Rappan Athuk [Pf]

Game Master Chris Manos

Problem is I never played a melee monk - not even sure where to start :P

Well, it seems like what they really need is someone to work that wand of theirs.
Personally, I think you should do one of the following:

-Warpriest(avoid sacred fist, they nerfed it to uselessness)
-Druid (they can be combat beasts, and come with a free hp sink)
-Inquisitor
-Cleric
-Ranger
-Oracle
-Shaman
-Skald, although I think you'll find problems being tough enough. Might be wrong about that.
-Hunter(I personally really dislike them, but some people think they're fun.)

-Paladin(although I can see why you wouldn't want to.)

Hell, even a combat-purposed investigator could work.

All right. So, supposing you win this fight, what do plan to do after?

So... No one can use the wand of CLW? :D

It seems to me your suggestions follow a distinct 'divine inclination' Olaf, or am I looking at it wrong? :P

You could be a sohei and wear armor, perhaps. You'd probably need to get medium armor proficiency from somewhere for it to really work out though, so that makes it less monk-like.

Perhaps if you bought a Rod of Lesser Extend, you could bribe one of the arcanists into casting Extended Mage Armor on you each day with that.

No bribe needed. That would be standard practice. Another thing I do with a monkish character I have is that use that cracked ioun stone that has only one level of spell storing and use it to cast shield on myself. I have a wand of shield and beg a magic user cast it into the stone and then it is ready for battle, though it only lasts one minute at level 1. Still, between the mage armor, a shield spell, various paraphernalia, and a decent wisdom (the character is mostly inquisitor) the AC is high 20s. For a 4th level character if you had a ring of protection, amulet of NA, 14 dex, 14 wis, mage armor, and the shield spell you could end up with an AC of 24 or so. Not too shabby and 'only' 7K or so!

A pity Tessai is not wearing a ring or amulet we could swipe :) Hey, it would be for your new character! That's OK, right? Not tooo ghoulish. Ick. Perhaps that was a bad choice of words considering what's coming.

So... No one can use the wand of CLW? :D

It seems to me your suggestions follow a distinct 'divine inclination' Olaf, or am I looking at it wrong? :P

Belle has UMD 6. She could use it but it would be a desperation tactic while in combat. But a divine bent to your next character would not be unappreciated.

This is the archetype I was eyeing. Basically trades Judgment for spell combat. Not that I'm pushing it. I don't even know if the trade is worth it because judgement is very nice.

sorry guys, I seem to have missed a day somehow. Could have sworn I checked my campaigns last night, but obviously not.

FWIW, I'm having a blast, too. I remember the days when death was a constant concern - it really focuses your thinking and makes your achievements all the greater.

I think that whatever you choose to replace Tessai, we are going to need someone who can use the wand of cure light wounds and get rid of other status effects. A combat character would be good too.

Aaand Map.

@Gavmania, it happens to all of us.

Generally, I've been quite impressed with all of your posting schedules thus far. Good work, all of you.

Edit: Also, I think this marks the turn where Tony can act again.

Yay

On reflection, did I kill Magnus back there? It feels like I might have.

Ah well, we will make a balanced party out of you yet.

Hey! You chose the group! :P

Hey! You chose the group! :P

Now, now. We get to learn from his mistakes. Isn't that better than learning from our own?

Learning is always nicer when you are alive to profit from the experience :D

Hey! You chose the group! :P

Yeah. I probably should have done a better job. Alas, I was impatient to get started.

In my defence, no-one seemed to be working on a divine caster. And all your characters are pretty cool, so I figured, what the hell.

And, well, this is going to sound a little bit like me being a b#&#@, probably because it is, but I really didn't want to take the only offered oracle along.

In retrospect, perhaps bringing two arcanists at once was overkill on that front.

Well, I figured that Belle would be able to provide all our healing. I hadn't figured that she would be unable to use a wand of Cure Light Wounds.

I've just had to look up the dying rules. First time I've had to do that for at least 2 years, which shows how often they get used in a normal game.

It works out. We learned that this is a challenge and I, for one, find that creating the characters is almost as much fun as playing them. Not that I'm offering for Belle to just up and die, but I won't lose any sleep over it as long as I can charge back in with another character.

You guys ever play Paranoia?

Don't get me wrong Olaf - before I was complaining about my Paladin getting killed. Now I am honestly joking ;)

I gotta agree that the characters are cool, and I was happy that you didn't drag the recruitment too long. I hate when that happens :P

And the two arcanists are quite different to be honest - I don't know much about the class to give an educated opinion, but from what I have seen in this fight, they play out quite differently, so that worked out in my opinion.

Now I just need a stronger character! Zen Archer is still tickling me. Maybe I will mix him with something divine, like Warpriest, or Inquisitor. Or maybe with something Arcane, like a Sorcerer :D

By the way, a tactical tip:

If Tony keeps standing where he's at, #8 can 5ft. step and full-attack him. If he moves to somewhere that is out of 5ft. step range for #8, it will be forced to use a move action to get to one of you, wasting 3 of its attacks.

Just a thought.

I know, I just going through my inventory. Cause I think I have troll oil to activate fast healing on Magnus.

But I'm going to withdraw or see if I can make an acrobatics check.

Edit:
No troll oil :(

Maybe I'll just wait to see who survives before deciding what to create :D

You guys ever play Paranoia?

A long, long time ago. more than 30 years ago, I think.

I have a potion of Cure Light Wounds in my backpack. Anyone who can reach me, can give me that. It'll stabilise me at least.

BTW Zen archers are cool, but just remember that even though they can use their bow in melee (thanks Point Blank Master), they do not threaten adjacent squares with it. For that you need snap Shot, which you will be a few levels off at the moment.

*Edit* You will be able to do multiple attacks, which I think is going to important. If you mix with Warpriest, you will be able to use a wand of CLW.

I hope Magnus doesn't die. I was looking forward to being able to hit with 9d4 burning hands next level (and 10d6 fireballs the level after, yay!).

I mulled it over some more, and I think you guys are all going to survive :D

Felt the temptation to create an Oradin, but from my experience it becomes hard to both frontline and heal at the same time, at least at lower levels. I have been playing an Oradin in another game (and I love it) starting out as second liner, offering protection to casters and ranged, but the group changed and I have ended up being frontline AND healer - it is a LOT of hard work, even with a witch backing things up with Healing Hex.

I don't have much experience with druids so hesitate in going that route.

The first character I ever played on the boards was a rapier and buckler Inquisitor of Cayden Cailean - I have to say I absolutely loved playing her, and she was surprisingly effective, so I'm not sure...

I am inclined to the Warpriest, but would like to do more than simply hitting things HARD - so I may try to put together a tripping build (I think we could use some crowd control abilities), just not sure if I am going to invest strong in the whip for a wider control area, or if I am going reach/trip (not much experience with trip builds either).

For some reason, another idea popped to mind - Lore Warden/Bard trip build - not sure if he would pack the necessary punch though, with only light armor and all :P

I don't have much experience with playing trip builds either but I understand they lose effectiveness at higher levels as the opponents get larger sizes.

So it's a good thing you probably won't live long enough for that to be a problem ;D

Well, reach + trip + combat reflexes builds are quite a lot better than just reach builds. That said, the main reason tripping tapers off a little is actually more that things start flying qutie a bit, as opposed to the creatures growing bigger.

At least, in my experience, that is.

I came across this list for 'how to win at d&d'. I don't agree with all of it, but most of it is quite clever.

It's certainly food for thought. A lot of general truths.

I think we just need a post from Agyen, then we should be good to go. I get that it's the weekend though, so time for the boards might be in short supply.

Cpt. Collateral, how many hp does Agyen have left anyway? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Here's the new map!

Anyway, it's all of your turns again.

He had 0 hp when he drank the potion I think, now he should have 3.

From the language of the thing, I'm fairly certain that elf arcanists get +1 point to their regenerating pool with the FCB. If the gnome FCB didn't exist, there would be no doubt in my mind that that was what it did.

Since the gnome FCB does exist though... Hmm.

Let's just go with it giving you actual points to spend, not a maximum capacity increase. I might reverse this ruling if it turns out to be overpowered, but let's try it this way for now.

Gavmania, I'm going to post the gargoyles' turn, but when you roll stabilization for the next round, you can roll for this one too.

Updated Map

That thing about Belle not being able to use a wand of CLW got me thinking. She probably cannot create a scroll of CLW either which messes up my backstory. Could I possibly create a cure scroll or use a cure scroll/wand if I spend a reservoir to activate the White Mage special ability? If not I have some editing to do!

Re: Color spray: Honestly? They're green gargoyles, but since I have the 3.5e version of Rappan Athuk, and not the pathfinder version, I've reverse-engineered my own 'green guardian gargoyles' using the pathfinder gargoyle as a base, and then applied the differences between the 3.5e gargoyle and the 3.5e green guardian as if it were a template. I was not aware that the contents of Frog God Games third party had made it to the d20pfsrd.

You should fully expect more strangeness like this to occur across the span of the campaign for similar reasons.

I am mildly (only mildly though) miffed that you've read that statblock, however. There was supposed to be a bit of a mystery there, which is bluntly revealed in the statblock.

Re: CLW: Probably not, sorry.

The creator must have prepared the spell to be scribed (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) and must provide any material component or focus the spell requires. A material component is consumed when she begins writing, but a focus is not. (A focus used in scribing a scroll can be reused.) The act of writing triggers the prepared spell, making it unavailable for casting until the character has rested and regained spells. (That is, that spell slot is expended from the caster's currently prepared spells, just as if it had been cast.)

The creator must have prepared the spell to be stored (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) and must provide any focuses the spell requires. Fifty of each needed material component are required (one for each charge). Material components are consumed when work begins, but focuses are not. A focus used in creating a wand can be reused. The act of working on the wand triggers the prepared spell, making it unavailable for casting during each day devoted to the wand's creation. (That is, that spell slot is expended from the caster's currently prepared spells, just as if it had been cast.)

I'm sort of torn on this one. On one hand, I think the whole mess is a little silly, and on a basic level, the distinction falls just shy of making sense. On the other hand, I kind of want to run this particular game fairly close to RAW, absenting certain houserules. I feel like this is the bad sort of houseruling to start in on, making specific changes and exceptions for specific classes, feats or spells etc.

I'm much more in favor of making clarifications or small changes at the structural level, such as how combat and actions work, than make changes to individual 'game objects', if that makes any sense at all.

My understanding was that as an arcane caster, she could make arcane scrolls and wands; they could not be used by a divine caster just as she cannot use a divine scroll or wand. This goes for Cure Light Wounds or any other spell that appears on both divine and arcane spell lists (e.g. Invisibility, Magic Weapon, etc.)
So she could make an arcane scroll of cure light wounds, but she cannot use a divine wand or scroll of cure light wounds.

Wands are neither divine nor arcane. Scrolls are either arcane or divine, though.

The problem isn't with making arcane or divine scrolls, however. The problem is that she technically doesn't fullfill the prerequisites for crafting.

She neither knows the spell(prerequisite for a spontaneous caster to scribe), nor has it prepared(prerequisite for a prepared caster to scribe). The text is quite clear here.

I think you're right to be a bit miffed. I told myself that others would know about the stat block so why not me, but its really hard to separate player and character knowledge if you do. I will keep my nose out of the bestiary from now on and sorry for looking!

Thanks for the prompt ruling on the reservoir use. I'm going to alter my back story a bit to account for that.

It seems I spoke too soon.

At 1st level, a white mage can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to use one of her spell slots to cast a cure spell (any spell with "cure" in its name) from the cleric spell list as if it were on her spell list and prepared.

So, Belle can in fact scribe arcane scrolls of cure wounds, she just has to spend an arcane pool point to do so.

And she has to find someone else, or use UMD to activate them.

OK, great. I don't know that it will ever come in handy, but I like that the bio was not in error.

GHmm. It seems I messed up some targeting and which agrgoyle was which.

It'd be tangled to clean up again, and the errors were to the party's benefit, so I say I let it stand as is.

Right. New map.

If someone wants to know how long you've got 'till the ghouls make it on scene, perception checks can give you a hint.

That marks the end of combat. You (mostly) made it! You each recieve 1600xp for your efforts.

Well, as to the ghouls, I say let's see if they will feast on the gargoyles.

Maybe we have time to dig out their eyes. If not, make a run for it and see if we can come back later ( as in a few days). Maybe the ghouls will not have thought to loot their roost. We can load up on anti ghoul stuff and come back to check.
Btw, unless I am healed more than 14hp, I will still be unconscious, I think. I certainly won't be able to run.

The gargoyles look a bit too rock-like to make probable ghoul feed. They also don't really bleed. You probably wouldn't bank on the ghouls finding it particularly distracting.

I have an idea for something you could do to avoid the ghouls. Do you want it? Keep in mind that it uses only information that your characters already have, and so it might expose you to dangers or traps that your characters don't know about yet.

If you want to find your own way out of the situation, I respect that, too.

I can't speak for the others, but for myself I'd welcome any chance to escape the ghouls. I am certainly not in a fit state to fight again, and won't be without a lot of healing or a lot of downtime.

Do we get a chance to take the gargoyles eyes?

I think the best bet is finding the sturdiest structure to hold up in for the moment. Tony is going to have to make a constitution check sooner than the rest if they make a run for it.