The Dark is Rising - WotW Part II (Inactive)

Game Master Darkness Rising

When Tkaara gets to the top of the she hisses:
What vile magic of light is this? That is the seal. And we are going to break it. Unfortunately, I do not seem to be able to enter the room.

Tkaara tries to step forward, but the burn of the vile Mitran magic prevents her from entering the room.
We need to do away with that elemental, then we can start the ritual. This seal cannot be broken too soon.

When the group gathers back down the stairs a ways:
I do not know what I will be able to do in this fight. I can provide you all with some protection from the energy of that monster. And I can provide most of you with other defensive and offensive assistance. But, I do not think that I will be able to physically enter the room.

Tatienne readily identifies the creature as a huge lighting elemental: deadly against those wearing metal armour, and immune to bleed, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, stunning, critical hits or flanking. In addition, elementals do not take additional damage from precision-based attacks, such as sneak attack. Finally, it is immune to electricity.

SUNDAY 10 ABADIUS

You wake to a cloudy Winter's day. The Caer Bryr - being on top of a tectonic plate having masses of volcanic activity - remains a steaming jungle; but out there in Farholde and the rest of Talingarde, Winter is not merely coming; it is here.

As good a day as any other to kill an elemental.

While they ascend the stairs, Etna chants a spell, and a translucent veil of energy shimmers around her for a moment. Once they've reached the top of the stairs and are ready to attack, the ifrit gestures toward her companions, and the air fills with the smell of sulfur: even with its pungency, if fills them with vigor.

Tatienne wakes serious, any facade of politeness or etiquette dropped. There was a time and a place for the Doctor's approach to niceties (which is to say no approach at all). Today was just such a day; pure focus, little time, or inclination, for anything else.

After meditation, dwelling on the awesome destructive power of the Hells, the transformative natures of her companions, and her own inner well-spring of insight, Taty takes a light breakfast (ration and tea), and leaving her mithral breastplate, approaches the stairwell with the others.

"Anyone with a magic weapon, I can enhance it to make it more fatal to this elemental. I can also make you larger, able to land more viscious blows. And if anyone needs to see in the dark, just ask."

As the group move back up, Tkaara is annoyed.
Not much I can do unless someone is able to eliminate the protection in that room. Probably from the seal.

I can give us all protection against electricity. It is not perfect, but should reduce any electrical attacks the elemental may use. I can also provide some additional defense against normal attacks and can improve all of our morale to make it easier for you to land attacks.

Shortly before entering, Tkaara will cast Resist Energy (communal) (makes Resist Electricity 20) - lasts 12 minutes if used on all six of us.

7 rounds before entering - 6x Shield of Faith and then Bless (all last 7 minutes)

"Let us see if my new formula works as expected..." Before leaving camp, the Doctor produces one of his now-familiar brass syringes and plunges it into his arm. Moments later, the sickening sound of bones popping and muscle tearing emanates from him as he assumes the lupine form of the Beast. There is a key difference, however: the hulking shoulders split and from them emerge a pair of great, leathery wings. Amber eyes and razor teeth gleam in the weak light as the Beast surveys its surroundings, eager to kill.

Before the battle proper, the Beast deftly pulls a half dozen vials from its bandolier and quickly downs them all. It accepts the women's spells, eyes cast up the stairs toward Its prey.

Felrin tells Taty that he does not think her spell to make him larger will work on him, but otherwise agrees with the various proposals made by the team, adding some ideas of his own.

"I will transform myself for the fight, and become invisible, in order to get in position by the lightning creature," he offers. "When I strike, the rest of you will move in and attack."

Barring any objections or revisions to the plan, he spends a few moments in intense prayer, then begins intoning the words of his own spells, calling on the power of Asmodeus to guide and protect him, as well as the peculiarities of his blood to change him into his troglodyte form. With a snap of his fingers, he vanishes, then speaks a few more words of divine power before saying, "Let us go, Ninth Knot."

Armorless but with spear in hand, Erevan waits patiently as spells are cast and abilities used, feeling the various magics strengthening and protecting him and the others. And as the doctor and the tiefling change into far more monstrous forms, he looks at them and studies them with mild interest. 'To think the vampire is the more human-like of the trio,' he ponders briefly.

Once everyone appears to be ready he adds his own contribution, as the shadows and the darkness around them, both literal and metaphorical, coalesce, acting as weapon and shield and armor in more ways than one.

Once everyone is in position, Etna opens her mouth, as if to issue an order, but the elemental is the only one to hear it, as it echoes trough its ears.

Taking aim at the elemental with her wand implement, and picturing the burning fires of hell, brings forth an explosive ball of fire blanketing the space the elemental is in.

The invisible Beast lumbers awkwardly into the air on Its vast, batlike wings, aiming as best It can toward Its quarry.

Felrin glides silently into position just ahead of the others, then waits a moment for everyone to get in place. He launches the attack with a magically charged claw, tearing into the towering elemental!

Tkaara curses as she is unable to move into the room to aid her companions.
Bloody seal. You will be broken and destroyed in but a few short moons.

Action: Delay - unless she is able to somehow get into the room.

Retconned surprise round action

The Beast, having been awkwardly circling Its prey like a huge, invisible buzzard, exults in the rush of adrenaline when Felrin pops into sight nearby. It strikes with startling speed, fangs like swords closing on the strange, amorphous body of the elemental. Somewhere behind the predator's mind, the Doctor wonders at the odd sensation of harmless electricity running through his jaw, and the almost spicy flavor...

Letting the others take the initiative and employ spell and tooth and claw in their fight against the elemental, Erevan then moves to join the tiefling and the Beast, using his magically bestowed ability to fly to approach the strange foe.

The ambush goes off completely as planned: the elemental howls in pain as your various attacks shred it; gobbets of fizzing ichor drop to the floor below where they land in sizzling pools.

It is however, very, very fast - faster than you perhaps had taken into account. Tendrils of energy leap out from it, directed at Felrin and Ottakar. The reek of ozone fills the air around you.

Surprise round is over, Round 1 is GO! Party is up

Tkaara waits until her companions have finished attacking the elemental, and then causes a bright burst of color to appear about the extra-planar creature.

Remember about Haste, everyone!
Etna smiles satisfied when her companions attacks land on the creature. Gesturing at the creature, she conjures forth a ray smelling lightly of sulfur toward the elemental, trying to weaken him.

Felrin grunts as the massive storm of energy swats at him, but his infernal blood allows him to shrug off the electrical charge it delivers. He then retaliates, calling on Asmodeus to grant his claw devastating power against the elemental and lashing and biting at it with power and speed!

Status: 57/66 hp

Taking note of the ease by which the elemental dodges her fireball, as well as her companion's close proximity to the creature, Taty points her wand at the elemental, and from it springs a thin ray of fire, which snakes out towards the elemental, as if alive...

Felrin's claws shred whatever was left holding the elemental together; and it simply bursts apart in a fizzing cloud of steam. A stream of sizzling ichor trickles down from the sanctum's dome, in rivulets of electric rain.

Tkaara hisses as the elemental bursts asunder under the blows of Asmodeus's servant.
Well done all. Now lets get rid of that accursed seal. A few short nights of prayer and we will free the land of that holy relic.

Removing the parasol from her pack, Tatienne holds it above her head as the electric rain falls around the group. It was unfortunate that she didn't have the parasol out to begin with; hopefully her travelling clothes won't be too marred by the elemental's demise. Examining the seal, the relic hunter ponders works of such a nature. There are of course many ways to break circles, holy or unholy, the easiest probably to physically interrupt it. Perhaps the seal is similar?

Disappointed at how brief was the violence, the Beast glides back to the ground and immediately goes about collecting the precious residue in a vial.

"That was...," Erevan remarks as the various magics expire one after the other, "...brief." There is a hint of disappointment in his tone that mirrors Ottakar's. It is not the lack of violence that causes it however, but simply the fact that he did not get the chance to put his skill to use. That and the curiosity regarding how the various spells cast on him would have worked.

"Well, with this, we should have cleared the temple of any hostiles that may interfere. Now..." Etna sighs, avoiding the shower of electric particles "Where should we begin? It will take months to complete the ritual, and I'd personally prefer if we started making this place suitable for defense...and living, as we'd have to conduct the rituals daily. Where should we start?"

Tatienne nods. "Indeed. We'll need to make the Horn habitable. And of course our safety should be paramount. I can start animating the dead in the charnell pit, and perhaps the boggards can be whipped into some sort of outfit resembling a professional security force."

Felrin can hardly believe it when the powerful elemental bursts apart so quickly, after all the preparations and prayers before the fight. Still, he's glad it's over, and is ready to begin the next step in their work, nodding at Tkaara's suggestion that they turn their attention to destroying the seal.

As the others weigh in, Felrin listens and considers, then offers a suggestion, "Some of us will be better suited to the task of destroying the seal, while others will be less able - or perhaps unable, in Tkaara's case - to contribute to that effort. The seal will take time to undo, and I suggest some of us begin on it right away, while others set about making the horn more defensible and more livable."

He thinks a moment, then continues, "While I have little interest in venerating any but the Dark Prince, I feel that destroying the seal and calling forth Vetra-Kali is an important step to bringing about Asmodeus' kingdom here in Talingarde, and it should begin right away. I feel duty-bound to take part in the Supplication to Darkness, the Cursing of the Light and the Call Across the Void. As my time allows, I will also put in place a temple to Asmodeus here, and support the restoration of the Horn as a secure place for us to live and plan."

Tkaara, who has once more begun to look rather haggard, looks to Felrin with her bloodshot eyes, more bloodshot than they were the prior day.

I care not about making this place comfortable. Eliminating this seal is our objective and I shall do all I can to see that the seal is broken. Whether it is finding "volunteers" to participate in the ceremony, or keeping guard while you rest and perform the ceremony, I shall be here.

She pauses before continuing.
However, I require sustenance other than that which you all prefer. We will need to find some source as hunger causes longings in my new form, just as starving does for you all.

No, it's mainly just trying to think of what happens when, and how to keep the balance between roleplay, dice-combat and things actually moving towards a conclusion.

Thanks for the link, I'll give it a look.

Right.

This is where you officially start your Evil Organisation.

I've added a bit in the spreadsheet linked up above (I should really change the name, it's not even about Loot that much, any more!). Rules are presented below.

It may look like a lot to take on board, but honestly it should be relatively straightforward.

For now, I need a name; and I need you to allocate the starting attribute points to the various attributes. Once that's done, we can move on. You have 19 points to allocate between the various attributes. Note that it's perfectly OK to have a "0" if you decide, for example, that you aren't interested in Espionage to start with. No attribute can go higher than 4 to start with.

Have fun!

EDIT: It's my plan to use Timeon to run stuff on a day-to-day basis; you can get as involved as you like, but my impression when I first raised this feature of the AP was that not all of you were massively interested...

Ah, I love Timeon. Tell that boor what's what.

And the rules look simple enough. Considering how many points we have, I say that we can as a first thing put 2 point in each of the six scores: that way we are reasonably apt at everything, leaving us at other 7 points to spend. For the other points, I have a couple of ideas, too.

I say we max to four Loyalty: a loyal minion is a good minion, it's something Etna would push IC, and having it high means we can allow ourselves to use YOU HAVE FAILED ME FOR THE LAST TIME (always in caps) if there's something we absolutely have to get done. 5 points left that way.
After that, I'd say we could spread other three points to Espionage, Survivability, and Secrecy: the last two we have to keep high, and Espionage is something that's always useful. That leaves us with two points to give to the two "action" stats.
I'd personally put both of those in Connections: as it's a little obvious from what I've proposed for the other stats, I think we should try to keep a low profile as long as possible, and the strength action looks the most overt and likely to attract attention. That +2 still seems useful for stuff like Guard Duty, and I guess we can always get Ruthless up further down the road when our organization is more powerful.

So, I'd go for:

Ruthless:+2
Secrecy:+3
Survivability:+3
Connections:+4
Espionage:+3
Loyalty:+4

I agree that with our group, Loyalty is key. The rest also look good.

I am wondering about the "Actions", is this based off of the highest Cha in the party? Right now Tkaara has a 23, which is 8 actions.

Nope - based on party level plus total Cha modifiers; both positive and negative.

I just realized that I missed to mention the biggest problem I have in the previous post: I have no ideas for a name to pick. Everything remotely appropriate that I can think of just sounds more corny than White Ravens.

Well, if we have the White Ravens, perhaps we should go the other way.

Dark Flame or Black Flame would be good. Plays off Etna and the rest of us a little.

Night Heralds - maybe, ok by not spectacular unless everyone else likes it.

------
How about First Nights. - The name sounds like something holy - First Knights, but the First actually references Asmodeus' name "The First", with nights/knights being another dark play on words.

I like Etna's proposed point allocation. Have to think on the name question, but I'm thinking something based on Asmodeus' 5-pointed star, assuming this name isn't meant for public consumption in Talingarde. Or based on his sacred animal being the serpent - though Black Serpents sounds too much like we're aping the White Ravens.

Lawbringers?
Red Mace of Hell!
Pentagrammarians?
The Bound
The Binders

One question about the Cha modifiers: since Felrin gets to use his Wis modifier rather than Cha for Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate, can I apply it here as well? Seems to make sense.

I figured the name was more of a public/organization name. Thus, my options which Felrin might have missed since I sort of ninjaed him.

No, it's a SECRET Evil organisation (at least, as long as you put points into secrecy...)! This is the name you know yourselves as, and your recruiting name ('Psst! Wanna join the [fill-in-name]s?')

On the Wis/Cha question, I'm going to say no. The organisation rules for the AP are based off the Leadership feat; I handwaved the requirement to take that feat, but the mechanics are the same and it's tied to Cha.

Plus, you chose Cha as your dump stat - there are some clever workarounds, but ultimately that choice should have consequences.

Even if it's secret, I too think that something overtly Asmodean wouldn't fly: if someone gets a whiff of the Asmodeus Fan Club organization even once, we'll have the inquisition to deal with. That, and being that religiously affiliated could turn off potential non-religious minions. However, I agree that it should be subtly Asmodean.

First Nights sounds cool, as do The Bound/The Binders: I particularly like the second two, but I think we could try "The Bound thing/The Binding thing", as just The Bounds feels like it's missing something (and sounds like the name of a bondage club).

OK, so it's looking like the following stat choices (although I'm aware not everyone has commented):

Ruthless:+2
Secrecy:+3
Survivability:+3
Connections:+4
Espionage:+3
Loyalty:+4

Your alliance with other individuals of note gives you the following bonuses:

Seventh Knot: +1 Ruthless, +1 Espionage

Baron Vandermir: +1 Connections, +1 Secrecy (he's basically above suspicion - for now)

Rubal Thraam: +1 Ruthless

Timeon: +2 to any one roll per week, but if it fails badly there's a risk something happens to him...

It looks like you're there - once you have a name, I'll update the spreadsheet and give you the XP award for forming your evil organisation!

On the Wis/Cha question, I'm going to say no. The organisation rules for the AP are based off the Leadership feat; I handwaved the requirement to take that feat, but the mechanics are the same and it's tied to Cha.

Plus, you chose Cha as your dump stat - there are some clever workarounds, but ultimately that choice should have consequences.

That is disappointing, since the workaround that I chose for Felrin is the Conversion inquisition (rather than taking a domain ability), so that his fervor for Asmodeus would allow him to sway others. Thus, it does seem like it would fit nicely into the model of bringing people into an organization - converting them, as it were - but I won't press the point if you feel it doesn't make sense.

As to a name, I like The Bound _____ option also (and I'm not really lobbying for my own idea, since that name was suggested by my son). But what goes in the blank? I like it well enough without another word there, but the right word could make it great. Will ponder it.

Felrin - I get where you're coming from, and FWIW I think of Felrin as someone you follow because he has your respect: the guy who always has good answers and a plan; and you can be fairly sure he's not about to order you to charge the machine guns.

But, on the other hand, he's not someone you'd likely follow if he DID ask you to charge the machine guns: he's not there in terms of inspiring people. By way of (Classical) example, when Cicero had finished speaking the people said, "How well he spoke" - but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, "Let us march."

EDIT: The Bound Flame?

...but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, "Let us march".

I thought people said "Oh Gods, he's rambling about Philip again." :P

I agree on why it's based on CHA, basing it on the fact that as a stat it represent presence/personal magnetism: Felrin knows what to say and how to say it, but most of our minions probably won't get the change to actually talk to him, and base themselves on the impression they got from him.

EDIT: I was actually just thinking about The Bound Flame, actually. <.<

Of course you would. Fire and all that. But it does sound pretty cool. Asmodean as well, seeing as how flames tend to exist in, say, Hell.

Indeed, one could reverse it and say that you are The Flame-Bound, as it were...

The Bound Flame works for me.

Indeed, one could reverse it and say that you are The Flame-Bound, as it were...

*Looks at branded F on forearm*

Felrin - I get where you're coming from, and FWIW I think of Felrin as someone you follow because he has your respect: the guy who always has good answers and a plan; and you can be fairly sure he's not about to order you to charge the machine guns.

But, on the other hand, he's not someone you'd likely follow if he DID ask you to charge the machine guns: he's not there in terms of inspiring people. By way of (Classical) example, when Cicero had finished speaking the people said, "How well he spoke" - but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, "Let us march."

EDIT: The Bound Flame?

A fine argument and an excellent example, though I never read much Demosthenes. I appreciate your thinking about it, and I'll go with your ruling without further griping.

And I like The Bound Flame - and the double meaning of Flame-Bound: the flames bind us, and we're bound for the flames one day.

Everything sounds good to me. Who knows, maybe I'll end up with a minion named Igor. :P

Good to have you back, AU! Your style is inimitable.

Welcome back AU!

A thing I didn't understand about weekly actions: how do does work? Do we have a list of which ones we can do, or do we have to come up with each of them? If that's the case, how do we handle their effects, difficulty etc. ? It'll be a little hard to plan ahead without knowing what we can do.

Thank you, both (I love the word inimitable, by the way). I assume there is probably a list of obvious example actions in the book, but it is up to the players to decide what we want done, and the GM to decide what stat is used and at what difficulty. That said, if we are allowed to have the list of standard actions as a baseline, that might be helpful.

EXAMPLE ACTIONS

Abduct commoners (Ruthless check)
Assassination (Ruthless check)
Criminal Enterprise to acquire funds (Ruthless check)
Frame someone (Espionage check)
Gather information (Connections check)
Grave robbing (Secrecy check)
Guard duty (Ruthless check)
Legitimate enterprise to acquire funds (Connections check)
Spread disinformation (Espionage check)
Torture captives (Ruthless check)

I'm sure you can think of others, but this should get some creativity going...!

I will also start off having Timeon suggest courses of action: he used to be a squire, he's used to planning and logistics. (Knights are all very well, but the metal armour slows down their brain...)

EDIT for forming your evil organisation, you gain 10,000 XP

From Tkaara's instructions, it looks like you have the following actions listed:

*Gather information in Farholde
*Spy on the 7th Knot (this is risky, and if you fail could definitely cause problems)

You have 3 more this week - I would suggest a Secrecy action to keep a low profile, a Survivability action to recruit more members, and possibly another Gather information in case the first one fails.

But really, you are limited only by your imaginations. Let me have a final list and I'll make the rolls; or you can make the rolls yourselves, of course. Timeon gives you a +2 to any one roll, but use him wisely...

Yeah, I'd vote against spying on the Seventh: they didn't give us a reason to doubt them, we're working for the same guy, Tiadora worked her magic, and I'd prefer to be on their good side instead of risking to poison the well this soon.

I'd go for: Gather Information x2, Low Profile, Recruiting, and setting up a legitimate business to get some funds. It looks like it'll give us solid foundations for later.

Router dead. Back online hopefully tomorrow.

I like Etna's list of actions, and concur with her on the reasons not to spy on the Seventh Knot. Felrin is quite accustomed to keeping a low profile when the situation calls for it, though he's immensely enjoying breaking out of that pattern from time to time and just wreaking havoc.

By the way, forgot to comment about this earlier...

[...]Timeon has no interest in gaolbait moppets of questionable breeding and few social graces [...]

Saving that up for later use. Love it.

On my phone. Edna's list looks good.

*Festive welcoming barking*

It's just gone from 4714 to 4715 AR.

Tatienne: welcome! You have the following:

A Glamered Handy Haversack containing:
*your Occultist implements
*Muleback Cords
*a copy of the contract you just signed
*a masterwork weapon of your choice
*standard 6th level adventuring gear
*clothing & jewellery befitting a *cough* Taldan noblewoman
*around 3,000 gp in mixed coins and gems

An Iron Circlet

This puts you on a par with the others, I think. Don't forget your Automatic Bonus Progression does away with belts, Headbands, cloaks etc.

Hi, everyone!

Thanks for the gear list, DMD.

I know a couple of you around from other games (in one case, a very short lived one), and I've read through the gameplay thread (non-spoilered posts only), and I must say, I'm very excited to be adventuring with you all. There's some really great interaction going on here.

Taty is designed to be a support character, and as such, she can do a lot of things, but is master of none. I don't want to impede too much on anyone's shtick, and have tried to design her to not do so. Please look over her sheet and let me know if there's anything you'd like to see changed.

Her main shticks will be:

Buffing: Taty can slap +2 enchantments on weapons, which should prove very useful (bane!). She can also put the darkvision on anyone who needs it, if anyone besides her needs it. She's got guidance as well. See invisibility, false life, and expeditious retreat are self-only buffs, but they should be able to help the party out indirectly.

Summoning: Taty's got an undead minion that can be summoned a bit. The minion isn't going to do much more than soak hp or be a disposable trap -monkey, but it can be called upon. Later, she'll be able to use magic circles to summon outsiders for non-combat purposes.

Skill checks: int-based caster, human, 4 sp/level plus the 2 bonus sp/level - Taty has a lot of skill points. I've got them mostly sunk into knowledges and social skills right now. She's a competent face but can't turn out rolls like some of you are capable of (and can't roll twice on diplomacy checks either! - that's an awesome ability).

Are there any skills that the party would like to see her invest in? I'm happy to move things around.

Blasting: I see that Etna won't be taking much of these spells, so I've focused Taty a bit in this area. She's a 6-level caster, and for flavor reasons I'm limiting myself to fire only, so she'll be a middling blaster, but it is there if needed.

Crafting? Not sure if I can fit it into the build, of if the story will allow for it at that point, but I'd like to take craft (rod) at level 9.

Debuffing? Not yet, but she'll have access to some good necromancy debuffs, like the curse line.

What Taty is not: with dump stats in all three physical abilities, and a -2 drawback to any dex checks, Taty is pretty much dead if she runs into, say, a shambling mound. She's going to hang to the back in any fight.

She's also not a prepared or 9-level caster, and as such lacks the versatility and raw power those classes have.

Let me know if you have any questions, concerns, etc. I am happy to move things around to best suit the party, and I'm looking forward to gaming with you all!

Welcome!

Oooh, Occultist. Never seen one in play: I haven't the faintest idea of how they work (aside that Object reading is the coolest thing ever). D:

And yeah, for blasting I'm only picking one of those per spell level, just to have a fallback plan if all of the battlefield control isn't useful.

By the way, shouldn't Tatienne also get one of the Cardinal's lessons? Or is it already in the sheet and I missed it?

Welcome, Taty! I don't have time for a proper in-game post right now, but I'm looking forward to playing with you (having done a bunch of reading of other games you've played in, after DMD said he was interested in inviting you) and very curious to see an Occultist in play, as I've never seen one either.

It looks like you've been very thoughtful in building your character to avoid overlapping too much, and I think it's a fine thing that you don't plan on getting in the melee mix much, as we have a good deal of that going on already.

You've got an interesting set of abilities, and I have one question right away: does your Legacy Weapon ability only apply to manufactured weapons, or can it be used on natural weapons?

Taty - welcome, again, I think. Pretty sure I am the one you played with in a VERY short lived campaign . . . campaign start, DM gets in bad accident in RL, campaign sputters some, campaign dies without ever really getting past the first few posts.

Tkaara is a pita. Terrible con (0), not much offense, and some limited offensive spells. She is also in sort of a ticked off and bitter state at this point as she adjusts to some minor changes in her life, like dying and the rising as an undead. Eventually she should come to accept her condition, but you have to realize that she is unlikely to want to be everyone's best friend for a while. (Unless they want to have(be) a snack.)

On the other hand, she has decent buffs, an out the roof AC (25, 31 with total defense - will increase by +2 next level), and a ton of HP (currently 79). Eventually, level 11, her saves should be pretty good as well.

By the way, shouldn't Tatienne also get one of the Cardinal's lessons? Or is it already in the sheet and I missed it?

Ooohh, I want a lesson! Unless it involves arm twisting...

I've never seen an occultist play either. I love the mechanics, but it was a really hard class to figure out the build for. I had a basic concept (Asmodean intellectual Indiana Jones, former shut-in raised on a steady diet of Satanic Dora the Explorer books) and I thought the occultist would be a great fit, but getting there, well there's a lot of fiddly parts with the class to suss out.

You've got an interesting set of abilities, and I have one question right away: does your Legacy Weapon ability only apply to manufactured weapons, or can it be used on natural weapons?

I believe so (subject to DMD's approval, of course). You'd probably not need bane as much as the others, but I'm sure we can find lots of interesting combinations for your claws.

Slapping a +2 enchantment like bane or unholy on a weapon assumes first that there is a +1 enchantment already on the weapon to begin with, which I'm not sure how exactly that plays with automatic bonus progression, and even less so with your claws. Are one of your claws attuned or are both? DMD, does a +1 attuned weapon function for all intents and purposes as a +1 enchanted weapon?

Taty - welcome, again, I think. Pretty sure I am the one you played with in a VERY short lived campaign . . . campaign start, DM gets in bad accident in RL, campaign sputters some, campaign dies without ever really getting past the first few posts.

Your waves oracle was a fantastic concept, and a really well-written submission - my favorite of the lot of us that were accepted. I'm bummed I never got to see her in action, and I hope you get to use her again some day.

She is also in sort of a ticked off and bitter state at this point as she adjusts to some minor changes in her life, like dying and the rising as an undead. Eventually she should come to accept her condition, but you have to realize that she is unlikely to want to be everyone's best friend for a while.

Minor life changes like that :)

I'm pretty excited to see how her relationship with Taty develops. In the near term, Taty's going to try and kill her with kindness.

On the other hand, she has decent buffs, an out the roof AC (25, 31 with total defense - will increase by +2 next level), and a ton of HP (currently 79). Eventually, level 11, her saves should be pretty good as well.

It is a real interesting build. I love the heavens oracle and this is pretty much the last campaign I'd think to put one in. Do you tank/melee with a dash of crowd control? Looks like fun to me!

@DMD, I'd like to respond to Tkaara's gameplay post, but I have a question before I do so: Does Tatienne know anything of the Cardinal's plan in general, and specifically of the need to get into the Horn of Abadon? Because pre-capture/torture Taty, that's exactly the type of place she'd want to be.

By the way, shouldn't Tatienne also get one of the Cardinal's lessons? Or is it already in the sheet and I missed it?

No, the lessons were mainly about getting you from 1st to 2nd to 3rd level; Tatienne's coming in at 6th level so she's been round the block a few times already.

Felrin wrote:

You've got an interesting set of abilities, and I have one question right away: does your Legacy Weapon ability only apply to manufactured weapons, or can it be used on natural weapons?

I believe so (subject to DMD's approval, of course). You'd probably not need bane as much as the others, but I'm sure we can find lots of interesting combinations for your claws.

Slapping a +2 enchantment like bane or unholy on a weapon assumes first that there is a +1 enchantment already on the weapon to begin with, which I'm not sure how exactly that plays with automatic bonus progression, and even less so with your claws. Are one of your claws attuned or are both? DMD, does a +1 attuned weapon function for all intents and purposes as a +1 enchanted weapon?

Effectively yes, I think Felrin already got a ruling on whether his claws are attuned or not, or whether it's just the one claw at a time; I can't right now remember what I actually decided. I'll have to go back and check.

@DMD, I'd like to respond to Tkaara's gameplay post, but I have a question before I do so: Does Tatienne know anything of the Cardinal's plan in general, and specifically of the need to get into the Horn of Abadon? Because pre-capture/torture Taty, that's exactly the type of place she'd want to be.

Nope. The Cardinal believes you but he doesn't know you; he's giving you a chance to serve and gain a limited amount of trust. Right now, Tatienne doesn't know anything, even the Cardinal's name.

As for the Horn of Abaddon, its existence was carefully purged from the Talirean records; but Chelish history might mention it. Or not. It's daemonic rather than devilish in origin, after all.

Let's say a knowledge (history) DC 25 for you to know anything about it.

Tkaara is a pita. Terrible con (0), not much offense, and some limited offensive spells. She is also in sort of a ticked off and bitter state at this point as she adjusts to some minor changes in her life, like dying and the rising as an undead. Eventually she should come to accept her condition, but you have to realize that she is unlikely to want to be everyone's best friend for a while. (Unless they want to have(be) a snack.)

Etna is currently having her organs liquefied and pierced out from the inside, but she isn't being rude because of it. :P

@Tatienne: For the Occultist, there's this thread with some discussion on building: there were a couple of builds later on by TarkXT that focused on a buffing occultist. Maybe that could be of help?

@DMD: Oh, I wasn't talking of the Nine Lessons, but about "Strike first, strike ruthlessly and thus be victorious", "You shall be my angel slayer", "Wear your armor like a second skin" et cetera. Doesn't Tatienne get one of those extra traits?

Oh, those. Yes, we'll get to that in time.

Effectively yes, I think Felrin already got a ruling on whether his claws are attuned or not, or whether it's just the one claw at a time; I can't right now remember what I actually decided. I'll have to go back and check.

DMD - you ruled that the Auto Bonus Progression applied to both claws, but that I could only apply my Bane class ability to one of them. So it would be possible to apply Taty's bane to the other claw and really shred an opponent, though there might be other valuable uses of it, like Erevan's spear.

Oh, me likey. :-D

@Tatienne: For the Occultist, there's this thread with some discussion on building: there were a couple of builds later on by TarkXT that focused on a buffing occultist. Maybe that could be of help?

Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks for pointing me to it!

Sorry for a whole 'nother wall of text, folks. I promise to be more concise when Taty gets settled in :)

Looks like it's going well. I plan to hand-wave most of the introduction to Farholde/explanation of what you're up to; feel free to roleplay it out if that suits.

Tatienne: we never did manage to put your evil organisation together; do you want to join the existing one? Or do you still want to have your own thing? I've no preference either way.

Also, I completely overlooked the fact that Occultists can wear armour: there's a rather gorgeous mithral something (of your choosing) in your Haversack.

Allow me to do what my character will not, and welcome you aboard. It has been a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable journey. :)

Unless something happens in Farholde, how do we want to proceed for the next week? I'd do a little more research on the Bryr (maybe we can do that while our minions do other stuff)before venturing in there once again, and wait for our organization to find its feet before possibly leaving it to fend for itself for a week or two.

Looks like it's going well. I plan to hand-wave most of the introduction to Farholde/explanation of what you're up to; feel free to roleplay it out if that suits.

Tatienne: we never did manage to put your evil organisation together; do you want to join the existing one? Or do you still want to have your own thing? I've no preference either way.

Also, I completely overlooked the fact that Occultists can wear armour: there's a rather gorgeous mithral something (of your choosing) in your Haversack.

Great! I've got a follow-up post to make in a sec, but I don't want to hold things up.

Regarding the evil organization, I think I'm going to hold off for now. Since Taty's pretty in the dark about the full extent of Thorn's plans, it isn't something that would occur to her yet. Right now, she's still on the lookout for the manuscript and concerned with staying alive and not tortured. It seems like a lot of what I was thinking could be folded into the PCs' organization too, especially since in a happy bit of coincidence, once I read the end of the gameplay thread an orphanage appeared on the scene.

PCs: My original thought for Taty's evil organization was a string of orphanges and asylums throughout Talingarde. After all, once the war really gets going, there's going to be a need to house all those war orphans and folks driven to madness, and all good Taldan (and "Taldan") ladies of means should have a charitable project to keep them occupied while their bearded stab each other over matters of honor and all that.

It seems like this idea could work nicely with what is already happening in Farholde with the PCs' Bound Flame. The benifits for the party would be plenty, I think: a means to insert really talented orphans and "cured" asylum residents into sympathetic households across the nation as domestic help and the like. People of influence are often careless about what they say with the help around...

And of course there's the not-cured and not-special, folks with little in the way of family and too scarred to make their way in Talingarde's crumbling society, which could be used as bloodbags for Tkaara, sacrifices for Asmodeus, etc.

Allow me to do what my character will not, and welcome you aboard. It has been a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable journey. :)

Thank you! I look forward to trying to warm the good doctor's wintry heart!

Unless something happens in Farholde, how do we want to proceed for the next week? I'd do a little more research on the Bryr (maybe we can do that while our minions do other stuff)before venturing in there once again, and wait for our organization to find its feet before possibly leaving it to fend for itself for a week or two.

Tatienne would definitely be down with some research. She likes to be prepared before heading out into the wilds. She'd also like to buy the High Templar some armor and a couple of weapons - his gear was unfortunately lost along with her clueless puppets hired help when she was captured by the Cardinal.

Tatienne: I hadn't realised that you have a recurring minion. Whatever goodies he/you had prior to your... detainment, you still have: The Cardinal is not a thief.

My bad - I've never introduced a character into a game mid-way through before! Bound to be a few things that fall through the gaps.

Fortunately, Tkaara will be a little better at controlling her hunger in another level or so. She knows that really any living thing works, but the young and the innocent taste sooooo much better.