I loved the image of Malthazir catching all those projectiles it was so cool. I was cheering as I read it.
However, and I will probably regret asking because I don't want anything to change, is there a time duration on the catch ability? All it says on the information page is once per day. Is that once per day it activates for a set amount of time or does it mean you can only catch one per day?
Malthazir also said that his elementals continued their assault last round. Do you want those attacks rolled or should we assume that they kill the two injured and wound the uninjured?
Yea, I noticed that too after I had written it up. But, to be fair, the gnolls were ordered to make a break for the gatehouse once the portcullis was open. However, I thought that it would be dramatic if I had the one that wasn't feared stay and fire at Malthazir. I decided to give him a chance at another catching it since it was a little cheeky to have the gnoll not follow orders mid-battle. I was hopeful, and it worked out, to be a fun moment of saving grace for Malthazir.
But normally, that is a 1/day thing.
and Yes, those would be dead from the elementals as they were just a few HP from death. I removed them.
I think I should clarify this a little bit better.
As I was going through that long sequence of actions since two of you had already posted your actions in advance. When I got to the archers, I started to move those that I could towards the gate. A few of them were engaged with the G.‘s so I let them stay. When I started to move the one by Mal, I thought to myself, well, Mal is now visible and I could take a shot of him. I mediately thought that would be kind of mean spirited as the gnolls had been ordered to advance on the gate.
At that point I recalled his ability to catch projectiles and thought, wow! It would be cool if he caught the arrows and then disappeared. I knew there was a chance that he could get hit fairly easily and go unconscious, but it was unlikely that I would out right kill him. So I went ahead and tried it and, luckily, he survive very dramatically.
At that point I remembered it was a once a day deal. However, knowing that if I took away is catching ability, it meant he was out right dead. Since I deviated from the preplanned actions of the gnolls only because I thought there was a chance for a cool, dramatic scene with a little chance of real death, I decided I had to either ignore the once per day limitation & let the actions stand or retcon the whole sequence. I chose the former.
Hey I won't object to getting to live.
Although this has taught me to never let go of my cheesy "invisible flying away from the fight" strategy ever again.
On the flip side though, terrorizing those gnolls probably helped our side quite a bit.
Indeed. I was assuming I would draw some aggro, but I didn't expect ~50 damage instantly. Perhaps I can try that strategy with a quickened vanish spell.
You just picked the worst spot to appear that was within visual and spell range of the bad guy!
This guy's quickened fireballs are no joke. From a game perspective he should be running low since he was pounding the gate when we arrived, but those could be flavor fireballs. He could have one more quickened and lord knows how many memorized. He is definitely of the sort that you want to see him before he sees you.
As far as the catching of arrows, this definitely feels like the rule of fun. Besides, Malthazir is getting a Life Essence from this battle so perhaps the next upgrade is that it lasts for a round.
Oh I don't fault you. I'm sure any intelligent character looking at the scope of the battlefield would have figured out there's another caster somewhere.
OOG: How effective was our get rid of the siege tower plan? Did we kill a significant portion of the melee invasion force or just a few?
@Malthazir: When you have the earth elementals rush the blinded rangers, would it be wise to have them to earth glide so that they can avoid incoming arrows?
Yeah if Malz is aware of a volley coming in he can command them to sink into the ground.
Good catch on that critical ability, Niyut! Also with my profile - I'll see if I can find my notes with the level 6 rogue talent on it. Though I disrecollect what I chose, I am certain I did pick it and attempt to update my profile with it. I do have a question though as I don't often multiclass:
"A level 2 bard / level 2 cleric would have a total BAB of ____. Their total base saves would be ____."
********
Gruskorb is only my second deep foray into the lands of martial characters. I actually find it more cumbersome to keep track of than a caster - probably because the spell descriptions to a good deal of the tracking for you.
I've started a Spheres of Power campaign (real life) in the past few months though, and though there is more tracking involved there, I find the breadth of options more rewarding.
Bab: +2 Saves: +3, +3, +6. Though of course stats would modify the saves. Multiple classes can be rough on the bab but good for the saves.
Are you happy with Gruskorb being kinda-martially or would you prefer the more caster bent?
There's an alternative system for partial bab and saves. It might be worth asking the GM to consider it if the multiclassing is taking its toll.
The multiclassing isn't a problem for Gruskorb in particular as he's only got a single level of druid. I think I did the numbers incorrectly though, essentially counting him as 7 levels of 3/4 BAB instead of 6 3/4 + 1 3/4, resulting in 1 BAB lower. This may/may not make a difference if the rogue talent I wrote down (still need to get the paper) is BAB-relevant, but as it's not in play this battle, I wouldn't worry about it.
I'm fine with him being martial, as well he should be. Since our dabbling with SoP/SoM though, I must say I like the detail those systems provide. They seem to dilute the power of casters, encourage horizontal building, and give the straightforward martials more options in combat (and out). Gruskorb isn't straightforward though!
Do you guys read Order of the Stick? I almost teared up reading the last page.
Do you guys read Order of the Stick? I almost teared up reading the last page.
Some time ago. Are they ending it?
No. I should have said that the most recent page hit me in the feels.
I'm starting to convert and move the characters loot from the Campaign tab to the Obsidian Portal Website.
I've started with Niyut and hope to have the others done in the next week or so.
Please take a look and let me know your thoughts on layout as well as any missing or incorrect info.
Well,
Blood Money should be in the book as a first level spell. Blood Transcription is level 2. The Tupilaq was the origin of the +5 Perception/poison effect. The snowball came from a drake essence. Intensify/silent/still came from the Geist.
+1 NA from the Sacred Chestnut Tree. (The second divine boon.)
Thanks. Good I was just going off what I had in the campaign tab. I have notes everywhere and trying to get them consolidated in a single place. OP is the best for me as I can have hidden info on the same page. :)
Every time I see a page get updated but no visible information appears, I have to breath deeply to avoid expiring from curiosity. :-p
What we need at the moment is someone who can cast Wall of Stone to close off this gaping hole in the wall. Good thing the Tower of Conjuration is in this city.
Would you consider removing the level restriction on same type elemental essences? I don't think it would unbalance anything since they are not as potent as a Life essence and there aren't a ton of them that if someone had 3 fire by level seven that there would be problems.Considering the rarity of elemental essences, I'm fine with removing the level restrictions on them.
Whenever you have a chance could you update this on the wiki/campaign info, please?
Whenever you have a chance could you update this on the wiki/campaign info, please?Would you consider removing the level restriction on same type elemental essences? I don't think it would unbalance anything since they are not as potent as a Life essence and there aren't a ton of them that if someone had 3 fire by level seven that there would be problems.Considering the rarity of elemental essences, I'm fine with removing the level restrictions on them.
Done
Truk's page on the wiki is missing the secondary effect of his second fire essence that upgrades the damage dice of his fire attacks.
Sure thing. I need to crash right now but I'll try to take a look when I've got a spare minute at work tomorrow.
Finally got a chance to check out those pages.
From the profile:
It looks like you're missing armor class boni. Are we not tracking buffs from ethereal essences?
Truk'tosh should have +2 armor enhancement bonus, +1 luck armor bonus, and +2 CMD.
That page is also missing a few of Truk's essence abilities. Here are my notes.
Ethereal (fire): Fire resist 5. 1/day burning hands SLA
Life (flame drake): Grants +1 bonus to strength and Speed Surge. 2/day as a swift action, draw on draconic heritage of the life essence for a boost of strength and speed to take an additional move action in that round.
Ethereal (fire, goblins): Improve armor to +1. 2/day as a swift action, attempt to trip an adjacent opponent with the armor's tail. This trip attempt does not provoke an AOO.
Ethereal (ogre brute): Improve weapon to +1. Minor Rage 2/day, +1 attack and damage for 3 rounds. Afterward fatigued for a minute.
Ethereal (ogre brute, bone golem): Improve armor to +2. Bone Exoskeleton Armor: The bone golems natural defenses fuse with your cloaker armor, creating a rigid exoskeleton when you need it. You gain +2 CMD to grappling or disarm attempts.
Elemental (earth, bone golem): Acid resist 5. Bone Prison (Ex) 1/day as a standard action, you can summon and throw one of the golem's bones at a creature within 30 feet. You must make a ranged touch attack to hit. This bones magically replicates and forms a cage surrounding struck creatures with a CMD equal to your own. The target is trapped but takes no damage. The target can escape the grapple normally, or can break out of the bones by dealing 15 points of damage to the prison, which has the same AC, DR, and saves as you. Damage to the prison has no effect on you.
Ethereal: Gain the Throwing property. The ghoul huntmaster's natural ability with ranged attacks enhances the axe granting it double the thrown range (20').
Ethereal: Gain the Returning property. When the axe is thrown feint (bluff) as a swift action at +10 to cause the target to lose its dex bonus for 1 round.
Fire2 (Gnoll Commander): Fire resistance +5. (Secondary Effect) Whenever you cast a spell or SLA causing fire damage, you use 1 dice step higher for damage. For example, a d4 becomes a d6 or a d6 becomes a d8.
Life (Gnoll commander): Grants +1 bonus to constitution. Strength Surge: 1/day as an immediate action, you may draw upon an inner power of rage and increase your strength by +2 for 1 full round.
Ethereal #8 and 9 (Storm Hag): Grants the use of Strength instead of Dexterity when making ranged attacks with thrown weapons. Additionally, the range increment of any weapon thrown by the wearer gains a +10-foot bonus (Secondary Effect) Storm Strike (Su) 2/day, as a swift action, you may call upon Mylesar to gather the power of the storms and make a single attack with a weapon that is predominantly made of metal. Such an attack deals an additional 1d6 points of electricity damage per 5 character levels.
LE#3 (Ice Giant): +1 Constitution. (Secondary Effect) 1/day as a move action you can transform into the essence of ice for a number of rounds up to your character level. During this time you gain a +2 bonus to AC and you ignore difficult terrain due to ice or snow.
EE10 (Worg): +1 AC Luck Bonus (Secondary Effect) You gain a +2 survival (+4 in snow/icy conditions) plus the scent monster trait.
Looks like I accidentally lost some abilities during my cut/paste. Not sure what what happened. Sorry
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@Gruskorb: You have an unassigned Life Essence. Remember that you can either improve a stat or gain a feat with one. The good Lord knows you could benefit from actually threatening some AoO. You might want to pick up Improved Whip Mastery.
Preliminary Essence Summary and Sweepstakes
We have acquired the following this battle:
2 Life Essences. (1 from a Gnoll Ranger Honor Guard. 1 from the half caster who died as the fight began whose name might be Kastner)
Malthazir and Truk'tosh are both owed a Life Essence. I can roll or they can decide between them who gets what.
2 Arcane Essences. Illusion (Kastner). Conjuration (Tikbalang). Illusion will go to Niyut, while Conjuration will go to Malthazir. This takes them out of the running for the first round of Ethereal Essences.
11 Ethereal Essences: 1 (Kastner), 5 (Tikbalang), 5 (broken staff)
Truk'tosh is owed 1 Ethereal Essence from the last time everybody got 2 besides for him. (10 Ethereal Essences Remaining). Then Garidan, Gruskorb, and Truk'tosh each claim 1 from the first round; Niyut and Malthazir are excluded from this round since they claimed an arcane essence above. (7 Ethereal Essences Remaining). Then each of the party claims 1 Ethereal Essence. (2 Ethereal Essences Remaining)
1: Garidan
2: Gruskorb
3: Malthazir
4: Niyut
5: Truk'tosh
Congratulations, Malthazir!
1: Garidan
2: Gruskorb
3: Niyut
4: Truk'tosh
Congratulations, Garidan!
Summary:
Garidan: 3 Ethereal Essences
Gruskorb: 2 Ethereal Essences
Malthazir: 1 Life Essence, 1 Arcane Essence (Conjuration) (Tikbalang), 2 Ethereal Essences
Niyut: 1 Arcane Essence (Illusion) (Kastner?), 1 Ethereal Essence (Tikbalang)
Truk'tosh: 1 Life Essence, 3 Ethereal Essences
If nobody objects, I'll call dibs on the ethereal essence from (Kastner?), and then one each from the busted staff and the Tik-Tac :p.
Tentatively, I'll assign the essence from (Kastner?) to Garidan's armor in the form a new spell he can cast via spellscribed, with final determination pending based on what spells are available to choose from. If (Kastner?) doesn't have anything I'm willing to give up a precious slot for, I will instead feed the essence into Garidan's ioun torch in hopes of getting another daily cast made available.
The Tikbalang essence will also be tentatively assigned to Garidan's armor, to either grant fly or to upgrade his invisibility to improved invisibility; this depends on what (Kastner?)'s essence offers up. If (Kastner?) has nothing I want to give up a slot for, Garidan will go with self-cast flight.
The staff essence will be absorbed by Garidan directly for a +5 competence bonus to Use Magic Device checks.
Niyut will absorb the Arcane Essence (Illusion) into herself directly.
The Ethereal Essence (Tikbalang) will be absorbed by her petrified wand to grant Lesser Tenebrous Spell.
The Liber Sanguinem also has Bestow Curse (4th) from the hag coven.
Looks like I accidentally lost some abilities during my cut/paste. Not sure what what happened. Sorry
Bah... it was all there, just some of your essences are listed on the items -> your axe, armor and holy symbol.
I just received a message from Truk. He asked me to post that he wants 3 of the broken staff essence and the gnoll ranger honor guard life essence.
He wants the Life Essence to be a strength bonus.
With the destruction of the gate house and the arrival of reinforcement for Haemil, the outcome of the battle is now known. Please feel free to post any other actions you would like to take during the mopping up of the battle. Sometime over the weekend I will post a wrap up and conclusion of the battle.
Following the wrapup, everyone will gain a new character level. This coming week, I’d like to sort out all the outstanding essences.
I'm mostly curious if the remaining gnolls have any further essences to collect. And if we can beat Haemil's troops to the punch in collecting any dropped by gnolls on/inside the walls. The last, raggedy-assed remnants are almost guaranteed to not leave here alive, so I'm hoping for a bumper crop beyond what we already collected from the caster(s), the staff, and the Tik-tac.
It may be metagaming on my part, but I'm really wanting to harvest the absolute maximum we potentially can from this fight, since we have a rare combination of circumstances where enemies are plentiful, yet the fight is overwhelmingly--dice cooperating, naturally--in our favor to win.
Anyway, would I be correct in assuming that you'll allow a handwave of any required dice rolls needed to finish things up at this point?
@Garidan: I think you might have missed the discussion post earlier when our GM throttled our potential Life Essence gain in this battle by decreeing that only the honor guard and the three main enemies could drop life essence.
It was a new ruling for this battle, and while it is a bummer, I can understand why he made that ruling. Even if it left us with "mooks" who are roughly our level and rather dangerous. I'm guessing if there is any more loot to be had it will be found as curios or Wonders on Kastner (?) or the Tikbalang.
Also, if Garidan comes looking for Niyut, she has a request which I mentioned on the main thread if you want to role-play it out.
Finally, I miss your journal entries, I hope you haven't stopped writing them forever. :-)
Level Up:
7 Oracle (Spirit Guide)
+1 BaB
+8 HP
Stat Boost: +1 Cha
New Spells: Resist Energy (Communal), Restoration (Lesser), Shadowtrap (It's no longer one of her Dark Secrets and has been replaced with Umbral Weapon.)
FCB: +1 Level 2 Spell (Working with GM on potential custom spell.
Skills:
+1 Bluff
+1 Craft (Engraving/Carving) (Background)
+1 Craft (Weaving) (Background)
+3 Kn: Arcana
+1 Kn: Religion (Bonus Knowledge)
+1 Perception
+1 Stealth
+1 Spell Craft
New Class abilities:
Monstrous Insight (Su): The shaman can identify creatures and gain insight into their strengths and weaknesses. As a standard action, the shaman can attempt a Knowledge skill check to identify a creature and its abilities (using the appropriate skill for the monster’s type) with an insight bonus equal to her shaman level. Whether or not the check is successful, she also gains a +2 insight bonus for 1 minute on attack rolls made against that creature and a +2 insight bonus to her AC against attacks made by that creature. These bonuses last for 1 minute. The shaman can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier.
Oh, I didn't mean life essences in my post, I was referring to more ethereal essences from the last gnolls. With the cost scaling up for each successive + of bonus to weapons and armor, not to mention every other useful thing that ethereal essences apply to, there's no such thing as having too many of those little treasures. And here before us is a prime opportunity to harvest a tidy quantity, if Valjoen and his percentile judges see fit to allow it.
And no, I haven't stopped them. But the opportunity--in-game, that is--for time to gather his thoughts and get them down hasn't really presented itself lately. I'm hoping we'll get just a bit of downtime after this fight for Garidan to do that (among other things).
Ethereal Essences only come from casters, magic items, or people with innate magic. I'm not sure there any any likely candidates here.
However, I agree with you. I too would like some more Ethereal Essences. I have some skills I would dearly love to bolster.
I had sort of forgotten the specific origin of ethereal essences, I admit, and got to thinking of them more in the way of generic essences. But hey, gnoll rangers equals arrows, right? And if any of this lot are toting magic arrows, then 50 of those gets us an essence :D (and maybe 50 masterwork arrows we can then pawn in Haemil for something nice)!
True!
They should never let us in an armory, Garidan. I just imagine Niyut and Garidan running around piling arrows to disenchant.
...
......
I'm somewhat ashamed to say that neither I nor Garidan--if the idea were somehow made known to him--would really have any issue with doing this very thing. But that'd be something best saved for when we're leaving Haemil and unlikely to either come back or still be in reach when someone finally figures it out.
An important part of looting a fallen city is looting it after it has fallen. :-p
I'm probably going to push off Hinterlander for another level or two. Truk'tosh BAB is a little behind already and I don't want to take another hit right now.
Druid 7
+1 BAB
+12 HP
+1 Strength
+1st level spell slot
4th level spells
Skills:
+1 Heal
+1 Nature
+1 Perception
+1 Sense Motive
+1 Survival
+1 Trapper
+1 Handle Animal
Class Abilities:
Studied Target is now a move or swift.
Garidan, Gruskorb and Malthazir -
I have update your entries on the Obsidian Portal site. Please take a look and see if I'm missing anything of note.
I did not try to replicate your character sheet, but rather list your enhancements from the essences and any loot you have. Enhancements to your bonded items are listed on the item's webpage not your characters... although the item is listed on your page.