Sorry guys, meant to have this here already :) By the way,
My name is Marty
Just seemed weird having everyone call the "The Island DM' lol
I got the 14 initiative from +3 Dex, +2 Trait, +4 feat, +4 familiar and +1 from the cracked dusty rose prism item.
As for the Tiefling stuff, they're alternative racial stuff, so instead of the tiefling bluff/steath bonus, I took the fly bonus, and Prehensile Tail in place of Tiefling Sorcery. They're not so much traits as they are alternative racial bonuses that are used so people don't have part that are basically worthless to their character. I'll clear that up.
So it's looking like we are mostly Team Caster! In light of so many casters being in the group, I'm considering actually steering Ekembe more into Ranger rather than my initial plan of taking him mainly through Witch levels.
Thoughts on this?
@ Marty: If I were to steer into Ranger, could I get a different feat at 3rd Ranger level since I took Endurance as a feat already?
Also, this an excellent fight =)
Well, my dino doesn't have a fricken' laser beam attached to it's fricken' head, but I think a temporary firey gaze of doom will work just as well.
And yeah, it really is a pretty great fight.
had some code wrong for familiar, fixed, and thanks.
So, are we likely to have time for magic crafting?
I would assume so, I don't think we'll be all go all the time.
def time for crafting... As long as you guys stick together this campaign will last a LONG time; through lvl 20
Plenty of 'down' time in the future... :)
@Ekembe: Yes; that only makes sense, we'll talk about which feat, may die hard; toughness; or something else
DM - Would you be willing to work with me on specialty alchemy items in the future? Like augmenting the damage of Alchemists Fire (with appropriate gold cost increases, of course), and other items?
For sure jacen, also otiven, i wanted u all to place urselves but no worries ill update ur position on next dm post.
@delisar; youved used burning gaze last round, ur using it agaon a second time correct?
It's a standard action effect that the target gets for 1 round/level- so for the next 4(3 after this one) rounds, Venser can take a standard action to use it. So I don't need to cast the spell again.
Here's a link to the spell if you want to look it over.
I checked it out, all is great! Although for future reference; lets only use Paizo Spells; no 3rd party stuff OK?
@Rowan. Hey, I don't think Flaming sphere can move after its touched an opponent. Whether it was cast in their space or not...
I checked it out, all is great! Although for future reference; lets only use Paizo Spells; no 3rd party stuff OK?
Maybe I read your post wrong, but Burning Gaze is a Paizo spell. Advanced Player's Guide.
ya, I was just saying before it did become a problem is all. :)
I messed up not doing that earlier. I honestly didn't want any ability scores over 20; but without saying so, Delisar used most of his points in Int. effectivly making his lvl 1 spells have a resistance DC of 19 or so... Not very fair in my book, but given his back story it kinda makes sense; its not like its "Over Powered" really because the rest of his scores are horrible. lol;
All is well guys! Thanks for double checking me though Jacen
Bah! I'm a busybody and part-time DM, so I tend to double check everything when I am bored at work.
All this discussion helped me realize I'd forgotten to stat out Ekembe's familiar in his profile. So in addition to fleshing out a detailed listing of his skills, Otrimi now has a spoiler of his own as well.
With shifting my focus from Witch to Ranger, would it be ok if I retconn'd a ranger archetype into Ekembe? I'm looking at Skirmisher, frankly because I don't feel like hassling with parallel spell lists. =P The skirmisher archetype only gives up ranger spell casting, so it wouldn't replace or change anything I have already.
And regarding a replacement feat for Endurance, what about Skill Focus(Survival)?
One thing I haven't been able to find an answer on...
If my familiar has 3 effective HD, does he still only have the original 2 skill points of an animal (modified by INT)? Did he get another feat at 3rd?
so why the one and not the other? I can't find a rule as written for either.
All I can find is that they have HD effectively equal to the wizard. That any HD affects are based off this HD and not their real HD. That they don't advance as a normal animal, and that if they stop being a familiar they lose the bonuses from being a familiar (magical beast, improved natural armor, Int).
So if feats and skill points are based on HD, then why one and not the other? Obviously, if they stopped being a familiar they would lose both.
Just seems that as a wizard gets higher leveled, their familiar starts becoming a liability, or reduced in effectiveness.
Just curious, this is coming up in a couple of the table tops I am playing.
Eidolons get feats primarily because the summoner isn't a full spellcaster. As a result, they use their Eidolon to help, alongside having the full Summon Monster suite as SLAs.
Familiars do get a couple feats, though they're set. They're not supposed to be powerful, particularly in comparison to Eidolons.
As for liabilities- they can be, but at the same time, they are also useful tools, especially if you take one of the level 7 improved familiar. Use them to drop alchemists fire to set up pyrotechnics, have them cast wands, use them to scout.
They're not powerful, but they have a lot of utility in them, if you're creative enough in using them. Which can make them just as powerful- they help the wizard's action economy, which is really why they're quite good over a bonded item.
Here are the rules for familiars, and here are the rules for Eidolons
I say the skill focus is fine, as far as the archtype goes, when u level up, In ranger, thats when it should take effect. that way you dont just gain/lose abilities out of nowhere. I think thats fair :)
Awesome. The archetype only kicks in at level 4, when a Ranger would normally get spells, so no real changes until I hit Ranger 4 (i.e. at least 2 levels from now).
But again, awesome. Thanks, Marty!
was curious about familiar skill ranks and feats since my wizard in a table top is about ready to upgrade an improved familiar. but the gm is telling me that the smarter the familiar, the more independent it's likely to be (and not follow instructions it doesn't like). then he's trying to handicap what it can do to basically make it a flavored treat that permanently hides in a pocket.
Sounds like a problem with your GM.
As a GM, I had a wizard with an Ice Mephit familiar that delivered touch spells, flew around naked to distract guards, squeezed under gaps in doors to unlatch them from the other side, acted as a wand cannon, and everything in between.
Rules don't change for improved familiars except for 1- they don't change if their creature type is something other than animal and 2- they don't gain the ability to communicate with others of their own kind if they can't communicate already.
In the end, you are within 1 step of the creature's required alignment, as long as the action that they do falls in that alignment, they should not disobey. But if your familiar is say, a Cassisian and you try and get it to drop a flask of alchemists fire onto an angel, it'll probably disobey.
Basically, they follow your orders unless it goes totally against the creature's alignment.
Ya, your DM doesn't sound to nice :)
Otiven; yes you can take boon companion, when its time to choose another feat, no ret-conning it plz.. 4 extra levels of Evolution points doesn't sound to fair though with only a feat. So we'll do just as you said,
Waiting a few hours for Miggen to post; I wasn't able to get on the site yesterday hardly at all... Or I'd had answer these questions earlier, it kept saying the site was overloaded....
Are we using the fast, medium, or slow xp track?
Thats wat i was thinkin top Otiven, and fast xp path of course
You just had to choose a language Delisar can't speak didn't you Rowan?
Just an FYI, I am moving on Monday, so will be without regular internet until probably Wednesday. If you need to DMPC Jacen before then, feel free.
Im moving as well throughout the week until friday, will be posting from my phone, sorry in advance for spelling and grammer mistakes lol
weren't we given an additional 2k in gold for signing up?
Yes we were.
Im sorry you guy, i moved an its been hard to get internet i want. Im up an goin again. I apologize dearly.
Yay! Everything moved in and internet connected. I feel like an addict just finished with the DTs and now getting hooked all over again!
Hero points everyone know how they work? Everyone starts with 3. Jacen, one can be usex to reroll any roll below 3, or add 8 to a roll before its rollex or 4 to a roll after its rolled.
I'll read up on them. Guess I'll use it for the next round...assuming I get one o_0
Yes, everyone starts with 3
Some insight on ship-handling. Even during rough weather, people need to be on deck, otherwise the ship is more than likely to capsize. If a sea anchor was deployed, then the number of people needed on top is greatly reduced.
Generally, anyone stuck with deck duty gets tied to their station (historically sailors often did not know how to swim). At the least would be someone at the wheel/rudder, and someone near the bow as lookout. If there is no sea anchor, then a minimal amount of sail would need to be maintained to try and keep the bow riding a few degrees off of directly into the wind, or the ship may have more sails on and be riding directly away from the wind, trying to outrun the storm.
Riding into the storm generally kept a ship closer to its desired course but was more dangerous as the risk of capsizing was dependent on the helmsman keeping the ship riding into the storm.
Running before the storm was the safest option, but required the most staff on deck and was most likely to have a ship a long ways off course, especially with larger, longer lasting storms.
A sea anchor was a piece of cloth, generally sewn into a cone shape with the tip cut off. Rope was attached to the larger open end and it was tossed overboard, tied to the bow (usually) or stern. Since the surface waves were pushed by the storm, the sea anchor would sink below the waves and the ship would be pushed by the wind and surface waves behind the anchor. This kept the bow pointed into the storm, but reduced the number of people needed on top to just one or two as lookouts. It was also the easiest way to make sure you didn't move to far from where you were before the storm.
Sea anchors are still used today, especially in sailboats, and nearly all emergency life boats.
Interesting, i hadnt don as much research as id liked to have done. Well say this storm sounded worse than it really was :) ill keepthat in mind and do some more indepth research forthe next sail time, i dont wanna get outta hand with checks and waht not. For sake of moving on, something i dnt like to do, the worst of the storm lasted 10 hours, its nearly midnight when the rain ceases to be heard uptop. Sorry for the dull moment there guys, lets go! The characters/players make the story :)
Given that the main propulsion seemed to be some gnomish device, it is not unreasonable for that, in conjunction with below deck steering to keep the ship pointed into the storm.
Thats how i was lookin at it, magic steered the ship more than anything. Let me kno what youall did while the storm was on, or i can fast forward to the morning if everyone jus went to sleep.
Meh, by my read the movement onto the deck was pre-combat, but whatever floats your boat, lol.
DM, are you going to allow reassignment of initiative boosting traits as well? How are you determining our initiative against our opponents? Thanks.
Yes reassign inti traits, as far as how i determine, unless they surprise you or there is a story arc reason you guys almost always go first. In some cases you wont, bjt you are safe to assume in most situations the party will go first.
Now haste, Jacen could you elaborate
So can I replace Improved Initiative as well, if we're reassigning ini-traits?