Hello, thanks for the selection DW/The Tomb/Trevor/etc. I need to go back and see the full mix of what we've got here.
Hurah!! I made it! Will look over the other players sheets now I know who our group is!!
Hey everyone, really looking forward to the game and playing with you all!
Taizo is going to be my first high level Magus, but I think he should be a pretty versatile melee striker. He'll probably have a number of long tern buffs running and enhance his weapon like crazy - it'll probably end up +4 Keen Holy Flaming in most cases.
I'm a tad concerned about his saves, and his HP could be higher, but should do the job with all his other defenses.
I'll try to read over everyone's backgrounds and suggest how we might mesh up tomorrow. :)
Woo hoo, rats rule!
I've never played an arcane trickster before, but I'm looking forward to it. It doesn't look like we've got a lot of overlap in roles and our only glaring area we're not deep is a divine caster (obviously Akiyoshi's got some of that covered though he is more tank, front-liner.
Given that we've got Tihn and Ukyou in arcane roles, it means Ukyou can probably count on what he does best which is sneak and snipe. Given the front-liners we've got with Akiyoshi and Taizo, I think I'll stick with my plan to stay away from the front line unless I get spotted while scouting.
Thank you for the selection Dreaming Warforged. I appreciate it.
Thinking about it now, I still have a fair bit to do to get Akiyoshi completely ready. I'm always willing to change a few things here and there to cover anything that is being missed by the group in general, so there is that, I need to finish gear, reassign a feat from leadership, and pick out his starting Standard Selection of spells. I also need to make sure I've got all the house rules down correctly; from one of the questions asked in the recruitment forum it sounded like I didn't give myself enough Ability score bonuses.
All in all, this should be a lot of fun. I haven't played a whole lot at higher levels either, so I am looking forward to this as a learning experience as well.
I'm open to advice and suggestions, so should anyone see anything you think I should take into account before finalizing my build, please let me know.
Thanks, DW! I am looking forward to it!
Tihn has strong knowledge skills, so hopefully that will help us deal with some of the puzzles. He is a reasonably strong summoner, despite his arcane school focus being abjuration. And he is high enough level of straight wizard that he shouldn't run into problems with running out of spells.
Ok, so with permanency we'll plan to take any use of it before play begins from our starting gold of 5000 gp. Everyone should look over those spells and see if there are any you want Ukyou to make permanent on you.
I need to look up and write up a couple other questions. I know one I need to ask is how you want to handle sneak attack on a spell like scorching ray. At this level, I get three rays. Can I apply sneak attack to all three or only to one out of the three?
Ok, so with permanency we'll plan to take any use of it before play begins from our starting gold of 5000 gp. Everyone should look over those spells and see if there are any you want Ukyou to make permanent on you.
I need to look up and write up a couple other questions. I know one I need to ask is how you want to handle sneak attack on a spell like scorching ray. At this level, I get three rays. Can I apply sneak attack to all three or only to one out of the three?
I believe that as long as they have separate attack rolls they are considered individual attacks, and so Sneak Attack could apply to each (so long as sneak attack can be applied to a touch attack; can't remember that part).
As for permanent spells, I think the only one I'd go for would be Resistance, and a cloak is much more cost effective, and my saves are high enough that I might not even bother with that.
Anthropomorphic animal
Enlarge person
Magic fang
Magic fang, greater
Reduce person
Resistance
Telepathic bond
Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet.
No distinction on ranged touch versus other ranged. That part of it seems to be pretty well accepted.
The part that I believe is more controversial is:
Sniping: If you've already successfully used Stealth at least 10 feet from your target, you can make one ranged attack and then immediately use Stealth again. You take a –20 penalty on your Stealth check to maintain your obscured location.
I believe the "one ranged attack" referenced here is why some consider this a gray area. For scorching ray as an example, each ray requires a ranged touch attack even though they are fired simultaneously. So, one could read that for the second ray to be considered a sneak attack, I would have to use Stealth again before the next ray goes off. Which I cannot do because they all fire as part of the same action.
I see your point. I was thinking more general principle, as opposed to the mechanics of qualifying for the sneak attack/flat-footedness. Sounds like GM call.
If it was me, I'd probably say yes, just because they are all simultaneous.
I think Tihn is going to pass on Permanency for now.
I believe DW wants us all to have known each other before the story starts. So all of you would know that Tihn lives in a small village in the north of Minkai. Despite having vast wizardly power that could earn him a place in most noble courts, he resides in a small one room hut with hardpacked earthen floors. Despite being the only non-human in residence, he seems well liked there and fits in perfectly. He dismissed out of hand any suggestions he move somewhere more refined.
He travels often though, gathering lore and ferreting out threats to the region. Any friends he makes in the course of that, he would stay in touch with periodic Sending spells. If any of his contacts wander far and wide, he would occasionally impose on them to carry journals to a particular warren of ratfolk on the southern coast. The journals are full of information: history, current events, alchemical and arcane discoveries, etc. They are scripted in a meticulous hand.
Akiyoshi: Paladin
Jiro Bukisaka: Monk (Zen Archer)
Taizo: Magus (Blackblade)
Tihn Tremako: Wizard (Abjurist)
Ukyou: Arcane Trikster
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Face: Akiyoshi has this covered. Diplomacy +28.
Tank: AC is a challenge with our item restrictions, I think we should be expecting to get hit a lot. Highest AC is Taizo at 28. Not too impressive for a 14 level group...
Meatshield: Akiyoshi has 172 HP plus 14 lay on hands he can use as swift actions for 7d6 self-healing. He should be able to take a hit or two.
Damage Output: Taizo is probably going to be lead on this; Jiro will be a contender. Akiyoshi will do well when smiting, but mediocre otherwise.
Range: Jiro, Ukyou with his Scorching Rays, and Akiyoshi is ok with a bow.
Traps: Ukyou. +29 Locate (Perception), +27 Disable. Pretty sweet.
Lore: Tihn and Taizo. Covered and then some.
Healing: Akiyoshi. A Paladin as the only healer might be problematic... especially if he's the meatshield. If he goes down...
Arcane: Tihn, with Ukyou and Taizo on backup.
Part of the reason I had Tihn focus to a minor extent on summoning spells is to help fill in the tank/meatshield gap, though I haven't really played much at this level so that remains to be seen how well it will work.
@The Tomb: Sounds like a reasonable way to split the difference.
@Akiyoshi: Of course the best part is that I can DD from 30 feet away :) (if only wizards had sift on their list)
Background wise I'd say that Taizo's is the most enveloping. Akiyoshi joining up to hunt a powerful necromancer makes sense, perhaps he could have been a friend of Taizo's fallen master Kenjirro and his old comrades turn to necromancy brought him out of retirement? Since Jiro was also holed up in a monastery why not have them have been in the same and Akiyoshi persuade him to join the fight. Tihn could have sought out the group seeing the alliance of ogre mage and necromancer as a threat to his people, and perhaps Taizo already knew Ukyou from sharing spells, etc., there's a deal of overlap in the respective spellbooks.
The later part of Taizo's background has him expose his Wizard Master's plans for lichdom and to unleash an undead horde, there is a great battle in Wanshi with undead hordes unleashed from beneath the city. Knowing he was not yet truly ready the necromancer flees beneath the earth joining forces with the ogre mage who's hordes of subterranean monsters have recently been driven back. So the group would have been fully assembled to seek out and slay these threats before they had time to marshall their strength and overwhelm Minkai, etc., heading into the Underdark and finally slaying the pair in their underground fortress.
Thoughts?
Is it a pet peeve because it leaves an untidy post? You can dot by posting then deleting the thread which puts it in your campaigns and avoids cluttering the thread.
sounds great to me. The one revision I would request is that Akiyoshi would be unlikely to be just going and invite Jiro along, and since Jiro posted ahead of me in the gameplay forum, neither of us can really have invited the other. Akiyoshi is the type who is revered as a great warrior, but hates the reputation, as he'd rather live quietly as a monk. However, he is never really able to say no to a request for help. So despite having announced his retirement more than a few times (and I really mean it this time!) he keeps getting asked to help out when there is trouble, and agrees, lamenting that he cannot meditate in peace, but never regretting his decision to help.
I was considering whether Akiyoshi should change his decision from the Blade of the Rising Sun to the +5 Flaming Spell storing weapon, if such a change would be allowed at this point. As the guy who will probably be most regularly at the fore, I'm thinking it might be best to go with a more consistently damaging weapon, as opposed to the more flavourful choice. I liked the idea of the Blade of the Rising sun, as it has a minor debuff attached, and since it was offered, I'm assuming an undead bane weapon will be useful in this module. As well, a daylight-spell shedding blade is very flavourful for a paladin. However, the blindness on a crit has only a Fort DC 14 to ignore, which I think will be rarely, if ever, failed by a CR ~14 monster. The flaming blade can still be a katana (which I think he'd stay with over a no-dachi just for flavour reasons again - both have the same crit range), but will significantly increase his to hit, and damage on an average hit will be a d6+4 higher every time. The only damage spell he could likely store would be a Cure Serious wounds, but that would be very handy against the aforementioned undead. Thoughts?
Mmmm, on the bright side Taizo can convert any of his spells into Shocking Grasps and casts a 10d6 intensified shocking grasp as a 1st level spell, so sticking one in a spellstoring sword is like a free quicken :)
Sorry for the super brief post tonight. I've got a fever going that has me wiped out. Hopefully better tomorrow.
Hopefully we can get in with a UMD check. Otherwise, I guess we'll have to go back and crush that lad's dreams by letting him know the clans' secrets are forever entombed. Oh, and we lost the only evidence he had.
Lol, I think that should do it. Luckily I'm in the range where I could not really fail badly enough to cause a mishap, so if it is DC 25 it would only be a matter of rolling until I succeeded anyway. Being high level rocks :)
You know, there are so many scenarios where it is easier to run them tabletop than PbP, but I think this is one that is easier as PbP. Using spoilers is a lot easier than passing notes with all of the players or leaving most people in the room while you pull players aside one by one to see what they do.
So we still have myself (a monk), Tihn (wizard) and Taizo (Kensai)...i think we need a cleric or healer of some kind, at least...
I am still here as well. Akiyoshi is an acceptable healer as well. His Lay on Hands heals 7d6 a pop and he can do 14 per day. He also has a 2 wands of CLW as part of his gear, for between combat healing.
As long as Taizo reappears at some point, we'd still have 4, which is the standard number for a module. If he is gone as well... three could potentially handle a scenario...
Taizo/Byden has a 3500+ post record behind him. Chances are that he'll be back and that this is just a hiccough.
(Just looked and saw that Ukyou has over 6000, so I guess that is no guarantee...)
Just looked through Taizo's posts to see if there was any indication of whether he'd been around lately; found this:
Just a quick heads up guys, I'll be doing about 70 hours at work this week so posting will likely be short and possibly not daily. Should be back to a more reasonable time frame on Monday or so.
Ukyou posted as recently as yesterday. I just noticed that we share another game in common, and he's present over there.
Have you tried PM'ing them? Occasionally games fall off a person's Focus or Campaign list, and if they forget about them, it can be a while before they notice.
I would be comfortable either way. With the three of us, I think we cover most of the bases, especially with a high level paladin to fight and heal.
I could maybe tweak my character to cover more rogue skills, if wanted..
No sign of the others, so we press on alone!
Tomb, a thought just occurred to me. I was going through my character sheet looking at prepared spells for idea what to cast, and I noticed that I forgot to eliminate the Leadership feat I took, that you had said you'd rather not worry about at the time. If, however I did still have it, now, or after this battle would be a great time to have my apprentice show up.
I'd like to put together a character sheet for her. I'd make her an ideal support class for us; I'm thinking an inquisitor. It's a wisdom based fighter/caster with lots of skills, so she could cover perception, rogue skills, buffs/debuffs, supplement Tihn's lore skills, heal, and do just about whatever we are having trouble covering. And it would be completely legal, and require changing not a thing on our existing character sheets. As per cohort rules, she'd be 12th level, compaired to our 14th, but still high enough to be very useful. Would this be acceptable?
I'm loving this wall of force break. If I had the Fast Study feat and open spell slots, I could even memorize spells appropriate to the situation (like cone of cold...). I'm going to have to remember this...