Haha, sorry! Todric's too good at getting ladies to the floor... *snicker*
Are we all level 3 now?
Just checked my sessions (and noticed that I have a star now, woo!!!) and it seemed that Targost was missing from the reporting list for some reason. Weird. Fixed that for you.
If we have 3 level 3s and 3 level 2s, we actually get an APL of 2.5, which means we can choose to play up to a 3-4 subtier scenario if we like. (I would not suggest doing so with newer Seasons - they're too brutal!)
Well, if we want a break from the museum, how about a trip to Riddleport?
I've considered buying The Cyphermage Dilemma from Season 4.
We'd only be eligible to play subtier 3-4 in a Tier 1-7 game - such as the one we just did, actually.
I'd like to run something that most of us can get credit for, especially those who are looking for that extra XP!
So, my top three:
#4-15 The Cyphermage Dilemma
#24 Decline of Glory
#2-11 The Penumbral Accords
Cast your vote and I'll get it ready to go!
Ok, so it'll be Decline of Glory unless I hear any objections. I still need to buy & read it, so the earliest start will be next Tuesday. If we play that, our APL of 2.5 puts us, by my rules interpretation, in the 3-4 subtier. But others would just drop the decimal and call it 2.
I have:
Calanthe, Witch 3
Mez, Inquisitor 3
Norine, Cleric 3
Ebon, Barb 1/Cleric 1
Muluk, Cavalier 2
Targost, Sorceror 2
APL = 2.5
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That sounds good, Derek. I'll need a couple of days to level this character and another one.
Targost - That is entirely legal, in my understanding.
BTW, talking about brutal, we are in the third chapter of Thornkeep and are currently trying to avoid a TPK by using the deaths of teammates to buy time in running away. A critter started out invisible and shredded one frontline fighter character for 50 - taking him from full to -28 in one round - and then another 'unbreakable' plate-armored fighter for 48 the next round. Since it is our size and flies and is faster than us, we should be toast, but perhaps I'll get to spike the door and buy a little time. The level is 3-5 and we are all 3, but I don't think we could do it at 6. Maybe 9...
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That sounds like the gm looking at the wrong tier. +16 to hit with 4+ attacks is not something built for lvl 3s IMO
It's not even a solo encounter as there were what, 4 dretches as well?
I'm in a special event right now and 2 dretches alone an encounter in the 3-4 game. Double that plus a boss.... Not right.
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Yep, 4 dretches, which were summoned by the critter while we were trying to do our own buffing. The dretches were just in the way, essentially - not really amounting to much, at least in comparison.
As far as I understand - I haven't read the scenario - is that there aren't tiers within each level. You just play what you are given. Ironically, we didn't have too much trouble with the rest of the level, just with this thing at the end which really seems out of place.
In the first chapter, which was level 1-2 and we went through as level 1's, there was a shadow (incorporeal undead) in one area and a wight and some zombies in another. If we weren't properly prepared for undead and hadn't gotten lucky at finding a magic weapon, we could have been toast there, too, possibly going down a character or two and then finding ourselves fighting our friends as newly-minted undead.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that it was all meant for 4 characters, too! We had 6 in chapters 1 & 2, and now 5 characters in chapter 3 (well, 3 left...). My character, using Mez's visage, is likely the next to go, but he is trying to convince the other two to use their scrolls of expeditious retreat to get out of there. I just spiked the door, but I am not sure how long that will last.
When the party APL is exactly X.5, it's up to the group to decide whether they want to round up or round down according to Mike Brock. (There's a thread about this somewhere, I'll find it if you want.)
I think we can handle 3-4 tier. We've got 6 people in a Season 0 game... they're almost all notoriously easy.
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That sounds crazy strong, Norine. Maybe not so bad with something like glitterdust/see invisibility/etc... Maybe you could try the good ol' "throw bags of flour into the room" tactic?
Sounds good Alice - I've run a game like that before, where we were exactly a X.5 and the party all agreed to go to the higher tier. It can suck if you're at like a 2.6 or 2.7 though, at least for the lower level folks.
Anyway, I guess I ought to check out what I just volunteered to do...
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Alice, yeah crazy strong. It was only invisible before the first attack and then it was destroying us anyway. Luckily, I made a successful roll to jam a door the remainders just all made it to the other side of before it and the GM then let us escape.
People have some pp for body retrieval but not enough for raise dead at this level. I'll sell off most of my stuff and if everyone does so we'll probably have enough for one raise dead.
-Posted with Wayfinder
@Mez, here's a question - if I take my next level in monk, what do you recommend? Maneuver Master, Master of Many Styles (for Crane chain), or vanilla monk?
@Calanthe - Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble!
This scenario actually looks pretty long, and potentially dangerous. They're handing out over 700 GP in tier 1-2 and over 1,500 in 3-4. That must mean something!
Plus I looked over the encounters, and the last fight definitely presents what the American military would call a target-rich environment.
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Yeah, I always find it hard to build clerics... particularly if they're not combat-focused ones. My cleric is specifically designed to be "full support, full healing, full tank", and I'm having trouble thinking of good feats for him, heh...
Once you get up a few levels, metamagic like Reach Spell and Extend Spell become more useful. There are some cool channeling feats though - Channeled Revival for example. Heavy Armor Proficiency might be worth a look at. Spell Focus and other similar things such as Augment Summoning are nice if you want to be more spellcaster-y.
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@Norine - Improved Initiative? I took that at 1st with my cleric, along w. Heavy Armor profic. Then weapon focus at 3rd and Power Attack at 5th. But he's full tank, good buff aimed. AC is 25 at 6th, and I haven't even gotten the Amulet of Natural Armor yet.
@Mez - Not sure. If I stick with the rapier as my main focus, dipping monk doesn't make much sense with the Crane Wing nerf.
A fellow player has a monk 5/lore warden 4 who's extremely optimized for grappling (as in he only fails on a Nat 1, due to his + to grapple being close to 30.
That's not how I was aiming Tod, and refocusing now might be a pain. But having someone with Improved Unarmed and Improved Grapple could be very nice. Even a standard monk would get both at 1st, so that could be nice.
Really, the amount of monk levels would depend on benefit derived. I wouldn't go more than 3 or 4, so I only give up 1 BAB.
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Cloaks of resistance are shoulder slot items, not neck slot items. :)
I think it depends what you want to do with Tod really. The thing with combat maneuvers is that you kind of need to hyperspecialise with them because of how CMD scales. It's fine at low levels, but as creatures get stronger and stronger - especially when they get larger and larger - it starts to get a lot harder. It might be less of an issue with PFS because of the focus on low-mid levels and humanoid bad guys, but...
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Oh, BTW, there should be some time, I would think, at the end of this scenario or at the start of the next when Norine could cast Make Whole on Ebon's earthbreaker and Masterwork Transformation, as needed. (I always am a little confused about time outside the direct scenario, but some things, like disease progressions, can be covered over several days, and it seems reasonable that people could stick around until the next morning for some spellcasting.)
You know, I'm actually not sure if you can cast those spells THIS scenario...
You level up when you get the XP.
You get the XP when you get your Chronicle.
You get your Chronicle AFTER the scenario when everything has been said and done.
For example, your day job didn't include your level 3 modifiers, so I don't think that you would be able to cast a 2nd level spell either.
@Mez - that sounds like an awesome character! :P Maybe snagging some of the Step Up/In Harm's Way kind of feats?
Oh, it wasn't meant to be sarcastic if that's what you mean. Legitimately cool sounding. But funny, because I know the pain of loving tanks despite no aggro mechanism.
(That was one reason why I liked 4e... marking? Or whatever it was? Was pretty cool.)
I'll try to get game threads up tonight guys.
My own cleric just finished another part of The Devil We Know. I've got 5k gp I could spend.
I can grab a +1 adamantine longsword (working towards that +3 DR beater). Or I can go for an amulet of natural armor and a +2 to my shield to bump my AC (to 27, I love me some tank too!)
Neither is wrong, but do you guys think one is a higher priority?
And should I even worry about getting mithral full plate one day, or stick with steel for this guy?
Not that much reason to grab mithral full plate unless you really want to be able to do Dex skills like Stealth. It doesn't drop the armor category far enough to increase your speed, and it is verrrry expensive.
Personally I'd go the longsword! You don't need high AC if they're dead. :P
Well, here is the link to the new game:
Once everyone's checked in, Alice can shut this thread down I suppose.