Megadungeon Keeper: The Spire Upon The Marsh

Game Master Scarletrose

Here we can discuss details of the campaign.

Thanks for choosing me! I'm very excited for this game.

Unk! You and I have a lot to discuss! We're both Albarath's students and we have a lot of coordinating to do about what student life is like at the tower. I imagine you're a much older student than Andra, and that the only reason she's gained such power at such a young age is (of course) the magic of the wizard's hat. Your backstory mentioned Unk struggled to find proper spellbooks and access to magic in the tower (which makes sense). I'm trying to decide on spells for Andra - it would make sense that any spellbook-using students of Albarath would naturally share any spells they learned with one another. What're your thoughts on that?

Good idea!
I think Unk might be stingy enough that he'd only be willing to trade 1 for 1 or something like that, and of course there's the cost of materials to copy (unless Unk can craft a couple of blessed books...but that route obviously has it's own cost)

Then again, Andra could be one of the few creatures Unk actually likes xD

I could definitely use a 3rd level combat spell besides hold person xD
Also I decided that I might want to make a staff or use create undead on one of our earlier adversaries, so I went with 11 levels of wiz after all
Mwuahahah

Andra still has the emotional maturity of a child, so she probably would happily share her spellbook with Unk, who she probably sees as a big brother type - as an older student, she would look up to him. I think I am going to tweak her abilities a bit and give her the Occultist archetype, so she can be an effective summoner. I think Albarath has learned a bit more about how to care for children by the time Andra was kidnapped - she's more well-clothed and paid more attention to than Unk was at her age. Maybe he resents her a bit for that, but perhaps her childish affection wins him over.

Her favorite companion is definitely Emmett, and she never leaves the Tower except when riding on the clay golem's large shoulders.

I'm not sure if Emmet even realizes it's sentient yet. it's so dedicated to its task of 'Protect the Tower' it's just doing that as effectively as possible, which means being smarter than the average Golem. it's usually on call if anyone needs 28 STR worth of manual labor and is relatively knowledgeable on arcane magic (14 ranks in both Arcana and Spellcraft). Of course the Tower's orders take precedence, but otherwise will follow the orders of any of the other minions that calls for him.

I imagine Andra calls on him the most.

I'm not sure if Emmet even realizes it's sentient yet. it's so dedicated to its task of 'Protect the Tower' it's just doing that as effectively as possible, which means being smarter than the average Golem. it's usually on call if anyone needs 28 STR worth of manual labor and is relatively knowledgeable on arcane magic (14 ranks in both Arcana and Spellcraft). Of course the Tower's orders take precedence, but otherwise will follow the orders of any of the other minions that calls for him.

I imagine Andra calls on him the most.

Oh my god, Andra could call on Emmett to help her with her spellcrafting homework, since he has more ranks than she does. Hahaha.

Only because he has 14 HD, but yes, he can help students with their homework.

What's the age difference like between Andra and Unk? I'm assuming he's at least an adult, since you've chosen an avatar with a beard.

I'm sure there are other generic NPC students, but it would be a very small class, maybe a dozen students in all. Andra and Unk, of course, are the most powerful.

As for the goblins, while Albarath may not consider them as important as his students, they're probably more involved in the day to day operations of Albarath's "empire", so to speak. Logistics, keeping everyone fed, and of course, defending the marsh as a whole, would be largely left to their judgment, with Albarath only really stepping in when things go wrong. The total number of worshipers Albarath has is between 51-100, most of whom are low level goblins.

Facial hairs in the alias picture may be shorter than they appear :P
Unk hasn't ever shaved though, so he'd still have a reasonably mighty beard :P

I was going to go with the high end of the default age range for level 1 human wizards... maybe 26 or 27?
That sounds about the right age for Albarath's first (successful) student, right?

Edit: Also I'll roll for his height and weight xD
height in inch: 58 + 2d10 ⇒ 58 + (5, 2) = 65
weight in lbs: 2d10 ⇒ (9, 1) = 10 x5 +120

I like the idea that you're his first successful student. Andra might be the most recent acquisition - in recent years, villages have grown wary of the goblin raids, and prospective kidnappings Hogwarts Invitation Letters have become more difficult to pull off.

That's almost exactly what I was thinking.

I get the feeling that Andra would be one of Albarath's newest students (or the newest), and Albarath is trying an experiment with a special hat that Unk may or may not have helped make and/or may or may not be related to the original wizard somehow xD

Edit: Now that I think about it, I want a hat too xD
Can't wait to find out how we'll handle item and evil empire acquisition :P
Specifically if I get discounts for spending any of our starting wealth after blowing almost all my feats on item creation...

Bogdirt and Magda probably know each other since they are both shadow-born. However, her speciality seems to be abduction and his raiding. They may not have worked together. Judging by character level, she has more experience in the field than he. Also, with her scrying and other divination, she might even be the one giving him his commands to raid. I'm thinking I might spread out my meager skill ranks to be a bit better at his job. Perception and suvival would probably be good. He has a decent stealth because of his high dex, so it should serve.

I am now posting the first post in the gameplay board but I'd like to address things in a more mechanical way on here so that it can be clearer what are you working with and what are your options.

Wealth
You have 250k gold in magic items. you can distribute those among your minions or spend them in magic items that will remain inside the tower at your heart content. Still, this is stuff that you find, so the balance must be exactly 250k.
You cannot mix this value with part of the gold to buy items.
Only exception is for my mention of "materials to create magic items"
So once you have bought magic items out of these 250k, if you have characters able to create their own magic items, you can use any remaining value as a discount to the price for forging magic items.
These 250k also include scrolls. Unk and Andra can pick spells in scroll forms and have them added to their spellbook.
If Unk and Andra are inclined to share the lore found in the halls of Albarath, purchasing one scroll this way could lead to both of you adding that spell to your spellbook.
While adding spells, assume you automatically succeed but remember to consider the cost of doing so for both your spellbooks.

the 100k in valuables can be used more freely. it can add up to pocket money to your character, be spent on non magical equipment and any other sort of necessity.
It can also be spent on the tribe. Unless you spend money on them, any goblin raider will be equipped as in the goblin monster manual entry.
Buying dozens of masterwork weapons and armors or lwo level magical weapons for your goblins will directly affect the raids effectiveness along with the number of goblins you end up losing in the raids.
Better equipped goblins leads to more loot, more abductions and less casualties.

Among the treasures and outside the amount already described there is Andra's Wizard hat.
The item registers like a minor artifact level item. It is likely, but not conclusively proved, to be an intelligent item.
If it has any effect aside from being able to talk with Andra, and if her precocious attitude to magic is due to exceptional tutoring from the hat or was the consequence of some direct magical effect is still unclear to any of you.
(This changes nothing for Andra except in name and flavor. The hat is still granting her +6 in intelligence, but just like hearing its voice, that modifier does not apply to other people wearing the hat nor gets detected by people investigating the item. Losing the hat and the +6 intelligence still affect her magic as would normally do. hope you are ok with the storybased flair I put to a background item)

The Grubstomp tribe is by all effect a settlement under kingdom building rules.
It currently have a population of 60 (including Magda, Bogdirt, Unk and Andra)

It is a chaotic evil settlement with the "magically attuned" and "Holy site" Qualities and the "anarchy" Disadvantage, putting it at the following values:

Loyalty 3, Economy -1, stability 0, unrest 0, corruption 2, crime 4, society -4, Law -6, Danger 20

The tribe does not need to be managed by PC's, you can choose to elect a goblin leader and let them sort things out, but the tribe loyalty to Albarath does not allow them to chose their own leader without the blessing of Albarath or some of its closest followers (A.K.A. you guys)

As those values might suggest the tribe is in the path of self annihilation. Goblin raid villages to kidnap children for Albarath, but when it comes to raids for their own survival, any kind of loot is often subject to squabbles and theft among fellow goblins.

among the 56 people living in the Grubstomp tribe, 35 are battle ready goblin raiders.
12 are goblin infants, 3 are unfit to fight and largely tending to the children the rituals to Albarath, brining food and other aspects of the tribal life.
6 are human children in training to become wizards. None of them has yet reached the level of being a level 1 caster and they still have to show if they will be suitable apprentices or a mere waste of time and resources.

If found unsuitable, their fate belong to Albarath and its chosen, my assumption is that they will become part of the sacrificial rituals to the spire but is up to you.

I think that for a bit you have quite a lot to sort out but in the next days I will put on a map and offer more details over what surrounds you and all the kind of information that you might need to enact your evil plans.

Wow! Lots of details. I love what you added to the hat, very nice. I definitely think the hat belonged to the dead wizard, whether or not it was magical back then. I'll first pick the spells that Andra would get naturally simply by gaining Arcanist levels, and Unk and I can decide what additional spells we should purchase.

I'd definitely like a staff of some kind as well. Probably a metamagic rod or three.

Thank you for pointing out the thread. I managed to miss it somehow. I'm glad I was chosen, and I look forward to gaming with all of you!

Bogdirt and Magda probably know each other since they are both shadow-born. However, her speciality seems to be abduction and his raiding. They may not have worked together. Judging by character level, she has more experience in the field than he. Also, with her scrying and other divination, she might even be the one giving him his commands to raid. I'm thinking I might spread out my meager skill ranks to be a bit better at his job. Perception and suvival would probably be good. He has a decent stealth because of his high dex, so it should serve.

Magda would certainly know Bogdirt, and most likely trust him above anyone else in the village. He is the most competent, aside from her, yet seems to lack any obvious ambitions that would make him competition. Although her specialty is in abduction, she would still be willing to collaborate with him, either for his muscle or to use his raiders as a distraction.

A bit more about Magda herself

While that doesn't mean that she had to take unk herself, Goblins of Golarion describe Goblins as reaching full maturity (or the level of maturity they might ever hope to reach) at 5 years old.

So a 10 years old goblin is definitely a full fledged raider, not one with 11 class levels but still fully capable of participating in raids and abduct children.

Ah, you're correct. I was looking at the PC starting age table, which puts adulthood at 12. So yes, it was certainly possible.

Yay xD

I'm thinking Unk did a lot of piecing together of those damaged/destroyed magic items. Which should make his magical trait Hedge Magician xD
Also I couldn't find a goblin race trait that fit, so I just grabbed Resilient to represent his goblin-food-tolerant stomach...

Also, I think I forgot to post (it's in his profile) Unk's (probably) finished crunch (minus the magic items, of course):

Okay, looks like Unk will handle the minion-creation/conjuration side of magic, so Andra won't focus on summoning. I honestly might just make her a blaster, with a side focus on counterspelling. I'll get the final details of her build done soon.

Oh, and the Infernal Binder description suggests divination, illusion, or transmutation for an opposition school. I figured both divination and illusion xD
So feel free to make up for his lack of scrying (though Magda might have that covered) and illusion magic xD

Also, Goodberry = best berry

I doubt Andra will do much with illusion but she'll at least have a few illusion spells. She'll favor flashy, big, important-feeling spells like fireball and empowered fireball and quickened fireball. :P

Don't forget maximized fireball

And empowered quickened fireball :P

Unk will definitely be a bit more subtle xD

Item wise, the only magic one I want for Emmet is the Belt of Mighty Hurling, preferably a Greater one. Unfortunately, 42,000 gp might be a bit steep.

Nonmagical items, a properly sized suit of full plate would cost only about 3,000 gp. A Greatsword and Lucerne Hammer should only cost about 130 gp, giving him things to throw. 3,880 gp all together if all three are masterwork.

Bogdirt is a much younger goblin. He is 17 years old. I changed around some skill ranks. He now has a 7 survival, so he should be able to travel from point a to point b as long as it isn't too far. His natural goblin stealthyness is good enough to approach a hamlet unseen, but he won't be slipping through alleyways. I just realized he should have a buckler instead of a heavy shield so he can cast spells. I think that works. He just loses his shield bonus when he does.

As for Magda's items, the main thing I want is a headband of WIS +4 (16,000 gp). And if scaling items are allowed, I wouldn't mind a thirsting blade (24,600 gp, scaled to CL 11th), but I certainly don't need one.

I'll probably need about 1000 gp for spell components (not sure exactly, as I'm still tweaking my list), but I think that comes out of the 100k, correct?

A +4 belt of dexterity would be good for Bogdirt (16,000 gp). A masterwork dogslicer wouldn't be unwanted either. I don't want to ask too much of the Spire. I would think Albarath would decide what to dole out to his goblin minions. I'll need to think more about what else I want.

Unk will need a scroll of crafter's fortune and another of fabricate... and then he makes all the things for all the dudes! xD

Also I'm thinking of a few things:
Unk's hat: Headband of Vast Intelligence +6 (Knowledge (nature), Use Magic Device, Diplomacy) :P
Ring of Invisibility
Ring of Sustenance
Efficient Quiver
Handy Haversack
probably some metamagic rods
and Robe of Infinite Twine because who doesn't want free rope?

Item wise, the only magic one I want for Emmet is the Belt of Mighty Hurling, preferably a Greater one. Unfortunately, 42,000 gp might be a bit steep.

Nonmagical items, a properly sized suit of full plate would cost only about 3,000 gp. A Greatsword and Lucerne Hammer should only cost about 130 gp, giving him things to throw. 3,880 gp all together if all three are masterwork.

I'm guessing the original wizard wouldn't have any of those lying around, so Unk would make them all for 47.5% and/or 1/3rd price :D

Hey, you never know. Maybe he was a hoarder. "I never use this belt of hurling, but I don't want to throw it out. What if I need it one day?"

But I need an excuse to get as much of that magic lewt as possible for 52.5% off :P
Also masterwork stuff for 2/3rds off...

Which reminds me, I doubt the wizard would want two hats, so Unk would've copied Andra's 'cause he was jealous xD
Unless the old wizard was just that much of a hoarder that he had two int hats, a wis hat, a dex belt, and that throwing belt...lol

Which reminds me, I doubt the wizard would want two hats, so Unk would've copied Andra's 'cause he was jealous xD

Unless the old wizard was just that much of a hoarder that he had two int hats, a wis hat, a dex belt, and that throwing belt...lol

The wizard might have another int hat but he definitely doesn't have another unique minor artifact :P

Fair xD
Andra can keep the super sorting-hat :P

I'll start making a list of loot and see how much cash we have left over for arming our minions xD

I suppose I should start on the math of what it would actually cost to equip 35 goblins.

The most effective armor for goblin warriors would probably be breastplate (which allows them to use their full +2 Dex bonus). For a full band of 35 goblins, it's 7000 gp for Breastplates all round. Weaponry would probably be a matter of preference. Standard Goblin warriors have short swords and bows, which are fine, I think. The +4 from Breastplate is really impactful, but giving them bigger weapons won't improve their damage beyond a couple points, I don't think

I went ahead and made a spreadsheet. Keep in mind, this is simply for reference. It is not a shopping list. I just find it helpful to have everything available at a glance. I also haven't factored in Unk's crafting abilities, so some of these prices may be reduced.

I can add in breastplates, along with anything else we think would be useful.

I like the breastplate idea. Not counting Andra's rods, we can get everyone's​ wish list goodies with over 100k of magic items for the raiders. That's not counting Unk's crafting >:D

Which reminds me:
@Scarletrose: since the tower was looted a little bit (and many magic items need to be put back together), could a large fraction of the 250k be crafted by Unk for 47.5% of the purchase price? Perhaps 35 rings of protection +1 and 35 +1 dogslicers, for example? (The enchanting would take Unk 140 days, if that matters)

From the gameplay thread:

Other halls of the tower remained untouched to the goblins. A magical laboratory remains intact containing 250,000 gold pieces worth of scrolls, magic items and ingredients to forge some more while hidden safes held 100,000 worth in bars of gold and silver and precious gems.

So I think the 250k is all stuff the goblins haven't touched yet, but there should be plenty of crafting materials available. (Exactly how much, I don't know).

Maybe we should just say at least 200k worth of stuff bought at full price or something? Which would still be enough stuff for 33250 spent on crafting magic rings and we could just get masterwork weapons (or spend out of the 100k...)

You decide the ratio of magic items that are already there and magic materials for enchanting.
If Unk is a dedicated crafter and has the ability to craft everything you guys want you can make the whole 250k crafting materials.
It is after all a boon gained by spending feats and skill points on it.

Remember that while you will not have to roll for them and consider their creation a success (only during this set up phase, in the future you still have to roll) you still need to be able to craft them. That means that if the caster level and missing requirements put an item beyond your ability to take 20 you just cannot craft the item. You can still have the item found among the Tower possession but at full price.

Having someone like Unk as a dedicated crafter is a huge boon, but I think is to be expected in a game about making an evil magical empire.

Really?

Also, I was planning on taking 10.

Just need to make that +6 int headband first so I'll get +12 to crafting with a single rank...
will save vs DC 12 to not laugh maniacally: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Edit: "MWUAHAHHAHAHA!"

Also now that I think about it, 200,000+ gp for 6 feats (and 1 to 3 years of crafting) is a pretty nice deal...

It is a very nice deal. And if you can craft about 30-ish masterwork weapons out of all that (not to mention learning goblin), Magda will certainly start to think of you as the least stupid hooman. :p

(But no, seriously, that's awesome)

You'll be happy to hear that I already grabbed goblin :P
I'm pretty sure Unk isn't missing any planar languages either xD
Also draconic, because wizard :D

Since I'm making so much money for us, I'm going to go ahead and make a giant wishlist of full priced spell scrolls upto 6th level (and maaaaybe higher) and just list those as part of the loot :P
Probably only 20k or 30k gp in scrolls....
Oh, and a couple blessed books! Actually, maybe 3 so that we can have a spare in the ethereal plane...

As for the things that you can't craft, I think Brew Potion is the only item creation feat you don't have? So we'll need to set aside a few of those (if we decide we even need potions). And because of the way scaling items work, it would actually cost much, much more for you to craft my thirsting blade, so we should just pay for that one outright.

I would like to request a spell storing dogslicer for my weapon. Unk, thanks for spending the feats for all of the crafting. It will really help now and in the long run, I think.

OOoh, spell storing! That gives me ideas >:D

Also crafting is my pleasure ^^
And I'm mostly done picking spells xD

Also I finally decided that Unk likes Andra and by extension Emmet xD

Hooray! Unk-Sempai noticed me!

It's been a crazy week. I'll get to work on Andra's magic items - I'm sure they're all handcrafted by Unk. :)

Albarath himself isn't going to need any magic items. Even if we could really justify him having any magic item slots to begin with, he'd rather spend the resources on his minions.

@Albarath I think we'll keep a couple spare things around in case you need a booster shot in sacrifices :P

Also, I've got an incomplete list that shows even with my profligate spending, we've only used up around half our loot instead of all of it.
<3 crafting

I think we can arm our raiders pretty well xD

@Hat-Trick and/or Emmet: Since it costs just under 5k, I upgraded Emmet's MW stuff to +1.

@Andra: want any suggestions for metamagic rods? I like having a lesser silent metamagic rod for dispelling silence, myself...
Also efficient quiver! 'cause 6 STR, lol
Also that sempai comment reminds me, how do you feel about Unk following orders to make an item (e.g. a blessed book) for Andra, but she just takes it as a gift and endears herself to him shortly after that? xD

Since your crafting cuts the price by so much, Bogdirt and I should be able to get +6 on our belt and headband respectively.

Edit: If that's what he wants, that is. I don't mean to assume.