The Reaping Stone

Game Master Macharius

Stupid work, that is what keeps stealing my time. If I ever catch work in a dark alley, it is in for a serious whooping.

Any chance us as a group have trained together so we could have a common language? I will have the tongues curse so I can only speak one these in battle: Abyssal, Aklo, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Ignan, Infernal, or Terran.

I was thinking celestial, but I also know we have an ignan and an aquan speaker already.

I have Aquan. I do not mind dumping a point into Linguistics to take Ignan. Since we are all Sarenrae worshippers, Ignan makes sense.

Katie is done with gear:
187.5gp each is the share for the CLW wand.
I bought 6 holy water vials, but expect them to go fast. If anyone has extra money, a few extra as backup should help.
Question is should I brew anyone some enlarge person potions at 25gp each?

As an archer, enlarge does not help. That is why I have Gravity Bow. I plan on being the buffing sorcerer when I get high enough level. Of course I will be a few levels behind between dipping and AA.

Ok, I think that I am set. Sheet updated. Working on my background.

I'll take 2 of those enlarge person potions

I believe I have finished or am pretty darn close. Will review again tomorrow as well to make sure I didn't make too many sleepy mistakes.

Rulgha is a monk trained barbarian that is blessed by Sarenrae in battle.
Taught control and patience he can choose not to rage as normal and control his rage bolstering his physical abilities as needed. He fights in an aggressive but careful way keeping himself safe from hits as needed.

With his trait morale bonuses last 1d4 rounds longer for him. So that covers either bardic/spell morale buffs but also his rages and some other abilities he can get. If he normal rages and falls below zero the trait will allow him to stay alive hopefully long enough to get healed and survive.

Were starting!!!

Enlarge is only of benefit to our lizardy-friend.

The Sylph and Ifrit are outsiders, not humanoids, after all. (Though the Ifrit SLA of enlarge/reduce works on other ifrit -- the wording makes me question whether it can be used on one's self..)

It is worded like the Genie ability which I think is it is indicating it works on other ifrits as well as humanoids

Also, @GM -- any problem, thematically, with the "iron" holy symbols Naraj bought being actually made of bronze? It's more his style.

Also, @GM -- any problem, thematically, with the "iron" holy symbols Naraj bought being actually made of bronze? It's more his style.

Nope

Ordered the pathfinder adventure card game on Amazon for $40 with shipping.

Reviews looked good. Amazon beats paizo for price.

Nice maps. We wouldn't need to use this map, would we?

Enlarge as a standard SLA is nice. Add a 18 dex and combat reflexes with a reach weapon. Oh, that is our paladin in RA!

Naraj - I dropped the Slyph when I switched to the wisdom based classes. Now I am a Undine. Still elemental, just a little wetter.

Right, I knew that. Originally, you were going to by a Sylph and *I* was going to be the Undine. :)

sacred summons

Prerequisites: Aura class feature, ability to cast summon monster.

Benefit: When using summon monster to summon creatures whose alignment subtype or subtypes exactly match your aura, you may cast the spell as a standard action instead of with a casting time of 1 round.

found another std round summoning trick

Doesn't that mean everything - I mean, when you pull a "non-aligned" thing off the list, it gets the Celestial, Fiendish, Resolute or Entropic template added, making it match your alignment aura?

Yeh, I was trying to figure that one out. The Collegiate Arcanist gets the following abilities:

Virtuous Spells (Su)

At 2nd level, a Collegiate arcanist casts spells with the good descriptor at +1 caster level. To prepare a spell with the evil descriptor, she must use two spell slots of that spell level to prepare the spell.

Lasting Goodness (Su)

At 3rd level, all of a Collegiate arcanist's spells with the good descriptor have their durations extended by a number of rounds equal to her class level. A spell with a duration of concentration, instantaneous, or permanent isn't affected by this ability.

This does not seem that interesting, until you suddenly realize that most summons end up having the "Good" descriptor if one is good aligned, which is a requirement for the PrC. As a result, any wizard who takes this can have all his summons extended by many rounds.

That totally works -- the rules clearly state that summon monster gains the descriptor, So wow -- that's a pretty snazzy prestige class, really. (Especially for wizards, since you don't lose hexes or anything for taking it)

Well, sacred summons is powerful, but there are things that make it not All-powerful. The celestial and fiendish templates give creatures and alignment, but not a subtype, so they don't help.

Curiously, your aura is that of your diety, not you. So you have some options depending on your alignment.

Looking at the summoning charts, it pays to be evil as they have about nine monsters to use at CE and LE (devils and demons) but only the level 5 salamander for NE. The lawful good alignment can do the archons at levels 3,4,9--chaotic good can pull off creatures at 5,6,9--poor NG can only do the level 9 astral deva.

So, I say you build it into a cleric build to take at level 5 for a LG deity cleric if standard action summons are allowed. I have a hard time feeling overpowered as cleric, though saving people from death is quite awesome.

For a lawful evil deity worshipping cleric you can take it at level 3 and use it at to find a creature on all the charts but the level 1 and 3 charts.

Huh -- I hadn't realized taht -- means you can't smite fiendish summons.

That *does* reduce the power -- although, really, once you can *get* lantern archons, they're *very* useful -- ranged touch ray that bypasses DR and spell aid.

Also, wouldn't a neutral good, who only has a *good* aura, match *all* LG and CG summons (the archons *and* the azata) -- since they all also have the (good) subtype?

However, on the plus side -- the prestige class still totally works, since the alignment of (*) marked creatures matches yours, and the spell gains that alignment type -- so for the PrC, all summon monster spells are (good) for an NG caster, for example.

20% adjacent 50% at 2+ miss chance in cloud?

Huh. I'd originally interpreted it as concealment was from inside, but the wording says "within 5 feet" - which leads me to reconsider my initial conclusion.

Ready to go quickly. Goo wears off, Naraj healed, Katie is saddled and riding the dog.

For those of you who've been gaming for a long time, the Swords & Wizardry 0E OSR Complete Rules are now a free download. For people like me that never saw D&D until the 90s, it's pretty neat seeing the much earlier rules (however modified/reflavored). I know Rulgha likes that stuff since he's a fan of DCC.

I still have all my AD&D and 2nd Ed books. Also have the pink Basic D&D. Never really got into any other system, although I played a little Gang Busters, Star Frontiers, Boot Hill and Gamma World - all the other TSR games that they published in the early 80s.

My box-sets (of which I used to have the whole lot, BECMI) are no longer with me, but I do still have my AD&D 1e hard covers (as well as 2e), for that matter -- they're on the shelf next to my Shadowrun (2e-4e), 'Mechwarrior (2e), Earthdawn (original and "Classic"), Star Wars (d6, West End Games) and Vampire stuff. (Ok, so, it's more than one shelf... and if I ever need to put away my PF books, I'll be needing to reshuffle and rebalance a lot of things again..)

I played the old versions of Gamma World and Star Frontiers, and even played (and bought) both the basic and advanced version of Marvel SuperHeroes (another TSR former property that has also been redone in open-source as FASERIP) -- though I don't have any of that stuff anymore, either.

It might be interesting to take a look, though, based on the pedigree they're talking about, this isn't the game from 20 years ago -- I was playing then, and that was 2e, or even 30 years ago (it was 1e) -- this is the game from darn near *40* years ago.

I'd be especially interested to see how many things that still irk me in the rules are essentially ancient artefacts from the past. :)

I just downloaded it, awesome!

We stuck to mostly fantasy games in the past, but I do still have my Doctor Who Role Playing game from FASA. I have most of my old modules, box sets, and rule books from those days, though some of them have been lost due to heavy use.

I'd be especially interested to see how many things that still irk me in the rules are essentially ancient artefacts from the past. :)

I'm probably the least-qualified to answer this question for you! I was first exposed to 2E in the mid/late 90s, but didn't really get into things until 3.5/Pathfinder so I really don't know what playing in the earlier editions was like. It makes me want to start a game with S&W. Rulgha, I have the PDF for Rappan Athuk in S&W as well if you're interested in comparing it with Pathfinder.

After my home game of Way of the Wicked is over I am thinking about doing the Rappan Athuk SW game but with DCC. We have a ways to go yet, but I would like to do something along those lines.

I'm also thinking about doing a home brew with an E6 or E7 type game then adding some mythic levels later for truely big dangerous fights!

As a note, I will be at CarnageCon this weekend, so my posting is likely to be light.

I have the old school Baba Yaga's hut for levels 5-20 (quite a spread). Thinking of running that or....

I am still kicking around my idea to make a game somewhat immune to drops and lack of posting. Unfortunately my interest check came up with a big zero.

I have been rethinking my character. I love the idea of the Zen Archer, but after playing one all weekend at CarnageCon, have come to the opinion that they are overpowered and very mono-focussed.

As I am the arcanist of the team, I am planning on staying with the Celestial(empyreal) sorcerer using Wisdom instead of Charisma. But am trying to figure what to do with the rest of the character. Options are straight Sorc in one line and Monk in the other, or monk/inquisitor in the other, or monk/druid, or monk cleric.

Pretty sure that the cleric is out, but will have to decide on the others. Any other thoughts are welcome. I hope that I am not too late to switch things up. I do not think that it will effect things much at this point.

First, I like zen archers--my only PFS character is one. They can shoot arrows and shoot them well. They get useful feats to do this in place of less useful monk feats. It is a neat (and not fully known) fact that they can select stunning fist when they qualify for it normally when their BaB reaches +8. When they access their ki pool they shine even more.

I would stick with zen archer and empyreal sorcerer for the duration with only the one level dip in ranger to ensure you can handle magic traps. There are many who claim monks are lame--so it is interesting you say that zen archers are overpowered.

I just find it interesting that in PFS play there are flying bad guys and I don't care. Others do, but I don't.

No, I understand. It is mostly that I just feel like the one trick pony of the crew. Stand back and unload damage while everyone else attacks. Mind you it is massive damage when I am using Gravity Bow, which gets even worse if I have some large or huge arrows and have Enlarge Person or something similar, Giant Form, etc.

The alternative would be something like a Sorc/Druid (with perhaps 2 monk levels to gain the AC boost and a few defensive feats.) This would set up great for Spell Focus/Augment Summoning and would provide a lot of additional divine casting that we are rather weak on.

Katie gets divine at 4--so jumping to Druid at 3 is not as good as pushing sorceror monk in my opinion. With sorceror buffs and defensive spells--mage armor, owls wisdom, mirror image, haste, gravity bow and Zen archer we are set. Plus Rulgha is going oracle.

We have no squishies!

My only PFS character was going towards Arcane Archer before I realized I don't enjoy PFS. I agree that, functionally, that type of character is a one-trick pony. Consensus on the Advice/General Discussion portions of the website is that monks are lame - EXCEPT for the Zen Archer.

I'll leave it up to the other players to debate what combination of classes will best synergize with the party, but the concept of monk/inquisitor is the one that most appeals to me of the options you listed as being considered.

Otherwise, my apologies for not getting a post up last night as I'd desired. We're having company stay with us this coming weekend and our guest room was still in a shambles from the house projects this summer so we spent all evening cleaning up - and then my son (who turned 2 on Monday) started waking up every hour through the night because, it turns out, he has an ear infection in both ears that the doctor said rates a 9/10 for puffy, swollen, and painful. Mama and papa didn't get a lot of sleep last night, either....

Ouch, hope the little one gets better. Both my little ones have had nasty ear infections, I think it is a right of passage for parents. They are no fun at all.

Ask for the pink stuff amoxycillin?

Yup, he got amoxycillin.

Wow, that sounds unpleasant, Horror.

And, Miraji, I get the whole "one-trick-pony" thing -- though, at the same time, you're insanely *good* at that one trick as a Zen Archer. However, it's totally up to you in terms of what you'd be looking at -- keeping the other classes and building an inquistor-archer can certainly work rather well. (Unless the nice GM will let you Bane your hands later, I'm not sure how well "normal" monk / inquisitor would synergize)

The only this is that I am your arcane caster. Thus, I need to stick with sorcerer/witch/wizard on one of my levels. With the Celestial(empyreal) bloodline, I get to use wisdom instead of Int/Cha. This meshes perfectly with Monk, Druid, Inquisitor or Cleric. Personally, I find clerics to be pretty boring. Druids are a blast, but as had been said, do we need another divine caster.

I think that in the end, I will stick with the Zen Archer/Celestial. I will take the single level of Ranger unless someone else wants to take a single level dip into Trapper/Rogue/Archeologist/Crypt Breaker/whateverelsehastrapfinding. I might or might not take a single level of Cleric(Divine Tactician) as the acting in the surprise round is sweet and it would allow me to use any wands between cleric and sorcerer.

Ok, I think that I finally figured what to do.

There is an archetype that I have never seen before for the Sorcerer. It is the Seeker. It gives me Trapfinding (in place of Eschew Materials).

So, here is my plan. Drop the ranger entirely. Switch to Sorcerer(Seeker)(Celestial(Empyreal) Bloodline) 2/Monk(Zen Archer) 2.

I will drop Dodge as a feat, switch Point Blank Shot from Level 1 to my level 2 Monk Bonus Feat. And then take False Focus as my level 1 feat. This is effectively Eschew Materials, only better as it can replace materials with values up to 100 gp depending on the value of the holy symbol I have.

I will also drop the alternate racial ability and take the Energy Resistance (cold) since I am going to loose my level 3 bloodline ability by taking the Seeker archetype

The way I look at it, I get an extra level of sorcerer this way so that I am a full sorcerer with some decent archery skills. This also gives us the Trapfinding that we need and since I will be sticking with Sorcerer as a class for at least 10 levels (depending on whether I jump to Arcane Archer at some point), I will get the leveling bonus for the Trapfinding this way, something that I would not get with a single level dip into Ranger.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

As an FYI - I will be on vacation for the next week. I should have internet access most days, but will be unlikely to post other than in the early morning and late evening. Occasional posting by phone is possible, but it will be minimal.

Friends,

My most sincere apologies for my unannounced and extended period of inactivity in this and all our other shared games. I can only plead the excuse of end-of-semester projects and final exam preparation for my classes on top of my work scheduling actually becoming filled with work. I have a 7-week break until the spring semester begins, but even filled with Christmas and New Year's holidays I will be much more active. I should mention as well that I am only taking one class in the spring, so that I have more time to dedicate to doing well in that one class and finding a new job (a process now in its fourth year...). I will therefore have more time to fulfill all of my obligations both existing (family, work, pbp games) and future (job search).

Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

No problem, RL has rudely pick up for me as well. We know you are still around.

It's all good -- RL can be pesky and dumb sometimes. ;)

It's past time to get this dog and pony show back on the road! Proceeding...