The Forgotten God (Table 2) (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

Just to confirm. This guy's CMD is 38? Because I only provoke if I fail to beat his cmd.

*Glances* Did you edit your post? XD; I think it expanded slightly when I was writing my own, and you seem to do that relatively often...

For some reason, my Reflex was 2 higher than it should've been, but it must've been an old miscalc.

Here is the breakdown. +6 Ref, +4 Divine, +6 Cha, +4 Class for +20 with an extra +3 Ref temporarily for a temporary +23.

Fort and Will are properly calculated.

Wait, this guy has a 31 AC?

How is that possible when I have had attacks that scored less hit?

Well, for one thing, his AC's fluctuated up and down quite a bit during this fight. Various effects and conditions, bluffs, etc., that are bringing it down - as well as abilities of his own that bring it up. Nothing particularly mysterious, just normal abilities and effects.

(Kind of the way Fes' AC went up after she made full attacks, though you may not have noticed that)

Yeah, but Fes was tough enough to basically be an end of book campaign boss, and you're throwing an even tougher fight at me now.

I mean seriously, this guy has something like +8 to hit over me regularly (after factoring in penalties from using a tower shield) +5 to my regular AC and even more HP. Like, wth? In fact, all of my enemies feel like I need to rolls 15s just to hit, and the harder ones I can't even hit on those!

Hell, I'm starting to dread even looking at the campaign page because every time I think I've cinched a fight with an impossible combo it turns out I ineffectually failed to do anything meaningful because my enemy has an impossibly high AC.

I'm feeling very frustrated at this point.

I'm glad you're actually willing to admit to frustration. I've also been a little bit frustrated, especially because I feel like you've been making many assumptions for quite some time now - and that you get upset with me when your assumptions (which are based on incorrect information from the start) turn out to be wrong. I am trying very hard to GM this game properly, but many of your comments and actions - up to and including flat-out ignoring my rulings because you don't like them - make me feel that you don't trust me to run the game.

You are not given challenges that you cannot overcome with your available resources (except in one very specific plot-relevant case, which this isn't) - but if you fail to utilize those resources properly, then yes, you can lose. You may even die. This is not an adventure path where you're expected to overcome everything for the sake of a pre-written story - if you lose, the expectation is simply that you'll look for a different way to achieve your goal. In other words, giving up is the only way you can truly lose, even if there are temporary setbacks along the way. If you can't stand the idea of failing and expect things to be softened enough that you can easily win with your first attempt at anything, then yes, you may continue to find yourself very frustrated when that doesn't happen.

Your character is a god, and your challenges dwarf those of lesser beings. Helping you deal with these challenges is why I've been doing things like giving you significantly more wealth by level - it's your preparations and creativity that ultimately decide your success.

Look. I'm not asking for Easy mode okay. But I do not like going into fights feeling haggard, desperate, and praying for 20s all the time. Because that's what I've been reduced to, I can barely put any thought into my actual character anymore because everything I've got is going into trying to figure out how I can possibly beat an encounter.

Easy Mode is I can make a character who can expect to hit most of his enemies on as low as a 5 because he's gamed up his to-hit. I've gamed up my to hit here and can't even manage to-hits on a 15. That's not just Not-Easy Mode.

So yes, I've questioned my enemies. Because when you run into a brick wall you didn't expect to be there, generally the first response is "Ow, wtf just happened?" Aside from them, the only thing I basically put my foot down over was 'falling' as a Paladin, because I generally expect such things to be settled between player and GM, not just handed down as an arbitrated decision. As I said earlier, I take personal issue with powerloss mechanics, and that instance was especially upsetting because I'd believed I'd established that as part of my decision to taking Paladin.

Do I trust you to run the game? Dude, I don't even know you. I trust my Wednesdays GM who I actually meet and talk with because we communicate, and when I have issues with his campaign, we work things out. You don't think I've had characters who haven't died? Or who haven't failed before? I have. But in all that time I've never ever felt or suspected he was setting me up to lose, even on tough encounters. Because those times were never typical, and when the worst ones came, it was only after he'd told us they were going to be tough and we/our party told him we were okay with that. I've tried to give you some trust, I think I've demonstrated that with the amount of creativity I have poured into this character. If I were not confident in this campaign I would certainly not have expended the effort. But you cannot seriously just throw me into the deep end and expect me to say nothing when I've gamed with you for barely four months.

So things are suppose to be tough in this campaign, I get that. But preparations and creativity are what should in my opinion, give me the edge to win, not be what is necessary just to 'keep up.' I would expect going into these fights that things could go either way - not feel so lopsidedly against me. My character might be a god, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. I don't have a party to fall back on when things get tough - there is no safety net, that alone hugely ramps up my difficulty before I've even fought anything, and no, as great as gestalting is, it does not make up for losing 4 party members. Greater WBL is nice I guess, but at this low level should you expect that's going to make a huge difference? My best item right now is just a measly +2 dagger. You might have called me twice as dangerous as the other players, but that distinction really belongs to the 2 in Table 1, since they have each other to rely on.

You want to know why I applied for this campaign? Because I was tired of rollplaying in my Wednesday games so much and wanted to actually roleplay my character.

But I feel like I've got my back against the wall so much all I have effort for is rollplaying again.

On the bright side, this is the last of the challenge fights, and you can expect the difficulty to drop significantly for awhile after this - unless the dice just roll exceptionally poorly, but that's always a possibility. o.O

However, I have noted your frustration - and I do still believe it's within your power to win this. ^^ In particular, I believe you still have the Staff of Minor Arcana, and his AC means exactly squat against Magic Missiles. Those flasks of Alchemist's Fire may also come in handy - electricity's a bad choice here (you'll see why in a bit), but other elements are fine to use as well. You have taken down most of his health, and all that's left is getting over that last bit.

Look, I'm not trying to be difficult for you here. I do want to make this work. All I'm asking for is a little leniency; that my enemies not have quite so high an AC and to-hit. Especially in an environment that is handicapping me by removing access to my most powerful class options.

*Awkward coughing* I figure they have to be pretty high if they're going to challenge you at all. You kill your foes waaaaaay too fast otherwise. XD As I said, though, you can expect things to drop off after this. This tournament is specifically meant to challenge you to your limits - the huge majority of events will not be doing that to you.

(Though it is surprising how much of a difference things can make - enemies are usually half-HP by level, but in this game, they're closer to two-thirds most of the time...)

Your definition of "challenging" is brutal man. I have fought less challenging enemies that were decried as overpowered party wipers compared to these enemies.

So, I'm looking to craft Celestial Armor here, but I want to make in out of a Breastplate instead of Chainmail. (and it seems to assume the base armor is mithral)

Just looking at the difference between it and Celestial Plate. It looks like the effect of the enchantment (aside from the +3 enhancement bonus) is to double the Max Dex of the base armor (from Plate it goes from +3 to +6, and from chain it goes from +4 to +8) - so I'd guess using a breast plate would alter it to +10 from +5 - And it seems to decrease the base SCF by 5% - there also appears to be no effect on ACP.

So I'm looking to make a +1 Twilight Celestial Breastplate (Twilight is a +1 enhancement effect, so the armor is +2) where the stats should be +7 armor bonus +10 max dex -1ACP and 0% SCF.

Is that okay?

Only problem is determining price. Since I'm knocking it down from a +3 to a +2 that lowers the price by 5k to 17,400gp. But if I crafted the base armor, would I subtract 4,150gp and add 1/3 of 4,200 from the breastplate?

Also-

2nd Tier Mythic
+5 HP
Amazing Initiative
+2 Stat Bonus (Dex)
Path Abilities
-Crafting Mastery
-??? (Undecided)

I'd rather not add 3.5-exclusive enchantments and abilities - harder to reference, and generally not carried over for a reason.

Pricing looks fine, though, if you're crafting the armor yourself - though I do want to see the crafting rolls, since that is a system mechanic. ^^

Can I use it though? I believe you okay'd it before.

It was mentioned, yes, and I suppose I should be consistent with my rulings. XD Yes, you may use the Twilight enchantment.

Fighter1 -> Paladin3:
Lose Bonus Feat (TWF)
Aura of Courage
Divine Health
Mercy (Sickened)

Cost:200gp/5days during the trip

Also, Sevia uses the time she spent on the boat to keep crafting her armor.

You said you wanted to look into a ship, not actually take it. XD;

Is there a second story to the Inn or any roof entrances?

It's only one floor, and there are no roof entrances. There are, however, windows - including two on the north (right) side, above the water, that you could enter through.

Incidentally, if you were wondering, you're in the middle of a PFS scenario right now. XD These are basically unmodified opponents - about where would you place them on the scale of the challenge you're looking for? Too easy, about right, something else? (I kind of doubt they're too difficult...)

They were fairly easy. The monk half orcs had some bite though. I could've used some better tactics if I took them more seriously but it seemed faster to just power through them.

Though, there might be other enemies to fight.

Unless you go a different route, of course - I'm trying to match levels to plot points, after all. I'm also considering switching to a simple 'let you know when to level' setup, but that wouldn't be fair to one-sidedly impose on players after starting with normal XP gain.

But yeah, in general, look for levels around the conclusion of events.

I'd be totally okay with this in our game! :)

I wouldn't say Gunslingers are appropriate period. They're a completely broken class imo.

Actually playing with one is quite a different experience.

I'm probably more dangerous just because I have greater system mastery and I'm willing to look endlessly over source materials to combo items/class abilities together. I once had a 4e character that specialized in basically destroying end level bosses by chaining item/class abilities to create a 5 attack nova that could easily do over 300 damage in one round at around level 15.

Eh, I deliberately made suboptimal choices with Hexy, as I thought the GM wanted that: I went in knowing she was extremely MAD (CHA-based, int-based, and WIS-based "casting" with dumped WIS (and traps instead of spells, but still reliant on WIS), with two DEX-based classes and a tanked DEX but moderate STR) with the idea of focusing more on RP than combat: I went for competence and rough survivability instead of power. I have learned that she is quite a bit too vulnerable at present, entirely unable to use her crafting abilities, and not quite "competent" enough, however, and am not entirely sure what to fix. I'm okay with it, but it can be hard to RP an invincible ancient creature from before time who gets punked by a few Stirges. Now I know how the Tarrasque feels! XD

As you noted, the loss of a party (and hence, of free action economy) makes a tremendous difference! O.o

Yes, but I could be playing a three-class mythic gestalt with levels in Gunslinger and just roflstomp everything I see.

Or Synthesis Summoner.

Or Witch with sleep Hex.

Again actual play has proven two of these less optimal than they seem on paper. :)

Gunslinger, and sleep witch are excellent in certain situations and with certain styles. At first and second level, however, I absolutely guarantee you'd be dead a few times over by now. Also, with a gunslinger, broke... and not in the OP sense! :D
EDIT: bullets are expensive! Of course with our crafting modifications, it actually might not be such a big deal... :)

Also: finally caught up. Took a little bit.

While I empathize with player-based frustration, simply reading the archives was actually quite entertaining and good. Hopefully there's solace in that!

Similarly, however, watching the thugs miss Sevia like she wasn't there is... pretty awesome! :D

Master Summoners are... quite interesting to play as. XD Like most casters, they're very powerful as long as their abilities last - but the limited use of Summoning Mastery means they'll eventually fall behind normal casters in their primary utility each day (and the weakened Eidolon is best as a scout/skill-monkey), though they'll stomp all over anything in their way if they have the time to prepare for combat.

And then you remember that you can summon more than one monster at once at higher levels, and there's this feat that lets you add another one each time you do... though, in terms of added powers and such, Summoners have basically no support whatsoever from Paizo aside from the odd "Worshipers of X can also summon this one additional creature!".

It's pretty nuts, yeah. But if you'd like me to switch to story-based levels on your table, Tactics, I'd be happy to. ^^

Gunslinger, and sleep witch are excellent in certain situations and with certain styles. At first and second level, however, I absolutely guarantee you'd be dead a few times over by now. Also, with a gunslinger, broke... and not in the OP sense! :D

EDIT: bullets are expensive! Of course with our crafting modifications, it actually might not be such a big deal... :)

Gunslingers do get to craft their ammunition at 1/10 its listed price, they're basically the class with the hugest potential for get rich quick schemes, so I don't see how you could go broke with them. Since you can make 4gp off every piece of ammo you craft then sell. You can craft a keg of black powder for 100gp in one day, and then sell it for half its listed price at 500gp for a 400gp profit.

Gunslinger even more broken out of combat than in combat.

As for sleepy witch, it probably wouldn't be OP for this campaign since you really need a party to make use of it. But I have seen plenty of end book bosses get chumped by a single poor will save.

The money thing assumes the GM wouldn't just say "Guns are too rare for ammo to mean anything and can't be sold - or so common that people buy real ammo from major manufacturers, not home-made stuff they can't trust". XD It's easy to keep that under control.

The money thing assumes the GM wouldn't just say "Guns are too rare for ammo to mean anything and can't be sold - or so common that people buy real ammo from major manufacturers, not home-made stuff they can't trust". XD It's easy to keep that under control.

Well I mean, of course it is. GM fiat is a thing.

What I'm saying is, the devs wrote that RAW that you can craft and sell 400gp worth of gunpowder in a day. Like, the hell?

At the very least though, crafting ammo for a gun ain't expensive.

"In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round." It's one or the other unless you have an ability permitting both. If you attack after moving in a surprise round, I'll be counting that as the first normal round.

Also, this is relevant. It's kind of late here, so I'll reply - and try to sort through the math - tomorrow.

"In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round." It's one or the other unless you have an ability permitting both. If you attack after moving in a surprise round, I'll be counting that as the first normal round.

Bandit Archetype

At 4th level, a bandit becomes fully practiced in the art of ambushing. When she acts in the surprise round, she can take a move action, standard action, and swift action during the surprise round, not just a move or standard action.

This ability replaces uncanny dodge.

Also, this is relevant. It's kind of late here, so I'll reply - and try to sort through the math - tomorrow.

Wow, what? That is just...super lame.

As if Rogues needed to be even worse? What a stupid ruling.

Super glad I am going Shadow Dancer. Flanking buddies for life.

That... is an unfortunate ruling. :/

Short version: If you're attacking multiple foes from invisibility, you sneak-attack the first foe, but not all the others.

Looking at it from this end, I think I understand that design choice. Otherwise, if Sevia bought, say, a Ring of Invisibility, she could essentially turn invisible for free, then always get full sneak attack damage (from multiple strikes) against any foe who couldn't see invisible enemies (which is most of them), and be even harder for anyone to ever have a chance of hitting. That would be... a significant force multiplier. This is a high-powered game, but I'd have to do quite a lot of adjusting to maintain the challenge level if that occurred... and it probably wouldn't be as fun by the time I was finished.

KILL THE SPECTER, KILL IT, KILL IT WITH FIRE (or something), AND KILL IT WITHIN 1d4 ROUNDS BEFORE ITS SPAWN ARRIVES!!!!!!!!1!1!1!1!one!one! O.o

Looking at it from this end, I think I understand that design choice. Otherwise, if Sevia bought, say, a Ring of Invisibility, she could essentially turn invisible for free, then always get full sneak attack damage (from multiple strikes) against any foe who couldn't see invisible enemies (which is most of them), and be even harder for anyone to ever have a chance of hitting. That would be... a significant force multiplier. This is a high-powered game, but I'd have to do quite a lot of adjusting to maintain the challenge level if that occurred... and it probably wouldn't be as fun by the time I was finished.

Using a Ring of Invisibility is a standard (Command Word) action, so you're essentially giving up a whole round to get sneak attacks every other turn. And even if it were a free action, it isn't broken in the slightest - we ran Command Words as free actions in my Kingmaker campaign, and the Rogue didn't even have close to the DPR of an Archer Ranger or a Mounted Combat Cavalier.

Of course, Pathfinder could've just used 2E Backstab mechanics, where you get a huge crit multiplier on damage for 1 attack per baddie instead of extra damage dice. That way Rogues aren't constantly worried about getting flanking or FF enemies.

By the way, should I mention that Sevia will have access to Greater Invisibility at 10th level?

Mm-hmm. ^^

Note: Don't expect a Greater Invisibility + Multiple Sneak Attacks round-after-round strategy to work on bosses. Your victories would be far too easy if you could do that every time. XD I want you to know that ahead of time so you won't be caught unprepared if (and when) that strategy turns out to not work for you.

I don't suppose it's possible to steal a ship is it?

I wouldn't recommend it (by which I mean "the chance of success for stealing a ship out of the Imperial Naval Shipyards is zero unless you're particularly creative in how you go about it, in which case it might be a realistic option"). Aside from the problems with your alignment (and no, I don't mean just the Paladin's code), exiting vessels are thoroughly examined by very well-trained, well-paid men who want to be certain that neither ships nor trade goods are being smuggled out. Taldor takes its naval power seriously.

So what happens to the ship if its captain and crew are dead?

Also: Did that note mention the woman's name? And if not, did the manifest at least mention it?

Neither the note nor the manifest had the woman's name.

As for ships whose owners are dead, they'll generally just be handed over to the legal heir (and if there isn't one, the government will seize the vessel and either auction it off or put it into service).

Did the note not say anything substantial? Like what the map was for?

The map was for finding the person who wrote the note. ^^ After all, it's hard to have a romantic rendezvous when you don't know where to find each other.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Why did he stop talking?

Because he's suspicious and it sounded like a good point for you to do whatever you were going to do (lie to his face, steal the lady's identity and take over the cult, murder everyone, etc.).

The undead are Huecuva.

You need to make a concentration check to cast the spell defensively DC 22 for Invisibility Purge (to avoid provoking an attack of opportunity). If you don't, you'll need to make one when I hit you with an AoO DC 33.

Also, just to be clear, unless the henchmen beat me on Initiative (which I doubt) they were able to get all the way down the stairs in one turn?

Concentration: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30

And yes, they were able to reach the door.

I'll do the same everything, but instead of casting Hold Portal, I'll cast glitterdust with mythic power instead - saving throws for the 3 undead, Darilio, and the druids if the are within 20ft of Darilio. If Darilio fails his save, he takes the sneak attack, if he makes it, he just takes 10 damage instead.

Casting Defensively: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 9 + 2 = 19 vs DC 19

edit:I'll 5ft back before I put on my mask.

Will (Darilio): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28
Will (Huecava): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Will (Huecava): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Will (Huecava): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

I think I'll call that two saves and two fails... AoO will come in the main thread.

Just realized, but I can 5ft away to avoid drawing AoOs

Please remember to do that BEFORE I'm rolling everything up and calculating all of the results. XD; It actually takes a lot of time to go and change everything, then recalculate it all.

Well, I did remember that like...8-10 mins after I posted that. Pretty quick there.

But yeah, sorry about that.

edit:

By the way, just in case there is any other confusion.

Order of things:

Swift: Glitterdust
Standard: Attack
5ft back
Move: Mask.

The undead were blinded and thus lose their dex bonus.

I can see through the darkness just fine (as can the zombies) but what about the cleric?