This long golden staff is loosely wrapped in chains, with crystals on the ends of the chains that flicker with holy power when the staff is called. Large celestial gems decorate each end of the staff, one larger than the other and highlighted by more golden metal. Unlike a normal staff, a staff of sacred light holds a maximum number of charges equal to the holder's Characters Level x2.5 (rounded down) and can't be recharged normally. Some of its powers use charges and others don't. A staff of sacred light doesn't lose its powers if it runs out of charges. The following powers don't use charges:
-Light My Fire (0th Level)
-Entropic Shield (1st Level)
-Oracle's Burden (2nd Level)
-Zone of Truth (2nd Level)
-Create Food and Water (3rd Level)
-Daylight (3rd level)
The following powers drain 1 charge per use:
-Aura of Peace (3rd Level)
-Remove Curse (3rd Level)
-Searing Light (3rd Level)
-Dismissal (4th Level)
-Holy Smite (4th Level)
-Breath of Life (5th Level)
-Divine Ray (5th Level)
-Greater Dispel Magic (6th level)
-Greater Restoration (7th Level)
These powers drain 2 charges per use:
-Plane shift (Will DC 22 negates, arrive 2 to 200 miles from the intended destination) (5th Level)
-Holy Word (Will DC 22 partial) (7th Level)
-Cleansing Light (Will DC 24 partial) (9th Level)
-Summon Monster IX (the summoned creatures receive the benefits of the Augment Summoning feat) (9th Level)
For 5 charges, the staff of sacred light creates a gate (9th Level).
The staff of sacred light has higher DCs than normal for a staff. The wielder still uses her own save DCs if they exceed those of the staff.
The wielder can use any of her metamagic feats on spells cast with the staff of sacred light by expending 1 charge per increase in spell level, with a minimum of 1 charge spent. The adjusted level of the spell can't be increased above 9th level.
The wielder can expend one use of mythic power to gain the benefit of a number of charges equal to her mythic tier. Any excess charges are lost.
A wielder who knows the mythic version of one of the staff's spells can cast such spells from the staff by expending one use of mythic power. This can be combined with using mythic power to provide charges. Additionally, the wielder can expend one use of mythic power to add 1 charge to the staff, with no risk of explosion if the staff is already fully charged.
For someone with a Character Level of 15 or higher, a staff of sacred light gives the wielder spell resistance equal to 23 plus her tier. If this is willingly lowered, however, the staff can be used to absorb arcane or divine energy directed at its wielder, as a rod of absorption does. Unlike the rod, this staff converts spell levels into charges rather than retaining them as spell energy usable by a spellcaster. If the staff absorbs enough energy to exceed its limit of 50 charges, it explodes as if the wielder had performed a retributive strike (see Destruction). The wielder has no idea how many spell levels are cast at her—the staff doesn't communicate this knowledge as a rod of absorption does. Thus, absorbing spells can be risky.
A staff of sacred light is highly attuned to the gods of good, and the user must already be capable of casting spells of a given level before spells of that level can be cast through the staff - for example, the wielder would need to be able to cast 3rd level spells normally in order to cast Daylight from a staff of sacred light. At no point will a staff of sacred light grant access to spells of a level higher than the user could normally cast. Finally, a staff of sacred light will not function for an evil character (though its owner, if good, can still use its Calling effect even if it is currently held by an evil character).
Destruction
A staff of sacred light can be broken for a retributive strike. Such an act must be purposeful and declared by the wielder. All charges in the staff are released in a 30-foot-radius spread. Quadruple the wielder's tier and add this amount to the number of charges remaining in the staff. All creatures within 10 feet of the staff take an amount of damage equal to 10 times this number. A successful Reflex save with a DC equal to 23 plus the wielder's tier halves the damage.
Unlike with the staff of the magi, breaking a staff of sacred light invariably destroys the wielder (no saving throw).
Note that this is BEFORE the Legendary Item abilities. This is your equivalent of Thor's hammer, and as long as it's reasonably balanced, you can be pretty epic here. Note that most of the text there was about restricting the item's power. If you want a staff, make it an epic staff worth having. If you want a sword, make a sword that truly stands out (such as having a sort of Magus Pool of its own that can grant it bonus effects - Flaming, etc. - stacking with the normal effects, above and beyond its normal magical powers. Yes, theoretically that could reach a bonus higher than 10 late in the game). Don't try to make your item unfairly powerful for its level, don't have accuracy/damage bonuses for free, and in general try to practice good game design. If in doubt, refer to already-existing items and use them as a guide - the Staff of Sacred Light, for example, was built off of an official item. I can and will deny things that seem broken - at Table 2, for example, I had to restrict the player's access to Greater Invisibility because of the powers they were taking.
@Grond: So long as they're noted to only apply to attacks that the Amulet would normally enhance, yes.
don't worry being invisible and sneaky with undetectable is not something a God of Valor and Glory would use or want. You have to be seen destroying the beast. But very awesome to know. I have to start thinking on this so look out. :)
I'll be posting updates to my profile throughout the day... i'm still hoping to have it done by tonight but honestly i'm not positive i can- the whole family is still sick and i've got a big extra project for work that I need to squeeze in... i'll do the best i can (and might invest in some caffeine so i can have it up by tomorrow morning at the latest...)
Hadran kind of sold me on the advanced template... after he said 'it seemed appropriate for a god' i just couldn't stop thinking about how right he was. so, i reduced his race's stat array to 'flexible' (the same as an aasimar) and dropped one level of sacred fist. if there are any objections to that please let me know so i can rework things. i actually wrestled with that choice for a while because i didn't want to give up the level, but there are other templates i'd like to consider so i would have had to give up levels eventually anyways (and conceptually i think the templates probably make even more sense than the class levels anyways). looking to the future, what are your thoughts on mythic templates? in particular, i'd be interested in picking up the savage template at some point (and possibly agile too), and i'm guessing that if they're permitted Hadran might be interested in the invincible template...
You're getting Mythic Tiers - the five basic templates offer Mythic Ranks, which are separate power levels for monsters and generally not something PCs would get unless it was ALL they got. Ranks and Tiers don't stack.
Anyway, don't think TOO hard on your choices - I permit retraining, and you CAN change most things later on if you put them into practice and decide they're not working out. ^^
I realy love banter during combat. Thank you for the great RP and visuals. It is one of my favorite parts of the game.
On Hadran. I was going to take the Half Celestial Template, I'm not sure now. Still leaning towards it. I only need 12 levels of Bard with my FCB to get full inspire courage so I have room in Bard progression. Should have taken the advanced Template there as well then my AC wouldn't of been poop at first. The bard capstone Deadly Performance is good I mean Save or Die is nice, but doesn't fit Hadran. If I was some angel/god of Death then yeah killing them with Sorrow as you tell them their Sins would have been cool.
So Rednal if your cool with it, I will retrain the bard level to an Oracle level and take the hit in bard when we level to 3, If not no worries I made my call.
Question though as I forgot. I know you said with things like Half-Celestial we pay the full +3CR up front. Did we say that meant if taking the hit in one class you would level the other two for 3 levels then get the template or can we work to break the template up over 3 levels? Thanks, and stop hitting me, where have all your sucky rolls gone :(
If you're taking a CR +3 template, you have to pay for all levels before you get it. If you split it up over multiple levels, then yes, you'd only level one or two classes instead of three and basically have a gap until you leveled up again.
Retraining Bard to Oracle is fine - just note that you'll need to do it per standard rules on retraining classes (I've got a link if you need it).
I would, but I'm heading out. XD I'll be back later today.
That said, be careful about insulting foes. Sometimes their souls are indeed destined for an infernal journey... but the most focused souls tend to become devils, daemons, and demons in their own right... *Whistles innocently*
my profile is mostly set... the whole stat block is done; i just need to go through the process of cutting and pasting all of the feats and powers he has into it, and update his background.
given his background and current situation i took literally no gear (except a pair of leather breaches, i suppose), so that is not an error on my character sheet.
When you've got the time, please format your profile by using bolding in the appropriate area and organize your special abilities alphabetically. This makes a given power -much- easier to find when I'm glancing over things to reference them. ^^ Otherwise, it looks fine to me.
are you not ok with hiding the quick-reference bar in that spoiler? i think the only difference with my bar and this one is that i hadn't list touch and FF ACs but i'll fix that now...
i see what you mean with the bold- i'll add that, but probably not until later tonight...
ok, i think everything should be in order now! mechanically, at least... i still have some updates to make to my background, but I should be good to start playing whenever you want :)
Its cool, I'm going to Gainsville for a Fair, but we are not leaving till tomorrow morning and will be back Sunday, but Sunday I have RL game and then Super Bowl I tend to sometimes not post on the weekend. If we do it may only be once each so no biggie.
not sure where Grong is he may have got sick too. I'm fine if you want to move along to meeting back up with the caravan and heading to the city. We could continue the RP on the road.
I'm still here! The last statement just didn't seem like something that was going to elicit a response from Grond, so I was waiting/hoping for a GM post.
Lol- they've been buried in the talking... I said i was following Hadran carrying my end of the idol... His posts have us down to the bottom of the spiral staircase and we picked up an unconscious dwarf and Hadran's "friend"
yeah a couple post ago I stated what we were doing but it got lost in the dialog that followed. Pretty much walked down the stairs picked up the unconcious dwarf then tried to convince the charmed guy to come with us.
I'm confused by the battle sense, as written it is worse than uncanny dodge and your saying it replaces it? I have uncanny dodge already and it works even if the person is mythic and invisible and cost no mythic power to use. I don't see what the upside of this is. What am I missing?
1) It works against being caught by surprise. That's not very relevant against generic monster enemies, but when a powerful creature comes at you when you're not expecting it, you may find it to be a life-saver.
2) It's more effective against sneak attacks. Though, actually, I'm thinking about rewording that to "precision damage" so it encompasses more forms of attack...
3) It only replaces Uncanny Dodge while active. When it's not, you get the normal benefits of that power.
Uncanny Dodge prevents you from being caught flat-footed - it doesn't stop you from being surprised, nor from allowing the opponent to get off some actions (though you'd use normal AC instead of FF). More powerful foes, like those with two or more mythic tiers, will also have things like the Amazing Initiative power - so the one normal action of a surprise round could quickly become a number of actions before you could act (additional buffs, additional attacks with a powerful weapon, etc.).
There are definitely situations where Battlesense is the superior ability, and I wouldn't have given it to you if that wasn't the case - and the bits about "higher rank" won't actually come up very often. Most mythic foes you'll face will be the same tier (or lower), and those above you are unlikely to be the sneaky/flanky type.
For the record, Grond will not typically go on like this... He was in a rough mood already when you got to the temple and has never been humiliated like that before, so he's not handling it very well.
ah I get it now. I wasn't trying to complain, just trying to figure out what it did. I see now. So it stops surprise so if I'm walking into say a known ambush or an unknown one and its up I can't be surprised. Very good. Thanks for the clarification. :) Now off to bed as its way past my bedtime.
Grond has never used equipment before, or bought anything...
One of the things I like about this set up is that in his current state he pretty much has to learn to use them, which will actually result in him being more powerful than ever when he regains his power and is make use of magic items.
In the meantime though, he doesn't really have any idea what kind of things are even available much less what would be best for him... So any input Hadran wants to offer would be beneficial, otherwise I'm going to look through the cheap magic items and pick random stuff that seems like it might catch his eye (like feather tokens and stuff).
a little oblivious is fine, but you had followers are you saying they didn't creat items and fetishes, things like wands and tools and other magic things. It not like there were no civilizations and systems for trade and barter when you were a god. Using Iron and steal is something I can understand and may seem new to you but everything else should not be.
As far as availability goes... you're in Katheer. XD Let's just say that unless it's especially rare or unique, there's a good chance it's on the market here, though they do have a preference for shiny things. You're also in the desert, so truly natural items (like those made of wood) are a bit less common.
I guess you have a point there, he would have some basic idea of what magic items could do from his followers making them... But I do think things like feather tokens would be very in keeping with the kind of stuff they would have made... (Plus the stuff he would really want would be too expensive).
we should talk about the spending here. So the GP thread doesn't get jumbled up with it.
I will be upgrading my weapon through the Legendary Item so don't need anything there right now. I will be dual pathing at Tier 3 to Archmage and be using the force armor so probably not going to waste money in upgrading armor. I think a wand of CLW is a good purchase as we can both use it if one goes down even though we both have the spells as well. You don't want to make your AC that much higher yet or Rednal will murder us XD. Your saves our good like mine, well except for my will save XD but a cloak of resistance +1 is fine if you want. We also have a nice piece of jewlry that we were given incase we needed to offer a gift here in the city. I need to add that ot my sheet, I don't think Orithos had it listed. So maybe we hold the other 3000 and just get the cloak and the wand. We have javelin's but should get a couple for you and maybe a chakram each as well. If you want a greatsword thats cool just say so. technically my weapon needs to be magical to make it a Legendary Item so paying to unlock the hidden magic would be something I'm interested in. Would need 2300 as it needs Masterwork Transmutation or whatever that spell is first and then the 2000 grand to get magiced up to +1. Unless Rednal was cool with me just doing that through Ritual when I take legedary item and sacrificing the Gold required. I'm good either way.
Eh, go ahead and just do it through the ritual. XD The way I run them, legendary items don't need to be specifically enchanted when you first get them (and indeed, you might NOT want them to be - one of the powers you can take basically lets you upgrade them at half-cost, and that's a great value over time).
I'd like to take legendary item too with an amulet of mighty fists as the base item... That would eat up pretty much all the gold though, so I assumed that would have to wait... And yeah, I don't want to crank my AC too high either. A resist cloak would be handy (though I don't want to crank my saves up too fast either), and maybe some javelins and a 2hand reach weapon? CLW wand sounds great, and neither of us has access to the wiz/sor list so it might be worthwhile to grab a few potions if you can think of any good utility spells we don't have (or scrolls if you have a good UMD). and one feather token...
Left to his own devices Grond would return with a cloak of resistance fashioned from a boar's hide (with decorative head), a masterwork bardiche and half a dozen javelins with ammentum (all of which the dwarven smith really believed would increase his combat abilities), and a whip feather token (that an old witch informed him might save his life one day).
Let me know if you want to veto any of that, or add something to it. (Current total should be like 1720g)
I'm a bard and a bloodrager, though don't get a CL for bloodrage till level 4, so I have a lot of Sorc/Wiz spells I could cast off a wand as well but I'm good. Lets go with your purchases and the wand of CLW for a total of 2470gp. So with that we are ready to move on to the ritual whenever you are Rednal.
It's my birthday, so everyone gets a boon! You can choose from one of the following:
1) Emergency Heal: As a free action, restore yourself to full HP. One use.
2) Bag of Gold: It jingles and jangles - how much is inside?
3) Additional Spell Known: Expand your knowledge and learn something new.
my posting rate may be a little bit low for the next couple days... i just cut the tip of my left pointer finger off with an axe (I have it held back on with some sterile gauze and duct tape, and i'd give it about a 66% chance to heal back on, but typing this way is awkward and uncomfortable).
I'm going to be out of town until tomorrow night... I'll try to post in gameplay once today and once tomorrow, if internet availability and the flow of action allow.
