The 5th Mendevian Crusade (Inactive)

Game Master Brian Minhinnick

Woaw, you made the top 4 last year! That's no small feat. Hat's off!

Ok, I'm burning to shop. That 10,000 is just what I need for a +3 weapon...

So are we buying dust and scrolls? Or am I getting a poney?! Oh wait, I have a huge tiger already...

I'm sure your tiger would appreciate a pony!

Well Barek was with that hooker, who knows what he may of caught...*ducks*

Wait a sec, Barek was with hooker ducks? In that case, who knows *what* he's come afowl of? Could be the quack clap! Or Chlamallardia!

I'm fine with the 48-hour rule, but for the remainder of RPG Superstar I might get delayed a little, provided I make it past this round. The Encounter and Module proposal rounds are killer.

Regarding posting every 48 hrs, that works for me. TIknesr was really just hanging back with the Paralictor since he knew he wasn't one of the better party faces and couldn't speak to where it came from.

As far as spending our loot, I asked a Q up-thread:

Jelani, how do you feel about +1 stat boost belts/headbands? The item creation rules just say "Ability bonus (enhancement) Bonus squared × 1,000 gp". The only items listed in the books are +2/4/6. I've heard arguments for and against allowing them. Given that +1 tomes exist, and plenty of things exist that give -1 (or -1d6) to an ability, I don't see a reason to disallow them...except that they are a cheap way to get a score barely high enough for an additional bonus. If allowed, Tiknesr may get a belt of +1 dex (or dex+con).

Thoughts? This seems fine RAW, and it makes sense to me thematically as well...but I know there's debate so I wanted to ask before buying one.

So are we buying dust and scrolls?

How feasible is it to teleport?

Thaddeus, your status line says Summoner 12. We're level 10 I think.

Re teleport, Tiknesr doesn't normally prepare it but he certainly can. Assuming both he and Thaddeus do, we can teleport eight medium-sized beings (including ourselves). Large count as 2 and huge count as 3.

I think we're 7 small/med humanoids + a huge companion and a large one. Is that right? If so we need the capacity to teleport 12. Of course, we could go in batches, e.g.
* Tiknesr teleports Abigail, Crissor, and Liette
* Thaddeus teleports Keenan + bird
* Tiknesr teleports himself and Thaddeus back to town
* Tiknesr teleports Abigail's cat
* Thaddeus teleports Viorel

We might want to time it so that we go at the end of a day and rest immediately, since we'll have used up all of Tikners' 5th level spells and all (or all but one?) of Thaddeus', but if Tiknesr prepares for it we could do it.

There is usually no 'end of the day' in the 'Wound... Something to keep in mind.

Right...and I think we all have rings of sustenance now, yes?

I mean more to do this 23 hours after we last prepared/replenished spells, so that we can sleep/meditate/whatnot for a couple hours before we go very far and get our spells back up to full. No guarantee that we aren't interrupted along the way...

That sounds better. I find the process quite intensive, but much better than walking around for days with a target on our back.

We should have emergency exit scrolls too, no?

Regarding posting every 48 hrs, that works for me. TIknesr was really just hanging back with the Paralictor since he knew he wasn't one of the better party faces and couldn't speak to where it came from.

As far as spending our loot, I asked a Q up-thread:

Tiknesr Th'th'th'th'slifp wrote:

Jelani, how do you feel about +1 stat boost belts/headbands? The item creation rules just say "Ability bonus (enhancement) Bonus squared × 1,000 gp". The only items listed in the books are +2/4/6. I've heard arguments for and against allowing them. Given that +1 tomes exist, and plenty of things exist that give -1 (or -1d6) to an ability, I don't see a reason to disallow them...except that they are a cheap way to get a score barely high enough for an additional bonus. If allowed, Tiknesr may get a belt of +1 dex (or dex+con).

Thoughts? This seems fine RAW, and it makes sense to me thematically as well...but I know there's debate so I wanted to ask before buying one.

No +1 ability score enhancement items, nor +3 or +5.

How feasible is it to teleport?

Thaddeus, your status line says Summoner 12. We're level 10 I think.

We are definitely level 10, I think (hope) his status line is a typo.

Thaddeus has never been out in the Wound before, not sure if he'd be able to teleport there. "You must have some clear idea of the location and layout of the destination. The clearer your mental image, the more likely the teleportation works. Areas of strong physical or magical energy may make teleportation more hazardous or even impossible."

So I propose we Phantom Chariot our way in.

Thaddeus, seems prudent. As far as the Chariot goes, it holds six passengers. If Kenan rides his roc, that covers all the PCs...but presumably Abigail's Huge cat will have to run along beside us, which limits our speed to 40' (unless we have some way to speed the cat along?).

I was just wondering if Abigail investing in some hosteling armor made sense...but it turns out it's only useful for a companion who's at most one size bigger than you are.

Any other ideas?

As far as raising/resurrecting, I'd vote for splitting the cost of some # of scrolls (say 2 or 3) plus the requisite diamond dust. In the unfortunate event that one of us croaks, we use the scroll(s). My personal vote is 2, which would cost 12,275 * 2 = 24,550 / 7 = 3,507 per person (including the cost of the dust in the scroll). Abigail can carry one and Aroden (who can cast from scrolls without error and who can turn invisible, burrow, and dimension door to get to downed party members) can carry the other...assuming you're OK with an evil rat reurrecting you.

I figured I'd cast it twice.

Hehehe. That's...much simpler than I was thinking. Nice.

Alright, that sounds like a transportation plan.

Someone use the polyline tool to chart your course from the pink dot in Kenabres to Varriksberg on the travel map please.

I'm going to put a hard limit on purchasing new gear by late Monday night EST. If I have time in the morning before work, or when I get home from work on Tuesday (my time, which is the future) I am going to update then, whether people are ready or not.

Umm people, Viorel can teleport too and has been to the wound. Altough since abigails AC is huge it would count as 4 medium means nope movement on that untill CL12. So phantom chariots sound good.

The scroll idea is not bad, though why not rely on raise dead from Abigail and just get 1 scroll in case she goes down?

Alright so, are we going to rp the shopping spree?

I'd prefer to get going and back in the 'Wound.

One thing I was looking at purchasing was a Wand of Nondetection. Could be handy if we really need to avoid getting scried for awhile; I can cast it. Sadly its not on my Spells Known so I can't craft it. I think its about 15k, anyone up for chipping in? Or is it a poor idea?

No need to RP the shopping, I think we just need to weigh in OOC.

It seems the main thing we're trying to decide right now is what life insurance policy we want. Suggestions as I understand them:
* Liette - 2 scrolls of resurrection
* Viorel - 1 scroll of raise dead
* Tiknesr - 2 scrolls of...I could go either way
* Others...if you've weighed in, I missed it in my summary. Sorry.

...it seems like the main disadvantage of raise dead is it requires 2 restorations afterwards, instead of just 1, to deal with the negative levels...but Abigail can cast that I'm sure, so maybe Raise Dead makes more sense?

Happy to hear args in favor of resurrection vs raise dead, but it seems at least worth considering the cheaper option. Is there another disad I'm missing?

Other than that, we can all just choose our personal gear. It would be great to resolve this Q sooner than later, since it'll effect how much cash we all have remaining.
* 2 resurrection scrolls = 24,550 / 7 = 3,507 per person (including the cost of the dust in the scroll)
* 2 raise dead scrolls = 12,500 / 7 = 1786 per person (including the cost of the dust in the scroll)

...so that gives some sense of how much we have to work with.

For myself, Tiknesr will get a belt of +2 DEX/CON for 5000 smackers. Not sure what to do with the rest, but I'll know by Monday.

You had an amulet of non-detection and a ring of undetectable alignment from when you killed Raina, but everyone seemed completely disinterested in them so they were eventually sold :/

Ring would have been great for Tikneser or Aroden.

I would suggest everyone buy the material component for raise dead for themselves in case they go down. Abigail can cast it. Then get one scroll of raise dead or ressurection that someone can UMD/hire someone in Kenabres to read in case Abigial goes down.

Aroden can cast from either scroll without UMD.

Well, there ya go.

Moving back to Uni tomorrow, should be able to post but might not, just warning.

One thought occurred to me: I can cast Beast Shape III on my AC to reduce its size. It's a big spell to use, but it might allow for easier teleportation...

I don't need a raise dead scroll. Abigail would not see the point of this. She would be happy to be brought back to Kenabres if possible, then her equipment liquidated to pay for her raising if needed. "I don't need insurance. A good weapon is insurance enough."

So everyone keep their gold I'd say. Just maybe make sure you have at least 1,000 gp of diamond dust each, which we will pool as needed.

BTW, Abigail has already 3,000 GP worth of diamond dust.

I think one scroll of raise dead plus 5000 GP of dust is good insurance. That's just 900 GP per person to be able to raise Abigail in the field, should she die.

As far as where the 5000 comes from when someone dies...I suppose if they died of stupidity I'd want them to pay it themselves, but if they were taking valiant risks to save my sorry rat's a$$ I'd want the cost split evenly.

But to keep things simple, can folks say yea or nay to 900GP each for the dust & 1 raise dead scroll?

Yea.

Aye

yea say the gnoll.

Yea. Works for me, Liette will also purchase 1,000gp of diamond dust with the money from Vance for herself.

Also, if you guys gets a chance come Tuesday, swing on over to the RPG Superstar section of the site to vote on the monster round :)

Yes

Great. I'll spend my while 10k on a belt of might (+2 Dex & con), and use 900 I had on hand to buy into the scroll and emergency dust.

I haven't updated my profile yet but here is the spreadsheet I use to track all my purchases.

All set with equipment. Upgraded my weapon with an extra +1 with the 10,000 GP and spent 900 GP for the scroll.

Good to see most people posting. Kenan, this is your first 48 hour warning.

I'm on day 8 of my ten day pre-Chinese New Year work week, and I've got to teach a lot of classes today. I might have time for the update after work tonight, but no guarantees.

Purchase List

Raise Dead scroll/dust: 900gp
Defiant enchantment added to Chain Shirt: 1000gp (versus Outsiders(Demons))
Sandals of Quick Reaction: 4000gp
Bag of Holding type I: 2500gp

Total cash spent: 8400gp

Remaining: 5530gp

Shopping list:

-900 for scroll dust
-7000 Diamond dust

Hey Thaddeus, unless I misunderstand, I think your Chain Shirt might need modifying. Adding a +1 equiv modification to it doesn't just cost +1000, it costs the diff between a shirt of your current enchantment value and the next up, (e.g. to bring armor from +1 to +2 costs 4000-1000=3000.)

You list it as Shadow & Defiant. Magic armor needs to always be at least +1 before it can have extra qualities added. That means your shirt would have to be +1 Shadow Defiant armor, which costs the equivalent of +2 armor + the flat 3,750GP for the Shadow ability. Assuming you'd already spent 4,750 for +1 Shadow armor, you'd need another 3000 GP to add Defiant.

That said, Defiant vs Demons seems like a great idea, I think I'll change my +2 buckler to +1 Defiant.

Tik is right. Not to mention the time it would take to enchant, which I am willing to ignore.

I'm here. Much to do at work. Hopefully my new colleague who will start at 01.04. will not be a april joke.

Shopping List:
- 4000 for Bracers of falcon's aim
- 5000 worth of Diamond Dust

Thanks Tik, I'd never realised there needed to be a plus one before flat-gold-costing enchantments could be added. I'll fix it up.

Yeah, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Happily, it looks like you still have the cash to make it work

FYI I'm saving the rest of Liette's money for now aside from the diamond dust. Probably going to use it to better outfit Sigmund once she takes him as a cohort.

Soon as this Roc business is cleared up in the gameplay thread I'll be starting the expedition. So the plan is to all get in phantom chariots and ride until the spell expires for Varriksberg? Did anyone chart a course on the map like I asked?