Welcome Stephanie.
I play both Rownig the rogue and Windel the cleric.
Glad to have you.
Glad to see our missing player issue was resolved quickly. Welcome to our game, I'll see about getting you some of the key points of the game to help orient you over the next few days.
I thank you for the welcome.
Hopefully I can catch up on the story so far as to be able to post soon.
Still slowly working my way through the campaign log so as to get an understanding of the story so far and from there determine what of that story Stephanie would know of.
If there is a big summary post somewhere that explains that I'd love to be directed to it, otherwise I'll putt along and get it all eventually.
Still tinkering with the alias, unsure how much of a divide I want to make between the previous incarnation and this one.
playing with skill lay outs and mulling options.
@ Miagnik: that would be appreciated, having a better understanding of would be great.
that is very helpful, I had been gathering some of that stuff in a word document so I could puzzle over it.
Well helpful to the degree that it answers some of my questions while leaving more questions in its wake.
Learning more on the goblin/dwarf thing and how the references the priestess keeps dropping to the power of the palace has would be good to learn (if its is known already)
A lot of the information about the Goblin and Dwarf relationships can be found in the Campaign info section on the world. There is also a small amount of information that can be gleaned from reading the beginning of the recruitment thread.
Hrmm.. then I've read it already. It was rather chock with hooks I had assumed might have popped up in places on the game play thread but it makes my life easier when I don;t have to go datacrawling.
and she wants to use this power and the shadow of the vampire queen to ensure the goblin people retain their own autonomy rather than being crushed and absorbed by the dwarven majority.
Least that's what it sounds like.
-----Aaannd tangent.
Understandable but unfortunately going to end up getting her nation crushed if she goes through with it.
Unless she is willing to corrupt her race into vampires the other 30 odd dwarf island nations in the area would disagree at an uprising.
Might even be enough for them to sign a few treaties and make some good relations after crushing some upity green skins.
which would result in vampire greenskins, which would really suck for them living in a tropical island nation.
With running water and sunshine everywhere.
Oh, Galena must really dislike Stephanie then as she represents the reality she so desperately desires to avoid. Making friends with her long time foes must be very hard for a Spider-taur.
Hrmm.. wonder if that whole, spider bane hand axe/dagger, spider goblin tribe, Spider-taur goblin thing might have a connection.
I wonder what pieces im missing that make such a plan wise in her opinion. Eh, I shall have to post and prod her about such things.
We are here to end the curse, yes?
Ding! Woot, we made it to level 5 everybody!
Wee haa! Leveled! Hmmm. So what does a 4th level Goblin Barbarian Princess multiclass into….
Answer: Nothing. Coz nothing says sweet sweet death like extra rage rounds and almost getting a new iterative attack. Sorry Slayer, you'll have to wait…
Improved uncanny dodge is nice after all...
Change log:
+ 11 HP (8 + 2 Con, +1 FC)
+1 BAB
+ 5 skills (4 Barbarian, 1 int)
Ranks in: Intimidate, Survival, Acrobatics, Perception, Craft (tattoo)
Improved Uncanny dodge
New Feat: Cleaving Finish.
Dunno about you but worm focus Verminous hunter nets you glorious fast healing. I mean so long as you are utilitarian enough to murder your animal companion.
*shrug* I'm hoping a ruling comes down for it soon. Seem way out of line for something a player can grab at L1, but I suppose there are multiple ways to obtain near limitless healing as one reaches higher levels.
Barbarians are fun, though my preference is the hucking big stuff barbarian.
Wiz5 means L3 spells.
Obviously I'm grabbing haste, as with the exception of me and Miagnik everyone benefits from it.
Other than that I'm thinking shrink item so I can make Miagnik love me. After all if we can get into town that means it is entirely viable for stephanie to be carrying several hundred pounds of sawdust in a sack.
...And perhaps a blast shield for us to all cower behind.
Hrmm but I now have 2 feats to pick, I'm not really sure what I should choose.
Saw dust, of course, as long as it's nice and dry it is full on explosive in the air! Why didn't I think of that?! In addition to its many other potential uses.
Also, a truly interesting choice for your spell. I don't think I've ever seen anyone actively pick up shrink Item before.
As for feats, that's always a tough one, unless you have an idea of what direction you're taking Stephanie.
Starting to focus on one school with Spell focus, Stephanie has Effortless Trickery already, so Illusion is a viable option.
Item creation is always nice but the bigger ones (Craft magic arms/armor or even Craft wondrous item) may not be necessarily appropriate for this campaign given how focused we are in one dungeon and the pace we move at. Brew potion might be workable though, or even Craft Wand. We could really use a cure wand to keep ourselves going longer.
As for Meta-magic, I'd say it's a little early for any of the +2 spell slot effects, but maybe Extend spell or Still spell.
My plot for stephanie is to spread out her focus a bit.
transmutation/conjuration/illusion being the big ones. She would use physical summons and terrain chainging spells to make her illusions more believable or add a danger to them.
EX: Cast create pit, silent image a cover over the pit, create several covers of the same type in separate areas.
Shape stone a cage of thin stone razors around someone, illusion of more of them to make the prospect of escaping much more dangerousthan it actually is.
Stuff like that.
The previous Stephanie had dimensional agility to work with her school teleport trick. I'm weighing the options of picking that up, as having an escape route for grapples is very nice.
With effortless trickery eating up my swift actions most times I doubt the teleport would be used for much else though.
I'm in love with the Resilient illusion wizard discovery and am sad its level requirement puts it out of my reach. Wish they had something like the old Chains of disbelief ability the illusion specialists in 3.5 could access. Removing that one bad guys discovers its an illusion and all of them do makes life much easier for such a caster.
Item wise I plan on picking up a wand of silent image. the minimal requirements for activation means discovering its an illusion is harder by a few degrees. Though I'll still rely on my illusions seeming real enough that they don't get questioned most times.
On the topic of items did we loot the crypt things room? or was that forgotten in the excitement of the goblin ambush?
We haven't had a chance to loot anything, the next wave of battle happened to quickly.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. We'll loot and then skedaddle.
Actually that's a good question, how does everyone feel about leaving?
I guess we're at something of a crossroads right now. We've learned that all of the wedding gifts are accounted for, the vampire queen has 10 and Omara and her Black guard allies have the other 2.
We have the option of retreating from the tomb to uncover more of this nefarious plot, not to mention there is the jerk noble Sir Guisse. (Did I remember that correctly?)
Or we could retreat to King Heelggod's room again and rest there and keep pushing forward into the Vampire Queens tomb and try to stop this directly.
There is also that whole option of seeking out the hidden followers of... that male Goblin God, guy who survives or never dies... (I forgot the name.) But yeah lot's of options.
Mae just wants some better equipment, so leaving to re-equip or gettin outfitted by Galinea is fine either way...
As a player I'm fine with staying down here. Level 5 and all she has is a morningstar!!! I love it! So 1e...
Well if we don't go back to town Stephanie has little reason to abuse shrink item unless Terquem feels the desire to describe each and every rotting old box in the palace.
I mean I suppose I could just get a big rock and use that but making a explosion combo sounds like much more fun.
Shrink item works much better when I have a few days to collect weird stuff to use for it.
I'm still kinda struggling on the specifics of the story, so I don't really have much to add to the current conversation.
Though I wonder if Galinea would be more likely to help us if we reveal King Heelggod wanted us to help. (he did didn't he?)
…I might have to kill Mae for those bracers.
First off, Happy Birthday Terquem! Best wishes and thanks for hanging in there another year running this game with us all.
Wow, +4 bracers! That's some good upgrading right there.
Quick question about crafting, since one of our characters might be taking a item crafting feat. With basic items costing in high copper to Silver range, does creating magic items still work off of Gold piece value? Because if so then wow, we're lucky to have as many as we do.
@ Stephanie: Here's some key points of the game to help you that I promised.
So far, you have shown a tendency to be at once regal in your bearing, much like you might imagine a princess to be. You are commanding when it's appropriate (we did save you, so you've largely been thankful) at the same time a little... girly. (Forgive the turn of phrase if it bothers you. These days people seem to take offense more often than not. It's what I can think of.) Examples: You worry about how your clothes look(I think you even have a trait about that), you tend to get embarrassed, decency has been an issue, you do not like insects/arachnids. (This has caused a mild rift with Miagnik. But you had also promised to learn more about how the Goblin populace and Spiders are integral with one another, which seems to to have cooled the tension somewhat.)
Disclaimer: Some of the things written below are from my personal experiences and flourishes based on character interactions from the older posts and in some cases other players, and may not necessarily reflect what the current players think.
Maelodakh: She is your half-sister. A full blooded Goblin, she is also part of the royal family. She is pretty much your exact opposite. She is a warrior princess, holds a reputation as a wild and dangerous warrior, (which is true, now more so than before). Her passion runs wild in combat and she attacks enemies with wild abandon, often dropping them swiftly. She cares very for niceties, politics, decency, and is very open to what she thinks.
Hallister: An older and experienced looking Dwarf. The way he handles things is often through care and steady thinking. He despises Undead and takes often takes to the front lines of combat, where he is surprisingly swift and menacing to foes. He has been very gruff and curt with you (but he is to just about everybody), he's extremely focused on his mission here and takes it in stride that you are a spell-caster. He's not paranoid per-Se' but he is very cautious with others. To him you are part of the group at this point. He serves Sir Henri.
Moralane: With your knowledge of the nobility of Karriata Morriana, you would probably know that Moralane is the eldest daughter of Sir Henri, a knight of the realm. She has been largely respectful to you but also focused on the mission and quiet. She is an archer in combat. The relationship between her father and her is strained at the moment. What brought her on this mission is mostly unclear, but what is clear is that she is here to represent her family's interest in what is going on. She, of course, comes from Sir Henri's retinue.
Windel: A fairly reserved sort. He speaks his mind clearly and does what he can to help his allies when they are wounded. Also, he hates spiders, which has shown several times now in combat. Although there seems to be something else pushing him so far. He serves Lady Inarossa.
Miagnik: A full blooded Goblin with a fiery temper to match. His mood can shift from happy to angry very quickly and he seems to generally hate Undead. A caster with a taste for fire magics, he seems to generally love fire and stays at a distance or moves in close seemingly at random, regardless if allies are near. He has not been shy at showing an interest in you, once even throwing himself in the way to bodily shield you from an explosion of flames. He has no affiliation with any of the Knights of the realm.
Rownig: A very... resourceful Dwarf. Generally cheerful but to the point. He doesn't mind taking the easy route to solving conundrums. Not bloodthirsty, but has no qualms about fighting dirty or killing. He comes from the retinue under Lady Inarossa.
Athareesa: She is a very cheerful sort with a voice that can inspire her allies in battle. A little whimsical and you could even say naive, the reasons she came with the group remain largely unclear, though there is some mention of a debt she owes to Moralane. She has taken it upon herself to protect you during several fights and is also very interested in you, perhaps even in love... whether this is unrequited or not is up to you. She is the only one under Sir Guisse's banner.
Since saving you, there have been a number of interesting facts that have come to light.
There is a ritual involving the vampire Queen trying to recover 15 wedding gifts and using them to awaken an entity known as "The Drowned One." (I misspoke earlier when I thought it was only 10...Unless that's changed.) We are trying to end that curse by gathering the wedding gifts together and enacting a different ritual to end the curse.
Both Hallister and Miagnik have been revealed (much to Hallister's annoyance) to be members of the Black Guard, better known as the Order of Mafolin. This has been the cause of some mild strife within the party thus far. As Rownig and Wendel are both swift to point out.
There's more, I'm just out of immediate thought right now. Hope this helps.
That's a decent summary Miagnik. A couple things about Windel and Rownig.
Since Windel is my secondary character, I tend to not have him as active, especially with the decision making. Hal and the other dwarfs would know that his personality has shifted towards spiders. That shift coincides with an axe that he found. The Mae and Stephanie didn't know him previously so they see him as always hating spiders and at times in an irrational way. Windel doesn't trust Miagnik essentially because of his spider position.
Rownig's been with Hal since the beginning of journey. Hal opinions carry the most weight with him. He view Miagnik as reckless and at times uncontrollable especially around fire. He doesn't fully trust Miagnik and there has been tension between those two. Miagnik explosions at least at one time has been to the party's expense. Essentially, he believes Miagnik has a secondary motive that is not in accordance with their mission.
Both dwarf's look at Mae as a reliable comrade, who doesn't appear to have a secondary motive. Basically point Mae towards the enemy and let her fight.
Both dwarfs like Stephanie and you seems to share Windel's dislike of them.
I'm still working on updating the two characters.
DM: can I swap out my level 4 rogue talent (Offensive defense - I don't believe I used it yet) for a different rogue talent (combat trick which I would use for Combat Expertise). Combat Expertise is the prereq for Improved Feint which is what I will take with my 5th level feat.
As far as a wish list for Rownig is concerned he uses mundane gear (msw handaxes would nice) but he could really benefit from a charisma boost. That will help his bluff skill which is critical for improved feint.
I'll wait to update rownig until I hear back from you.
Sweet!
DM in looking at my build I already took the combat trick at level 2, so I'd have to flip flop my current Lv 1 AND 2 feats/talents to open up the combat trick slot.
The reshuffle would look like this:
LV 1 Feat: TWF
LV 2 talent: Finesse Rogue
LV3 Feat: Weapon focus, Hand Axe
LV 4 Talent: (combat trick and I select combat expertise feat)
LV 5 Feat: Improved feint
It's not a major overhaul as it simply swaps when two feats that he already has actually occurred.
Thanks. He'll be updated shortly.
Ok...Rownig is good to go.
I loaded up on bluff for his skill points this level.
Remaining Leveling statistics:
Draconic Bloodline 5th lvl.
Claws: Are now treated as Magical.
Bloodline Spell- Resist Energy
Spells:
+1 1st level/day
1st: Expeditious Retreat
+1 2nd level/day
2nd: Blur (I'd considered Scorching Ray but thought that with the next portion of the campaign, additional defenses might be a good choice. Also on the list were Mirror Image and Protection from Arrows.)
Skills:
+3 ranks in K. Arcana (Bet you can guess what Prestige class I'm aiming for.)
Feat:
Enlarge Spell, Doubles the range of spells.
@Terquem: I have several questions,
1.) How do you feel about throwing a bunch of ranks into one skill?
2.) How difficult is it to learn old or ancient languages in your world. Such as Draconic. I've never been a huge of fan of the fact that all languages are equally difficult to learn without something to back it up. (Such as the trait Skilled linguist, Cosmopolitan feat, or the Lore masters learn language ability.) I ask mostly because Miagnik does have a rank in Linguistics but I didn't think that was enough for Draconic.
I'm thinking about scribe scroll for Windel as crafting feat. He was nearly out of spells at the end of that combat and a few buffing spells would have been nice.
Happy (belated) birthday Terquem!
@Miagnik - very glad to see Mae is more a wild and dangerous warrior princess than ever before!
@Stephanie - everything they are saying about Mae is true. She is an exceptionally simple personality and, so far, (excepting her failed attempt to pretend to be on the run from the party/with Team BadGoblin while raging - failed) has not a bone of guile in her. She can be cruel to Stephanie, but is also very protective of her. "Nobody hurts Stephanie, but me!" sums it up...
I have windel leveled I just haven't updated the profile yet. I decided to go with scribe scroll as his feat.
Hal are you grabbing the +1 Chainmail?
We are on level 1 correct? Are we in the upper far left hand side of the map room, the one that has a secret door and room attached? it's hard when the rooms aren't labelled or when there is no grid.
The haunted house I've been working on opens this week, so I'm going to continue to be mostly absent. I'll try to get posts in when I can.
GM- Yes, Hal will be a Swashbuckler shortly. He will keep his monk levels, but his fighter levels will swap. It will be a full re-build, but the basic idea of what Hal is and how he fights will remain the same.
Staphanie- Hal's personality is gruff, brooding and no-nonsense. Through no real desire or fault of his own, he has somehow become the de-facto party leader, which causes him a bit of discomfort considering that there is an actual priest of the dwarven battle god, a blue-blooded noble woman and now an honest-to-goodness princess in the party.
He mostly refrains from telling people what to do unless there's imminent danger about, or if it's an area he is uniquely knowledgable about. He's clearly willing to take charge when he feels it's necessary, but he's actually quite happy to take orders from others.
Hl recently revealed that he is a member of a secret order of priests devoted to the dwarven death-god (the Black Watch is one of their many names) who's sacred duty is to stop the spread of the undead. He's sort of like a member of this setting's BPRD (the organization from the Hellboy movies). He's the thing in the dark that bumps back.
He's gruff, sullen, brooding and short tempered, but he's also the one most likely to jump in front of an attack meant for someone else. So far he's actually picked up and carried both Moralane and Stephanie while they were helpless and kept them out of harm's way. He's also been willing to stay in both of Miagnik's explosions just to make sure that other people weren't harmed in the blast. Self sacrifice seems to come naturally to him, but its hart to say if its because of a natural heroism or a death wish (or both).
He things all the goblins are insane, but he's willing to accept their help because what the group is trying to do is a venture for the mad. He's pretty much willing to take any and all help he can get because the odds are so completely stacked against the party. The impression Hal gives off is that he'd take aid from the devil himself if it meant more people would be saved.
I'm going to try to get a post in during the next hour. Don't wait for me though. If there are questions I want to ask I can do them as flashbacks in a spoiler.
Getting my mechanical rebuild might take a little longer. Turns out Swashbucklers require a lot more charisma than I currently have. I might have to rearrange some stats or something.
I'm surprised there isn't an archetype or feat to allow a swashbuckler to base their Grit/Panache off Constitution or Wisdom. Seems like that would be an options dwarven swashbucklers would have. The designers made sure to include an option to use axes in place of piecing weapons, but not to be able to use a stat without a penalty for their primary class feature. Strange.
Hmm, I can understand the fighting style bit, it just seems easier to alter a fighting style than a special ability. I mean they don't allow options to change Monks, or Ninja's Ki pools stat options. Panache is totally all about your moxie.
Heck, I'm playing a Goblin Sorcerer, I chose to gimp myself by playing a caster who's power is based off of force of personality. You're changing yourself to a fighter with a lot of abilities that rely on your self confidence and daring. Which both Goblins and Dwarves have less of.