[OutPost] GM Dennis - PFS #8-99B: The Solstice Scar, Version B (Session 1) - Classic 7-8 (Inactive)

Game Master Dennis Muldoon

Because I derped it. Should have been +6 for 21, if that would have made a difference.

I am loving Grandma's little speeches. Shame about the dice.

I think Tooth is limited to Aid Another checks here. I'll bring in Claw to impress the chief next round.

Because I derped it. Should have been +6 for 21, if that would have made a difference.

It would not have, I'm afraid.

Hey all. I unexpectedly had to go out of town. I should be able to post tomorrow. Feel free to bot Kel for whatever you need from him before then. Thanks, sorry, and talk to you soon.

I'm going to be travelling tomorrow (Friday) and away over the Easter weekend. I expect to have wi-fi, but my posting rate may be reduced until I am home on Monday night.

Botting instructions are in Tooth's profile. Whilst he'll normally want to flank, against this foe he'll try to make that flank with his air elemental(s) whilst flying on Claw. He'll try to stay above the tentacles if it's possible to still attack from above.

small air elemental - Tooth gets 1d3 of these appearing before his next turn.

bardiche attack line: adjust as needed. Switching vermin focus to Ant if we get light.

[ dice=bardiche, flank, ant focus, elevation, bless, power attack]1d20+9+2+1+1+1-2[/dice]
[ dice=damage, lead blades, dirty fighting, power attack]2d8+7+1+6[/dice]

If that undead is corporeal then Claw's attacks might be useful. If incorporeal there are no rolls to make for him.

[ dice=claw]1d20+9[/dice][ dice=damage]1d6+5[/dice]
[ dice=claw]1d20+9[/dice][ dice=damage]1d6+5[/dice]

each claw attack has a grab:

[ dice=grab?]1d20+15[/dice]

If a grab lands claw gets a secondary bite attack:

[ dice=mandibles]1d20+3[/dice][ dice=damage]1d6+2[/dice]

And if needed:

[ dice=fly]1d20+5[/dice]

It didn't get posted here, but we've been passed an aid token:

***Token #2***

Passing Aid Token to: Dennis
Current Boosts: Provide Knowledge, Hard DC (x2) & Burst of Healing

I suggest we use that aid token straight away for Inspire Courage. Can we add that +2 to Tooth and his elementals attacks this turn?

Sure. Inspired Courage used, I'll pass the token along.

I'll have my post up shortly.

Please forgive me for not being on a real computer this weekend unexpectedly...so I feel that I've missed stuff. Can we do the ritual from just outside the lines on the map, or no?

Also, I see lots of info from knowledge checks on special abilities, but did we get a basic description? i.e. Kel has stuff that works on corporeal undead but not incorporeal, and I can't seem to find that? Sorry and thanks.

No worries! Yes, you may perform the ritual from just outside the circle. The creature within (currently grappling Kaa) is corporeal.

Just fyi I'll be on the road for the next several hours so bot me if needed. Sorry again.

***Token #3***

Passing Aid Token to: GM Dennis
Current Boosts: None

Enjoy!

Go ahead and put me into delay for the rest of the encounter. I'm never going to be able to do anything at this rate.

You could always use a wand of magic missile, Kaa.

I'd rather we just not waste time on me to either do single digit damage or absolutely nothing.

You could try boosting the Aid token we just got?

In the words of tumblr, "I gotchu, fam" :P

Yes, apply that to Quiselle please!

Unless someone is of a particularly strong opinion about not making another check for themselves, my preference for the encounter would is that everyone would get two checks for the encounter.

I don't have a whole lot of other applicable skills, so if someone wants to do more than two, I'm okay making only one.

Same here. I have 1 applicable skill here.

Are we going to get a tally or anything or do we just throw a bunch of numbers out there and hope it goes well?

Because I'm hesitant to take a second roll if we have others who are better at pretty much gosh darn everything?

I have a sneaking suspicion that this influence encounter runs much better in person than in PbP.

Definitely. It's meant to be fast (no more than 15min) and done mostly through RP, and those two things don't go together well in PbP.

At the very least the it is a lot quieter in PbP than it would be a convention room.

I will say that I was mostly wary of the idea that Watts takes on four checks. Because Watts is a presence, if not the dominant presence, in every encounter that depends on skill checks I have gotten used to taking a more passive role to avoid Watts taking the spotlight from others. When presented with the opportunity to make all the checks, I don't have a lot of experience in society that has encouraged me to take it.

It's always a balancing act, between effectiveness and inclusiveness. The best games have both.

Tooth isn't the most powerful or dominant of characters - though I am breaking new ground with him in this adventure because it's his first outing at level 7, with the large companion. But I have been there with other PCs. Sometimes there's a very high variance in effectiveness of PCs at the table.

One thing I have found has worked in the past is asking the table how they want to proceed. I've written about it on the forum before. If you say "do you prefer that I take the bowshot with my True Strike extract?" instead of just taking the arrow of slaying and not giving fellow players any agency it makes for a better experience all round.

As it happens, we had an investigator-type PC in another game I am playing express similar concern about dominating skill challenges. I, and other players, appreciated him voicing that concern but we all said "please continue!" Investigators will tend to crush skill challenges, if reasonably well-built. So I'm going to say "please continue!" to Watts here as well.

Everyone has their strengths. Kel is mostly party-support and having out-of-the-box solutions, but is limited in skills, and even worse in combat when he's not casting/buffing. I'm totally cool with the experts shining in their areas of expertise! :)

I have an investigator who was L1 playing 'up' in Signs in Senghor and I was terrified that he was going to be a 'resource sponge' for the party with little contribution.

...boy, was I wrong.

He was nearly team MVP... beaten out only by the bard who had their UMD up high enough to use something we found...

I unexpectedly still have both Blessing of Fervor spells available, so let me/Kel know when you want those. Resist Energy Communal is ~10min each, so he's definitely going to save that for if we encounter a bigger dragon further ahead.

"They are incredibly interesting, although I do wish we had more time to speak with one another. I might plea for my entry on a later date when your lands are not under a dire threat. Even with that, I would ask for your consideration of another matter. I work with a number fellows with a focus on scholarship and sharing knowledge. I don't know if such matters are of interest to you, even if it is far off story and art, but they would greatly benefit of your knowledge of lands here as well as the customs of the local fey."

Knowledge (local) DC 24 to recruit as a NPC scholar or extraplanar authority?: 1d20 + 15 + 2 + 1d8 ⇒ (18) + 15 + 2 + (3) = 38

"Even if not so, I'm grateful for your aid and wish well for you and your home."

Sorry, I don't think either of them fit the bill for scholar or extraplanar authority.

That is fine, I had already discounted the two lords and went for our guide because Watt's history with dryads. The other I considered, but decided to hold off on for a more, less apocalyptic moment was Medda as a storyteller (maybe?) of a tribe being a tribal scholar.

Thanks all for the support. I'll hold back less on any remaining skill sections, feel free to let me know if you want me to reign it in at all.

I feel the need to apologize...I'm clearly not on my "A" game right now...I somehow missed that Kaa got grappled entirely, and I feel like I've been missing other stuff left and right for most of the scenario. Long story short, bunch of stuff going on offline right now that's taking a lot of my attention away...so if I'm missing something glaringly obvious like "hey, cast liberating command to get me out of a grapple" - please feel free (encouraged, even) to poke me. Thanks and sorry.

I'll try to remember to tag things like 'grappled' in the initiative blocks, too.

***OVERSEER ANNOUNCEMENT***

@Table GMs: The Fey Allies condition on page 31 is in effect.

Fey Allies: This condition triggers and affects the entire House once enough tables have reported fey successes. When this occurs, all PCs and companion creatures gain a single-use benefit they can use during Part 4. As a free action on its turn, a creature can use its benefit to gain either DR 4/- or cold resistance 8 until the end of that encounter. Each PC and companion creature can select a different benefit. You can use this at any point between now and the end. Whichever you choose, when you use it the effects only last until the end of that particular encounter, so use wisely.

I don't consider it a problem at all, I admit I thought of your liberating command when I saw him grappled, I just didn't think anything of it when your turn passed aside a polar bear being less threatening than a tentacled undead. If I notice anything that I would like to have one of your spells (including blessing of fervor) I'll shout it out.

If Communal Resist Cold is being cast, then Andrietta would use the DR 4/-. While it is tempting to save it, we don't know what the situation is and better to handle it decisively than get caught flat-footed.

Just a head's up for the weekend, there's a convention I'll be GMing at (hopefully) and I won't be around Friday evening, all day and night Saturday and won't be home until sometime Sunday evening.

Not a convention...although it's going to feel like one... due to GMs calling in sick or otherwise bailing, I apparently have to run 5 (maybe 6) games between tomorrow and Tuesday, but I will do all that I can to keep up and not screw up buffs/debuffs.

Remember, Andrietta gives +4 to Will Saves vs. Fear within 10' of her.

Scooting to GM at convention. Not a lot of time to post. Andrietta will move up, taking the BoF in Dodge AC/Ref Saves, LoH as needed to heal self, and smite up the dragon a good 'un.

Sorry for request of botting.

I made an adjustment to my hp to account for the bear attack hitting ablative barrier. Changed 5 damage to 5 nonlethal. Won't change when I go down, but does affect a potential future where a dragon unleashes a world of pain on me.

GM, would it be helpful if I wrote the Bot post for Andrietta or are you good?

Lissa, thank you for getting that. I've had no energy or bandwidth to post much of anything the past two days running around for local convention.

GM Dennis: Thank you for your patience.

Andrietta doesn't anticipate the kobold surrendering and won't be heart-broken if they don't, but she can't just murder it in cold blood without at least giving it a chance to realize the situation.

Also, thanks for bearing with Andrietta there.

It was kind of a defining moment for her because she COULD have gone full-on Crusader there and fed more Blood to the Blood God for Tooth, but as noted, Andoletta is one of those 'the path to Good isn't ever easy'.

Andrietta should totally accept Tooth's offer of the position of Sheriff of Ravenmoor :)

(Tooth keeps sacking and re-hiring my wife's monk for the position. Pretty sure she's currently sacked).

I love when encounters end some way other than murdering every mook in sight, especially when it's such a character-based decision. This seems totally legit based on good rolls and Kel's ability to do fast diplomacy, along with the circumstances.

One of my lodge members found that item a few years ago - it's turned several potential-combat encounters into (or back into) roleplay ones over the years, so I've also come to enjoy it.

We're only waiting for the Overseer wrap-up, which should come tomorrow (April 17th), I believe. In the meantime, does anyone have any changes (like folio re-rolls to day job checks, for instance) to the reporting info they posted earlier (posted below for convenience)?

-----

Player Name: Jim Page AKA Wei Ji The Learner
Character Name: Andrietta Ebonfeather
PFS#-Char#: 145296-6
Faction: Silver Crusade
Day Job Roll(Handle Animal via Farm Vanity): Handle Animal: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

-----

Player name:Garon Niehaus aka Blue Moose
Character name: Lissa Villasani
PFS #-Char#: 153161-1
Faction: Liberty's Edge
Day job roll: Profession(fortune-teller): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

-----

Player name: supervillan
Character name: Tooth and Claw
PFS #-Char#: 75577-5
Faction: sovereign court
Day job roll: hunting lodge (survival) but I may forgo the roll, depending on other factors. Will decide at a later stage.

------

Player name: Joshua Blazej
Character name: Watts Helm
PFS #-Char#: 2104-11
Faction: Scarab Sages
Day job roll: Craft (alchemy): 1d20 + 27 + 2 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 27 + 2 + 5 + 2 = 39
I will be playing this on slow track.

-----

Player name: Peter AKA Amazing Red
Character name: Kaa
PFS #-Char#: 20056-19
Faction: Dark Archive
Day job roll: None.

-----

Player name: Mike Bramnik
Character name: Kel-Aurthraxis Maleocorr
PFS #-Char#: 43185-36
Faction: Silver Crusade
Day job roll: Craft (Alchemy): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Almost forgot to roll for boons! For transparency, I'll roll in the same order I rolled initiatives (with Claw removed).

Everyone at the table (including the GM) rolls a D20. A 1 or a 20 nets you player boon. It might be simplest for the GM to roll for everyone. If you win in PFS, roll a d4 to determine your boon.

Initiative: Boons:

No boons for us :(