Cool. Wanted to understand how you'd like it to play before I tried anything in combat. :)
On the off chance that it's helpful, I'm keeping a log of post links on Kayosin's character sheet. It's a reference spot for me to be able to quickly go back and look at important posts that gave us information or quest/mission/lead details.
It's near the bottom in a spoiler titled "Important Posts, Objectives & Leads:".
It's fair game for public use. :)
Also, anything under 'maps' in campaign info is fair game as well. I'll try to keep all current relevant ones up in the title section, though.
I'm going to be at a con this weekend, and am not sure how much access I'll have. (Haven't checked if hotel internet is free.)
Back and largely recovered. Now to catch up on posts; you folks were pretty verbose, it seems.
The robe moves unnaturally as it seems strange things happen underneath.
O.O
The robe moves unnaturally as it seems strange things happen underneath.O.O
LOL! I was just thinking:
The robe moves unnaturally as it seems strange things happen underneath.O.O
The things that aren't seen are always more scary than the things that are.
I'm still alive, but wrk has gone crazy on me. NPC Kayosin until i can get my feet under me.
sorry, guys. i'm still engaged, though (when i can be)
I'm in New England and we've got a storm in-bound. I might lose internet and/or power. So if I don't post, you know the cause. Feel free to 'bot me as needed.
No problem. We're getting a smaller version here in Pittsburgh, so just hunker down and relax.
I'm waaaay out of practice at following multiopponent fights nominally spread over a couple of areas, so I'm really not sure who's where, and I seem to have missed posting a Round 3 action. Things are well enough in hand that I'll skip it, though--it's not like he would have done more than plink at one of the Hellknights. Vak doesn't exactly dish out the damage when he has to move more than 5' per round; I may want to rethink the whole TWF thing.
Sorry, I just got so excited!
As for the whole TWF thing. You still have some options. If you're willing to switch up your class choices, you could go Soulknife/Psychic Warrior.
That would allow you to pick up Hustle early, then Psionic Lion's Charge.
I'll give that some thought. OTOH, it may just take an attitude adjustment, to something more like a free-hand fighter I have in another campaign. One of the other characters is a half-orc thug rogue who fights with a greataxe, and another is an inquisitor with Precise Strike. My character uses his acrobatics and nimble steps to set up flanks for the other two; doesn't do a huge amount of damage himself (d6+4 with an as-yet nonmagical rapier), but the other two can dish out a lot of extra damage when flanking. That might be how I should approach fights.
Yea, TWF sounds so cool in theory. The practice is a bit off, though.
Once I get some practice in with that mapping program, things should be easier. I'll also try to keep things contained a bit more where there's no accurate map involved.
Everyone ready for Monday?
Well, you do have Ninja's one-off rebuild option. so if you're unhappy with your current set-up, you could do an overhaul to get him closer to what you want.
I'd ask this: what do you want Vak to do? It sounds like you want him to be a melee powerhouse, but have enough versatility to be useful/powerful when he can't get a full-attack in.
I'll think about it. At higher levels he'll have fighter feats like Weapon Specialization to boost damage, plus some soulknife goodies like Psychic Strike and maybe Alter Blade for versatility.
I was more talking about ways to help you feel like you're staying powerful even when you can't full-attack (which is one of the pain points of TWF).
You could do a version of Vak which is basically exactly what you have, only switching your class features and feat choices away from TWF and instead focus on a single-weapon combat style.
:: shrugs ::
Just trying to help you think around the problem.
I've played TWF specialists, and it's not easy - the rules are against you. Mostly because you'll need tons of feats to keep up the off hand, both for more attacks, and to balance the damage.
However, you've got what you need in the fighter and soulknife, fighter for feats, and soulknife (cutthroat) for...sneak attack.
The first rule I heard for TWF was back in DND 3rd, which stated TWF was for sneak attacks. And at 3rd, you'll get your first die of it. Now your light 1d6 weapons are 2d6 under a lot of circumstances. It really helps balance out the damage against 2-handed fighters (who don't even need a single feat to do that).
My specialist wouldn't fly, he was a Warblade (book of 9 swords) who dual wielded a pair of katana because he saw someone doing it in a book from the orient (of that world). I also calculated how it would work if I just took unarmed feats instead, and he did more with unarmed on 3 fewer feats. But I liked the theme, so...
Summary: TWF can be made to work, but it takes lots of feats to make it work well.
I've got a TWF ranger in another game with the DM, and he works pretty well...at least against his favored enemy. (Undead in Carrion Crown...what a concept, right?) The advantage there is that TWF gives him twice the number of chances to put that sweet favored enemy damage bonus hurt on something; against anything else, he'll go sword & board.
Braydon, you're getting absolutely shafted by the dice, man.
Ajerviskanis is withdrawing due to other commitments.
So, quick NPC option question: do you want Walthus and Figit/Scribbleface to go off with him or to hang around with you folks?
Don't know - still seems a bit crowded with just us six remaining. Aside from helpful hints and comic relief, I think we can handle the heavy lifting (assuming my rolls rise above the 2-3 range, at least).
Flail would be a good weapon for a frontliner.
I will use it if no one else does.
Cloak is useful to all. I hope someone can use the half-plate.
Fibek, go for it--at least a couple of the frontliners make their own weapons, and wouldn't necessarily be using anything else.
Re Ajerviskanis' withdrawal with the shorties, that works for me as long as we get whatever infodumps we need from them before they leave.
ETA: Ikshvaku is arguably worse off in the half-plate than in his chain shirt. 18 Dex + chain shirt is +8 armor and full speed, vs. +8 armor and reduced speed (and heavy ACP).
Oh and BTW, level up, 2-class folks!
Braydon isn't much on real life - he's only been out of a monastery about 5 times in his life, so expect him to ask things like "What do we do with the stuff/bodies/all this gold?".
Vak -> Agreed, half-plate is poison for anyone with a dex bonus. Fighters with good armor training can use it, but not for a while, and by then, we'll have found something better.
Ninja -> Yay!
Hit point roll: (1d10 for Soulknife)
Well, better than what I get on d20's anyhow!
Stray-ham (or not) & Kayosin -> Nice rolls!
All bumped up to 2nd. Not a lot of choices yet, so it's easy.
hey, excellent! I don't have time to really post right now, but I agree that sending the npc's along on their way is the thing to do (once we've been info-dumped upon, that is). :D
Oh yah, and HP's, while i'm thinking about it...
Strae is fully updated.
How'd I know that was going to happen?
Other stuff: I'm going to take advantage of the rewrite option and at least change his preferred weapon form & feats to two-handed weapon. Any thoughts on making him more of a standup/heavy armor type as well?
As soon as everyone is ready, we'll move on to the rest of this part of the quest.
NInja, did you see my PM about a slight rebuild? It was the option we had discussed earlier, and I wanted to knwo if you had any additional thoughts/feedback before I pulled the trigger.
Let me know, and – following that – i'll get Kayosin updated for level 2. :)
Ikshvaku is leveled up and modified. I switched to 2-H mind blade, switched his TWF feat to Power Attack, and unmodified his cutthroat archetype. For his L2 fighter bonus feat he took Cleave. His L2 blade skill is Evasion. All current skills incremented by 1. I didn't change around his stats at all, so I'm keeping him like all of the other combatants in the group--lightly armored and high-mobility.
Vak -> Ask Sumisu for extracts of Shield, if he goes for Infusion, only class that can 'give' that spell to another. Goes a good way to replacing the shield you'll lose.
Power attack for 2-handers is always useful, +3 damage for -1 hit, and it gets better/worse as BAB rises. Desirable because you'll lose weapon training.
With your dex, sticking to lighter armor until armor training gets you more Max Dex, and of course mithril is a good option for material to get max dex a bit faster.
I like the Armored blade variant for my 'now I'm armored, now I'm not' needs, and as written it allows you to call any of the three types (light medium or heavy). Useful for varying needs of speed vs. outright armor.
Just some ideas..
He gets some goodies from soulknife to compensate for losing weapon training, and the breadth of damage type options with mind blade also helps a lot. Any feats that improve his combat specifically with mind blade (weapon focus and successors) are effectively three feats in one. His missile combat will suffer, though.
Just a quick heads-up: We (me, hubby, and daughter) are going to Florida next week. We're leaving Sunday and will return Thursday. We'll be spending two days in Orlando (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) with a one day side trip to Tampa (Busch Gardens). We will be bringing sufficient electronics (daughter's laptop, my Galaxy Tab and my Kindle Fire) to keep up with the posts, but I will only be able to post in the late evenings and not at all on Sunday (April 7) or Thursday (April 11). 17 hour drives aren't conducive to that, for some reason. ;) I'll have everything I should need with me, so there shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Edit: corrected month: April, not May.
Sounds like a great trip. Have fun!
Yes, do enjoy the trip. I love a good road trip.
Well, take your time Spiral. I'm still here anyway.
How was the trip?
The trip was great but exhausting. No real disasters except that my daughter's laptop died (fan failed) and the hotel's WiFi made dial-up look fast. Not sure why, we've stayed there before without that issue.
So is pretty much everyone in the group stealth-capable? Meaning sporting a rank or two and possibly either a class class skill bonus or size bonus?
If so, would people be fine with everyone investing in Stealth Synergy feat? All is us rolling around with decent stealth mods and all using the best roll in the group could be awesome... and would mean we'd have less need of splitting up for scouting purposes. :)
Ikshvaku's got +9 Stealth in armor, so yeah.
Hey guys, sorry for my scant posts. Work and life are slamming me right now. Feel free to bot me as needed. I'll try to jump in when I can.
Totally OT Dragon!
Quick bit: We've lost Straehan. RL stuff. Do we want to recruit someone else or just keep what we've got for now?
What's the current roster? Kayosin, Vak, Sumisu, Goldilocks, Fiben, Braydon? Light on healing but still pretty good overall. Go for it, I'd say.
Sorry to see him go, but from what I can tell, he's making the best call for him these days.
As for team comp, all we lack is a blaster at this point, right? Which is helpful, but with this size a team, I think we can manage without. Who all do we have that can heal at all?