Monsters and Madmen: Necromantics and Monstrous MadMen

Game Master Remnant

We are waiting for the Dm I think

I think we're waiting for the succubus to dominate the travelers.

The succubus is waiting for the results of her detect thoughts.

Meredian Adriatnaic wrote:

I think we're waiting for the succubus to dominate the travelers.

The succubus is waiting for the results of her detect thoughts.

Ahh. No worries.

Yep, letting the social tank do her thing. If they turn out to be threats we kill them and/or do unspeakable things to them/their corpses. And if they turn out to not be threats? eh. I'd give fifty fifty odds on the same or it being too much trouble and moving on the next thing to MAIMMURDERKILL.

Also, kind of displeased by the most recent FAQ update from Paizo. Lots of fun tricks for Martial types just closed.

@Faq - Yeah. On one hand that mechanic always felt a little weird. On the other hand, it was fun and useful. A shame.

Using the Amalgam Creature template above I combined the Black Widow spider and the standard Drow warrior from the Bestiary!

** spoiler omitted **

I made some teensy assumptions - I counted its wielded weapons as medium sized, emulating the undersized weapons...

I skimmed the new Drider ideas and I really like it.

What, a druid against acts defiling nature? Nah, thats just crazy talk.

But if you can find an in game method to convince Sanriel your methods are sound then go right ahead.

Though just normal old animated undead and such Sanriel seems to be alright with what with the monkey he has.

The Skeleton Monkey is just a side effect of a Sorceress striving to become a Lich and needing some cheap help around the place is all.

@Remnant - Would it be okay if I switched out the Drider's Longbow proficiency for Hand Crossbow (much cooler - and makes more sense!)?

I am old school for Drow and such and I associate Hand Crossbows with them so Yes

And/or the travellers to show the succubi all their bargains!

The female is pulling out the bolts of fabric for her to look at

Meredian Adriatnaic wrote:

I think we're waiting for the succubus to dominate the travelers.

The succubus is waiting for the results of her detect thoughts.

Off to the Gameplay thread

@Drider with the Amalgam template - Glad you liked it. Just watch out for that poison! Black Widows are nasty ... ; )

@Handbow - Yey! *Pewpew*

I'm still picking a few things for Dris, but most is done, though I do need to redo skills.

Should I just appear outta nowhere(in wind form), or do you need me to wait?

Big(ish) fight coming soon. Your call if you want in on it or wait for the first Drow fight

Fight! fight! fight! fight!

Sorry... xD

Seeing as how Dris is built around murdering people, I'd love to be involved in the upcoming fight. I'll make sure he's fully done by tomorrow.

Just need to redo skills and gear, most of which I've already picked up, but just need to record.

I just found out that Tiny or smaller creatures use Dex for their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Defense. (Page 98, CRB)

Anaxian's big weakness just got a lot less weak.

I'm assuming by the description that only JAduf had a chance to notice, so I'm going ahead with my diplomatic plans as before.

@Anaxian - It only matters for Combat Manoeuvre Bonus, everybody already gets Dex to their Combat Manoeuvre Defence : )

Just figured that out myself.

Still seems weird to me that Pixies can use their dex to bull rush people...

Yeah, a bit : )

Works better for things like Trip (tie their shoelaces together).

Still seems weird to me that Pixies can use their dex to bull rush people...

Have you ever seen Hook? Pixies can judo throw pirates, don't you know?

*Scribble scribble* Note to self: Make judo-throwing pixies. One way or the other ...

I just found out that Tiny or smaller creatures use Dex for their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Defense. (Page 98, CRB)

Anaxian's big weakness just got a lot less weak.

Is that retroactive? Meaning if I were a halfling who cast reduce person would I then use my dex for CMB and CMD?

I'd say, the odds of piercing Mind Blank is quite low at this level :P

Oh yea. I forgot. lol. Even see invisibility wouldn't work on me. In that case only the DM knows what happened once Mer turns invisible.

If you are Tiny, you would use your Dex instead of Str for CMB. No matter how they got Tiny : )

Creatures that are size Tiny or smaller use their Dexterity modifier in place of their Strength modifier to determine their CMB. The special size modifier for a creature's Combat Maneuver Bonus is as follows:

Fine –8, Diminutive –4, Tiny –2, Small –1, Medium +0, Large +1, Huge +2, Gargantuan +4, Colossal +8.

Jhaelwyn wrote:

I'd say, the odds of piercing Mind Blank is quite low at this level :P

Oh yea. I forgot. lol. Even see invisibility wouldn't work on me. In that case only the DM knows what happened once Mer turns invisible.

If it becomes a problem, we can always face a Vampire with the Twilight template.

The constant Glitterdust effect should do the trick :P

Meredian Adriatnaic wrote:

Jhaelwyn wrote:

I'd say, the odds of piercing Mind Blank is quite low at this level :P

Oh yea. I forgot. lol. Even see invisibility wouldn't work on me. In that case only the DM knows what happened once Mer turns invisible.

If it becomes a problem, we can always face a Vampire with the Twilight template.

The constant Glitterdust effect should do the trick :P

As Glitterdust is conjuration and not divination even one casting would reveal me just fine.

Edit: though those with See invisibility would probably wonder why it doesn't work for me.

How's mind blank match up against True Seeing?

Mind Blank beats it...

In my own opinion, Mind blank is way overpowered, but it is dispelled/suppressed just like any other spell/magic item

@tiny creature discussion. And yet one more reason for Sanriels prefers beast shapes to be small or larger. Dexterity is one of those things he just does not possess.

@mindblank
Excepting those with the ability as a Racial trait anyone with magic is likely going to have heard of mindblank. That sort of universal protection from a certain type of abilities would be one of the things talked about quite often. More so if they happen to want to silence an uppity diviner about 'Knowing all' in the same way True sight neuters illusionists.
I find the spell a decrept hold over from the previous edition myself. utterly necessary for any and all high level players which only tells me that it is much more powerful than it ought to be.
But at least it isn't polymorph any object.

And I'm wondering how long in game it takes before the situation with the traders destabilizes and we have to kill them once they get angry with us for murdering their 'pet' monster.

@Meredian/Veil - Wheel of Time reference : )?

@Glitterdust - Yeah, but one need to target it. Hence bring something that can do it at-will and spam away :P

@Mind Blank - Its little brother Enchantment Foil is also nice. Perfect for messing with things like Succubi ; )

@Anti Mind Blank - Blindsight and the stuff works against it. Perhaps our resident druid want to take a look at the Echolocation spell? Myself, I have considered bottling up some bats : )

@Pet monster - Hmm whatever it was, it is probably the same thing that butchered all those dark folk (grumble stupid dark folk that doesn't leave corpses behind!)

Echolocation being a L4 spell is out of my selection range currently. I have one level of Inquisitor delaying my spell access unfortunately. Benifit is that I qualify for shaping focus with that and will be able to access Ooze shape in one level rather than 3. Carnivorous crystal ooze is ridiculous even without much of its abilities.

Bats are nice, seems to be the entire purpose of summon minor monster. find the invisible thing bats!

Hopefully one of them is the pet and the other is a hungry predator so we can play the death of one off on the other. Or I dunno, wait for the succubus's mind powers to finish with the traders and watch as they walk off to do her bidding.

If the things in question happen to be animal,vermin or undead of either of the two above Sanriel will just make friends with it and have it join the Spid-al wave.

@Ooze Shape - Vital Strike fun : )?

@CMD + Ooze - On the topic of our previous CMD discussion - Oozes have surprisingly low CMD (due to a less then stellar dex). I was imagining our previous hypothetical fairy just flinging the (relatively) gigantic ooze across the room without breaking a sweat!

I then realized all the fun (ie that can be used to move enemies) manoeuvres can only be used on targets at most one size larger. Such a shame. (Now, I know there are ways around it - anyone has any close in mind?)

@Bats - I was more thinking put the actual bat in an actual bottle, like a proper fleshcrafter. I suppose just summoning them is probably easier :P

Ahhh when you have a healthy dose mad science available, everything starts to look like an experiment ...

Look at us still talking while there's science to do. :P

Fairys still can't throw something that exceeds their strength score...

I mean, I can grapple a building... its huge, but it has no dex score, so its CMD can't be that good.

Ehhhehh...

A Brownie with a level of Oracle, picking up the Unstoppable Overrun (from the Apocalypse mystery) has a 50-50 shot to Overrun a typical Grey Ooze. *Boing*

Now I need to find something that lets Reposition/Bullrush/Drag work on something larger ... :D

so with unstoppable Overrun I can move a 15 ton building? I'm sorry, but what? my strength is only eight!

Nah, Overrun would let you run over said building : P

Edit: Also, in the previous Brownie vs Ooze scenario there would be a 25% chance that the Brownie knocks the Ooze prone...

Now, Oozes can't be tripped - but Overran?

(I suspect that there is some passage that explains 'can't be tripped' = 'can't be knocked prone'. Most likely :P)

Vital strike was a thought. Unfortunately my stealth feat dampen presence ate two of my feat slots and verminfriend another one. Right now I don't even have natural spell.
So that will likely be my next feat unless I can find a spell or item to work in place of one or the other.
Well that and just buffing with strongjaw using the ooze trick ought to be suffice.

I'm finished, other than 3,900 gold, most of which will be spent on poisons.

Should I just randomly appear, or what? I lack teleport, but am definitely the fastest member of the group and can easily just show up via Wind Form.

@Drisquar - Your Defence section lists you as only having 7 HD and 66 hp (like a standard Bralani). Your Statistics section lists your BaB to +9 (seems correct: +7 outsider & +2 stalker) and your CMB to +11 (should be +13?).

Lastly, I suspect Drisquar is under the effect of an "Alacritous creature" template? Is it from the new Green Ronin Advanced Bestiary?

Man I need to get that one. It seems to have alot of cool stuff :)

Because of Wind Form, you could have just been here the whole time. No one would see you anyway, but you could have been in communication with the telepaths in the group.

Yea, I had miscalculated my attacks n such so I might have missed some things here and there.

And, totally forgot to add in my Stalker HD, thanks for catching that!

And yes, he's got a lesser form of Alacritous as well as being a lesser Bralani.

7d10 + 35 ⇒ (8, 6, 8, 7, 1, 5, 7) + 35 = 77 Bralani HP

3d8 + 15 ⇒ (5, 5, 1) + 15 = 26 Stalker HP

Total HP=103.

How's mind blank match up against True Seeing?

If it's a divination it doesn't work.

However, there are many many things that would work. Ecolocation, tremor sense, reaching out and touching, Glitterdust, A bag of flour (maybe),etc. People just rely on divination a lot.

People rely on divination for finding stuff since that is what that school of magic does :P

Another alternative solution that works is a can of paint + gust of wind. A shame it is a Line spell rather then a Cone, I could have sworn there was a low-level wind cone spell somewhere ...

Lastly, one can grab a long length of rope and tie a weight to it, then grab it in one end and spin around really fast. Sweeps trough multiple squares quickly and efficiently. Just hope that one finds the invisible foe before one is to dizzy to fight!^^

People rely on divination for finding stuff since that is what that school of magic does :P

Another alternative solution that works is a can of paint + gust of wind. A shame it is a Line spell rather then a Cone, I could have sworn there was a low-level wind cone spell somewhere ...

Lastly, one can grab a long length of rope and tie a weight to it, then grab it in one end and spin around really fast. Sweeps trough multiple squares quickly and efficiently. Just hope that one finds the invisible foe before one is to dizzy to fight!^^

True, but divination does a lot of things not specifically directed at those with Mind blank. Prescience, identify, True Strike, etc. It's still a very useful school. You just can't use it to scry on those with access to 8th level wizard spells. It seems fine to me. Even if it was just non detection it'd still be very hard to detect a caster who choose to protect themselves thusly.

As you've mentioned for invisibility and other things there are a lot of ways around it than specifically using a divination.

Besides that scrying is subject to SR anyway. So there are lots of things in the world that are difficulty to scry on even without mind blank.

Yeah. This or this screws with scrying far earlier then Mind Blank.

It is a shame Contact Other Plane has such a long casting time and requires concentration. Otherwise one could use it for a 20 question style invisibility detection ^^

*Shoots lightning bolt at random*

*Shoots another at random* 'Was this one closer?'

'No...'

*lightning bolt* 'This one?!' *lightning bolt* 'This one then?'

'...Sigh'

Yeah. This or this screws with scrying far earlier then Mind Blank.

It is a shame Contact Other Plane has such a long casting time and requires concentration. Otherwise one could use it for a 20 question style invisibility detection ^^

*Shoots lightning bolt at random*

*Shoots another at random* 'Was this one closer?'

'No...'

*lightning bolt* 'This one?!' *lightning bolt* 'This one then?'

'...Sigh'

If one stood still you are correct. :-)

Personally I have a tendency to move out of the way when lightning bolts are flying around.

Personally I have a tendency to move out of the way when lightning bolts are flying around.

I don't

*casting 2 lightning bolts*
- Was this one closer?
- No!
- And this one?
- Yes
- Did I hit her?
- No!
- Was this one closer?
- yes!
- And this one?
- Yes
- Did I hit her?
- Yes!
- And Now?
- Yes!
- And Now?
- Yes!
- And Now?
- Yes!
- Is she dead yet?
- No!
- Is she immune to lightning?
- Yes
Damn, I'll switch to fireballs then *shoots 2 fireballs*
- Was this one closer?
- No!
- And this one?
- Yes
- Did I hit her?
- No!
- Was this one closer?
- yes!
- And this one?
- Yes
- Did I hit her?
- Yes!
- And Now?
- Yes!
- Is she dead yet?
- No!
- Is she immune to fire too???
- Yes, you also wasted all of your spells.