stupidly tough with butt-tons of HP, I think we need to have more battlefield control effects for the next one. Also, suppress regeneration. I could Con Bleed these things if they didn't have a magical healing effect stopping my bleeds.
I am fine with it having to move around as well.
Moving around it is fine with me~
Just an FYI, I'm going to be traveling for the next two weeks. (Taking care of a family member after surgery.) So my posting schedule is going to be off. I'm expecting to have network most of the time.
Apologies for the slight delay. Kaiju turns take a long time and I just had a kid. Stay tuned.
Congratulations! Tuned as always, but don't worry, family goes first!
Apologies for the slight delay. Kaiju turns take a long time and I just had a kid. Stay tuned.
Quite all right. Newborns take a lot of attention. Don't sweat it. We'll be here when you're ready.
The kaiju, roaring with self confidence, charges through the prismatic wall!
Failed! 20 fire damage
Saved! 20 acid damage
Saved! 40 electricity damage
Saved! Not Poisoned to death!
Saved! Not turned to stone!
Failed! DOES suffer Insanity as per the spell
Saved! Not sent to another plane.
huh... I expected that to be much worse.
Ara: sidenote: It doesn't specify which plane Violet sends it to. Does that make it dealers choice?
Hmm... I guess so? I mean, I would prefer something like the positive energy plane (ironically), to ensure death. But I guess it’s random?
in 3.5 it was a random plane. It doesn't really matter though, because now it's someone else's problem =D
Just to clarify, Ara did move up (she can pass through her own prismatic wall no problem) before casting.
@GM - did the part where the kaiju come from me being unable to go through DR, or because I failed to hit?
I also ignore the staggered because of my ring of freedom of movement.
How many actions did that thing get?
A move action to stand up from prone (can this thing provoke AoOs? And I guess the strength check to free itself from rubble would be part of this)
Another move action to move towards the city
A swift(?) action to target us all with a pair of cold blasts?
I still have Freedom of Movement up, so no Glaciation here either.
Do the touch attacks bypass Cold Resist like the freezing mist?
Khar failed to hit its AC.
The Cold does bypass the first 30 points of cold resist.
The ranged touch attacks were a standard action. I DID forget that it was prone. I am but a mortal.
Ah. I was using touch attacks via Dimensional Blade. I mentioned that, but I forgot clarifying it was touch. Derp.
I should prepare that spell more than twice, it seems.
D'OH! You're right. Those all hit touch. Thanks for keeping me honest.
No worries! I'll try and keep everything down in the spoiler, so you don't have to miss that many things. After all, we're all loaded with magic to the brim, have several dozen class abilities, and not to mention the spells and Feats.
I am glad I didn't go for a 9th caster, since even now I find myself quite confrounded by choice.
EDIT: And I forgot our paladin's tactical advice with 1d6 damage and +2 to hit. I've added that for this time, though I'm not sure if the GM would want to add that for last round, since if I forgot, Khar'Tenet might've forgotten too.
Respect your buffer even if they're foolishly misguided in their worldview!
Don't forget everyone is hasted, too. That provides a +1 to AC, attack, and reflex saves in addition to the extra attack and increased move speed.
To all my campaigns, this weekend there was a death in the family. I will be traveling to the funeral this week. I have no idea what my posting capabilities will be. Please bot if necessary.
I'm really sorry to hear that. My condolences.
Feedback? What worked? what didn't?
What did you think of the distance scale mechanic?
Any other notes more me on the combat? Anything you'd like ran different going forward?
I think the distance scale mechanic worked well.
Going forward it would be nice for us to have a better sense of just how injured the kaiju is; not necessarily an HP counter for it, but just a better indication of how badly off it is. If it still seems to be in good health and is getting dangerously close to the city, for instance, we might want to put more effort into stalling it/throwing up a roadblock in its path, but if it seems badly injured we might be more inclined to just try and push on killing it quickly.
I mean, it would be nice if they didn't save every time ;)
But, besides bad luck, I did like how it worked out. Though I also agree it would be nice if we got a general idea about how wounded the kaiju is. For instance, if I knew it was close to death, I would have spent much less time trying to debuff it and stall it and more time dealing damage.
I agree with Akoriya on having the kaiju's wounds being described, for the points above.
Now, a question to the rest of the party. I intend to raise the kaiju as an undead minion. Does anyone (except the paladin) object? And if not, should I go for the (bloody) skeleton, a fast zombie (so it can fly), or something else? If anything else, I imagine it'd be good at stalling the other kaijus, or even be used as a beast of burden.
We can still haul it to the city to brag about our victory, but it's a waste of potential to leave it rotting there.
I imagine that different kaijus might have different tactics, as well, so us working on those might be smart. I think the Maze let it regenerate a lot of hit points (which it also wouldn't have lost, alongside my spells, had I not gone nova in the first round.)
I like to use 4th edition's Bloodied condition as a "quick glance" way of telling how injured something is (Bloodied=half max HP or less).
As for the jumpboot/abstracted distance mechanic, I think it works really well. The staggering aura was rather annoying, but it is a creature specific problem.
I really wish I had standstill.
Khar- what about a multiplying skeleton? I love the idea of there being a bunch of little 1HD kaiju skeletons running around. Other than that, I'd say go with Bloody Skeleton or Fast/Relentless Zombie. We'd lose on a bunch of its abilities, but that beats having to make control checks against intelligent undead kaiju all the time. That said, it seemed(?) like the kaiju flew magically to some extent, so a skeleton would retain that ability. But can you even reanimate something with that many HD? The table tops off at 20 HD for a skeleton or 28 for a zombie, and that's after applying a +10 for size.
GM, should we post changes to our character/gear in discussion or gameplay? I want to work on my Demiplane a bit.
I don't think I get the more fancy undead, like if I used the Create Undead, which makes the intelligent ones. The ones created with Animate Dead are created mindless, and that's the only spell I have for that purpose.
I think that I can raise up to 76 HD of undead with a single cast, and control just as many - or 38 if I use one of the templates I can, such as Bloody Skeleton. And I can control just as many, too.
Khar: from skeleton template
If the creature has more than 20 Hit Dice, it can’t be made into a skeleton by the animate dead spell
the kaiju had 29 hit dice.
We can treat it as if it only had 20 HD but i'll have to make some tweaks to the statblock.
use this statblock for the initial creature but subtract 9 from the hit dice and 8 from the STR score.
If you raise its skeleton go ahead and make a new alias for it with the new statblock and I'll double check it.
I'll get a new alias sorted out tomorrow, and also big kaiju raising post. Because necromancy requires style.
Hello! I am the kaiju skeleton. I'm not as impressive as the kaiju, but I still can do things.
I'm assuming that the kaiju flew non-magically, so I'll remove the speed from the post. I'll also assume it only has 1 bite, rather than two, and finish the stat-block soon. I've only changed the attacks, HP and Feats/Skills.
It has a massive carrying capacity, so at worst we can lend it to the city for hauling of things. As long as they don't make me clean after it, since it's a bloody skeleton, and those may mess things a bit.
Answers to possible questions.
-I cast a desecrate on the spot, thus I could not only raise the kaiju, but it also gets an extra 1 hp per die.
-I still have 36 HD of undead to raise, so the manning of the airship is still a possibility.
-The kaiju is told to obey authority figures (us included) and act non-aggressively against anything unless I tell it otherwise. That means anything. No reason to antagonise the populace, and a mindless undead running rampant is just a PR disaster.
Awesome!
My notes on Ib'Thalaks statblock: from the skeleton template.
Alignment: Always neutral evil.
Type: The creature’s type changes to undead.
Saves: Base save bonuses are Fort +1/3 HD, Ref +1/3 HD, and Will +1/2 HD + 2.
"A skeleton uses its Cha modifier (instead of its Con modifier) to determine bonus hit points."
Abilities: A skeleton’s Dexterity increases by +2. It has no Constitution or [u]Intelligence[/u] score, and its [u]Wisdom[/u] and Charisma scores change to 10. 14 CHA for Bloody
Defensive Abilities: A skeleton loses the base creature’s defensive abilities and gains DR 5/bludgeoning and immunity to cold. It also gains all of the standard immunities and traits possessed by undead creatures.
Special Qualities: A skeleton loses most special qualities of the base creature. It retains any extraordinary special qualities that improve its melee or ranged attacks. so it would keep powerful blows (bite, slam) and I'll assume that Swift Bite (which I reflavored as be two rows of teeth and renamed Double Bite.) was also a special quality not special attack and would keep that too.
The specified attack adds 1-1/2 times the creature’s Strength bonus on damage rolls instead of its normal Strength bonus or half its Strength bonus
This kaiju has two rows of teeth! Whenever this kaiju makes a bite attack on her turn, she can attack two times, either as a standard action to bite twice, or as part of a full attack to bite two times in addition to making one slam attack. She can make any number of attacks of opportunity with her bite attack, but does not get to bite more than once when she does so.
nix the fly speed and you're good to go!
and for fun, kaiju blood is dark purple. and spooooky
Home again at last. It'll take me a little while to catch up. I'll try to have something posted tonight. Sorry for disappearing on you guys.
<sarcasm>Great another mouth to feed.</sarcasm>
I'll admit a minion will assist in further battles, but Alara is a fan of this one. :)
But Ib'Thalak is so huggable, if you don't mind the stench of death and purple bloodstains.
Sorry for my delay in posts, work is insane this week. Should be back to normal by the end of the work week, but bot me if necessary!
Is it weird that I primarily post while at work and am way too busy when I'm at home?
and basically endless spell slots.
and basically endless spell slots.
Magical Supremacy (Su): At 20th level, the arcanist learns how to convert her arcane reservoir into spells and back again. She can cast any spell she has prepared by expending a number of points from her arcane reservoir equal to 1 + the level of the spell to be cast instead of expending a spell slot. When she casts a spell in this fashion, she treats her caster level as 2 higher than normal, and the DCs of any saving throws associated with the spell increase by 2. She cannot further expend points from her arcane reservoir to enhance a spell cast in this way.
Now, normally this wouldn't be all that great; Arcane Reservoir points are in something of short supply, and there's only a few ways to recharge them, such as Consume Spells/Consume Magic Items/Counter Drain exploits (of which the former I can only do once/day and the latter two not at all). However, Horror Realms introduced Outer Rift exploits, one of which was the lovely Fiendish Proboscis.
The arcanist can spend 1 point from his arcane reservoir as a standard action to grow a long, articulated proboscis covered with small spiky hairs. The appendage grows from the arcanist’s face and houses a highly flexible, muscular tongue tipped with a cartilaginous barbed quill. The proboscis lasts for 1 round per arcanist level, during which time the arcanist cannot speak or use verbal components. The arcanist can end this exploit’s effects early as a swift action. As a standard action, the arcanist can attack a target with the proboscis’s tongue. This is a primary natural weapon with a 10-foot reach. Attacks with the tongue resolve as a touch attack. If the arcanist uses his tongue and hits a creature capable of casting spells or using spell-like abilities, he drains a portion of the target’s magical ability and adds 1 point to his arcane reservoir (points gained in excess of the reservoir’s maximum are lost). If the arcanist hits a creature that cannot cast spells or use spell-like abilities, the tongue instead drains a portion of the target’s life force and heals the arcanist of 1d6 points of damage. Regardless of the target’s ability to use magic, the tongue’s unnerving siphoning of magical or life energy causes the struck creature to become sickened for 1 round.
And that's where Xavak comes in. As an imp, he has a couple of SLAs available to him, meaning I can drain him with fiendish proboscis without any lasting damage (well, he's sickened, but he's evil so he deserves it).
Basically, whenever Ara is out of combat, she casts using her Arcane Reservoir, and whenever it starts to run low, she activates Fiendish Proboscis and drains magical energy from her imp-battery until it's full again. Using Fiendish Proboscis costs 1 point and I can regain up to 20 using it, meaning that as long as I can get a minute or two to myself, it doesn't matter how many spells I cast; I can just top off. My spell slots, and thus what I can do in combat, stays limited, though. This trick really only works for stuff before and after combat.
The short version is that I can cast spells using my Arcane Reservoir, and I can recharge my arcane reservoir pretty much at will, so long as I get a couple minutes to myself.
Well that's disgusting. Flvorfully AND Mechanically.
Yep ;)
It’s why I flavored her as a whole “unwillingly drawing power from Hell to protect her home” thing
It mostly translates to me never needing scrolls, though, so that’s nice.
Do we have a squad designation? If so, I can't seem to find it now.
You haven't picked one yet.
Ara: Can I take over Xavak out of combat?
Sure. He'll usually have a few buffs on, but I keep forgetting to play him, and I won't be refilling my reservoir in-combat anyway.