Yah, go ahead and buy alchemical stuff like that at half-price.
Trox, or as he thinks of himself "The Jinx', 'The Curse', or 'The Undeserving', has been in Sandpoint for some time. He gets by crafting dolls, most of which he sells at the Swallow Tail Festival. When the unpleasantness broke out he almost grabbed his sword and shield but history kept him back. When the heroes went to clear out the goblins he almost spoke up but did not find the words.
Now the heroes are dead. Again. Was this a new sort of jinx? More dead young men on his hands?
Maybe this time will be different. He thinks as he gets his gear form storage. Maybe I can keep a new team alive this time.
The half-orc heads out to see if he can be of help. Determined that he will not be the last alive this time while his companions die.
So, I'm wanting to combine the Vaultbreaker and Vivisectionist archetypes. Possible problem: The Vaultbreaker has these two abilities:
Safecracking (Ex): At 1st level, a vaultbreaker’s bombs can help him disable locks. He gains penetrating charge as a bonus discovery. Because this ability replaces Throw Anything, the vaultbreaker’s bombs do not add his Intelligence bonus to damage rolls.This ability alters bombs and replaces the Throw Anything bonus feat.
Enhanced Safecracking (Ex): At 3rd level, a vaultbreaker gains incendiary charge as a bonus discovery, and his incendiary charges ignore 10 points of an object’s hardness instead of 5.
This ability alters bombs and replaces the poison use class ability.
The Vivisectionist has this:
Sneak Attack: At 1st level, a vivisectionist gains the sneak attack ability as a rogue of the same level. If a character already has sneak attack from another class, the levels from the classes that grant sneak attack stack to determine the effective rogue level for the sneak attack’s extra damage dice (so an alchemist 1/rogue 1 has a +1d6 sneak attack like a 2nd-level rogue, an alchemist 2/rogue 1 has a +2d6 sneak attack like a 3rd-level rogue, and so on). This ability replaces bomb.
I'm pretty sure the normal rule is that you can't stack an archetype that alters an ability and one that replaces it. But really, since Viv replaces bombs, gaining two discoveries involving bombs is pointless because you can't use them without bombs; you're not really getting "something for nothing" as it were. I'm just losing Throw Anything and Poison Use for effectively no gain (I didn't really plan to use either, tbh). So...can I stack them please, O mighty and merciful GM?
On an mostly-unrelated note, does one of our traits still need to be a campaign trait? Also, could I possibly take a trait from a different campaign (there's a Mummy's Mask trait that basically obviates the need to take Vaultbreaker at all).
On a different, wholly unrelated note, I'm leaning toward Tiefling. Can I roll on the Variant chart? If so, can I take Fiendish Heritage to Roll 3 times and choose the one I like best?
I think the traits are fine, and variant heritage is ok too.
For stacking the archtypes, you are correct - this wouldn’t be strictly legal, but I don’t have a problem with the way you described it, so go ahead.
Here is v1.0 of Trox. Heavy defense, almost all of the starting gold was spent on my armor and shield but I did splurge on a cold iron longsword.
Trox looks like a great solid fighter. If we had him in the last fight I think things would have been different.
Here is Druamin. Dwarf druid. He has a wand of summon nature's ally because it is something that he does a lot. However, I'm wondering how that works for how long the creatures stay. Since it's a level 1 wand, does that mean that the creatures only stay for 1 round? Or is it based on my level when I cast it?
So my understanding is that magic items costs are based on the lowest level they can be created. For a wand of this nature, you can pay more to get a higher caster level.
Wand cost: 375 * spell level * caster level
Now if you went with a summon nature's ally 2, then since the minimum caster level for a level 2 spell is 3, the smallest cost is
375 * 2 * 3 = 2250
Alright, I'll just roll once. I've got other things more worth a feat.
You gain an additional +2 racial bonus to your Charisma score.
Hmm. I don't really have any use for Charisma, but I guess it effectively gives me a 22 Point Buy. I'll take it.
Just a friendly reminder - it is very handy to have some knowledge skills for identifying clues and monsters' abilities.
Since I'll only get 1 round of my summoned ally with that wand, I'm not going to do that. It takes a round to summon and then it only lasts one round. Not really worth it. I'll find something else for my 750 gp.
CLW is always handy. Produce Flame suffers in much the same way the summon does, but it’s still a decent (If expensive) ranged option.
Yeah, I think I'll do a CLW.
Ok. Druamin is ready.
GM, do you want me to make a separate alias for my animal companion (Kobu, the giant porcupine)?
That's entirely up to you. Generally I don't because I am too lazy, but I have seen some who do. I don't have a preference either way, though.
Ok. I'll try keeping just the one profile. If it gets too confusing then I'll make a second.
I had made Trox as 25 point. Reworking for 20 points, not sure where I got it in my head it was 25.
We have Know Nature/Local/Religion/Dungeon though none at a particularly high level, Trox and Druamin are just not that intelligent. Finding an arcane caster should help with that though.
Ok so we have Druamin and Trox. Lucien, you still planning on an alchemist?
Been kinda busy lately, but I should be done by tomorrow night. Maybe earlier.
Ok. This is Lucien. I ended up deciding to take Additional Traits and the Trapfinding Trait (plus one that grants Stealth as a class skill) instead of the Vaultbreaker archetype. I figure keeping Brew Potion and Throw Anything are worth it. For a 3/4 BAB character, Reynard should be pretty capable in combat, with three natural attacks (as long as I don't get caught without a feral mutagen handy) at full BAB, plus extracts of enlarge, sneak attack, etc. Plus I can still do all the sneaky trap stuff. No Evasion or Uncanny Dodge though, unfortunately. I should definitely take the Preserve Organs discovery a time or two. Speaking of, thematically, I'll be doing a lot of body modification stuff. Reynard is ultimately trying to find a way to turn himself 'back' into a human (his family's been all tiefling for generations, since the crossed the Thrunes long ago), but on the way he's becoming one of Avistan's foremost anatomy experts, and finding alchemical ways to do all sorts of things, from giving himself natural attacks and natural armor to extra limbs, fast healing, and so on. I'll probably be taking the Extra Discovery feat several times.
Looks great to me. And you bring a bunch of knowledge.
So, are we ready to recruit?
Looks like it. So an arcane caster, and maybe a support character?
That sounds good to me.
Sounds right. Five gives us a little wiggle room if someone bails as well.
Yeah, good point about having 5.
What sort of support character are we looking for?
Btw, weren’t we using Feat Tax rules? I noticed that Fuzzfoot (in his might and power, all praise be unto him) said no alternative or house rules in the recruitment.
A healer wouldn’t be bad. I can make potions at half price, and eventually could do a bit more than that. Druamin can do some cure spells as well, but more healing is never bad. I was thinking we were looking at possibly something ranged, since we’re mostly melee types.
If we are not using alternative feat tax, ie Elephant In The Room/World Is Square, I have been cheating.
Oops - I guess I forgot. I’ll post that for recruitment
I forgot to include these rules with Druamin. I'll adjust now.
Just to be clear we are setting the following in Herolab:
- Grant Default Combat Feats
- Group Weapon Feats
- Combine Combat Maneuvers
- Dodge and Two-Weapon fighting
Anything else?
Still have the weekend for final submissions, but start looking over our applicants and PM me any thoughts you have.
I've been looking a bit so far but I'll need to read some more.
How do we want to do the selection. Is it mostly up to you, GM? Or do you want more active input from us?
Definitely active input. I don't really have a way to keep an our-eyes-only discussion short of PMing me, which is perfectly fine. In fact, I have gotten a couple already so I am using those in my initial review. I am also looking through the submissions now with a primary eye toward what fills our request best.
Once I have narrowed down to my selections, I will PM each of you for final approval.
I am sending you a PM.
Hi everyone, thank you for bringing me along on this adventure! I'm excited to join you and will be able to make my intro post later tomorrow. Sorry it's not sooner but I'm returning from a trip tomorrow morning so I'll be on a plane most of the day.
Welcome to the party folks.
Welcome to the party folks.
Thanks for having us!
Sorry, I obviously still need to finish the update. I had started before but then internet ate it.
pesky internet..
Sooo...
I find it grimly hilarious that of the current characters, three all share the same Campaign Trait...
And thanks to Vinccenso being his usual self, two of them are well on their way to not being able to stand him...
That being said, now is the time to let me know if I need to crank back on the 'know-it-all'-ness of the character. As I have played him in the past, Vinccenso covers for his past emotional scars by doubling down on being the smartest guy in the room. If the players enjoy this, I have no problem with it generating friction with other characters, but if is a problem for other players, please let me know now so I can make adjustments.
Because I really need to know if I need to dial him back a bit, I am holding off on making any more gameplay posts until I hear back from you guys. Not skeeving off, just really need to know.
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I don't have a problem with it. I would say nearly every game I'm in some plays a arrogant jerk of some sort, so depending on how they play I will either indulge them or have my character actively ignore them based on what the situation calls for. Wizards, elves, dwarf often start confined within this archetype, if the player plays them well they grow and be interesting otherwise I find they end up shouting at clouds all the time.
It's a good trait!!!
And don't worry about it, I've had fun playing with characters who are jerks as long as they aren't disruptive. :)
I’m kind of dealing with the same thing in a Kingmaker game where I’m playing an Aldori Swordlord. I’ve got no issue with it OOC. Reynard’s a little touchy and evasive about his background IC, but he’ll warm up to Vinccenso in time.
As long as it continues to be a source of entertainment and not the opposite, I am ok with rough personalities.
Meanwhile, I was preparing for what to do next, and it seems to me that the AP requires a certain amount of continuity from the start - which we kinda lost with a(n almost) TPK. Towards that end, I am thinking to use Vulpidin as an NPC for a while to continue to give you a hook... but given his trauma, he won't be an active participant. Think of him more like Scooby Doo.
I have only been annoyed by that sort of thing once. In a PFS session at a CON a Chelaxian cleric who just road my halfling ass the whole time. Really it was the eye contact with me the whole time that pissed me off. Clearly he was not great at social ques but I damn near went and smacked the young man anyway.
I think we can all be adults on here. A little party conflict helps build a story arch.
I'm not actually sure how much I should know about Lamashtu. I do have a rank in Knowledge (Religion) (+4 bonus). But I'm taking a bit of license and assuming that he knows more than most. He's a bit of a specialist in knowledge of vivisection and alchemical body modification, and has probably had cause to hear of the mutations and malformations common among Lamashtans, and perhaps even read a bit of their literature. Of course, as a devotee of Nethys, he would claim that his own experiments are controlled, with a specific end in mind and based on a foundation of past knowledge, not the random and bizarre mutations granted to the insane by a capricious and chaotic goddess. Whether that's really all that true or not. Since there's no real mechanical benefit here, I hope it's ok to make that assumption.
Yeah, that's fair. I made an assumption that as one of the core deities and as one whose portfolio is diametrically opposed to my character's deity, Faywen would at least know one or two basic facts even if she can't give a dissertation on Lamashtu.
No problems with the character so far and I don't think there will be as long as it is always IC. Haven't a little IC conflict always makes thing more interesting.
vinccenso pulled a "well actually" about demon queen trivia, i love him
GM Fuzzfoot, was my roll high enough to determine what material is necessary to pierce the Yet Hounds DR?