The Thaleniel Throne

Game Master GM Netherfire

GSheet updated to reflect stats changes.

I'll post this now before you guys even touch the tower:

At this point in the adventure, your icon's placement in DungeonGrid is very important. Please be attentive to your character's placement. I will not be inclined to "erase" damage dealt because your character's position was not updated. In my opinion, the pace of the game allows ample time to log onto DG and drag your icon(s) around. In the case of new map, I will place your characters in a likely formation (based on your play style so far), but you are free to adjust that starting position as you see fit.

If you have trouble with DG at the time of posting, please say so in /ooc.

Most of you are on top of it already, and that is super helpful! Keep doing what you're doing! Just consider this a friendly reminder, and encouragement to continue your non-metagaming habits.

Read: there may or may not be traps or area effects coming up, and who it affects might matter!

Heh, silly non-rogues and their lack of trap-spotting skills.

;p

Will do, Nether.

Is it within the rule to allow Themp to ride on Nme'an's back?

Hey, as long as it's not the other way around, I'm game

"Pardon me..."

Hit Points: 8d8 + 1 ⇒ (7, 4, 8, 6, 1, 2, 6, 8) + 1 = 43
Eidolon Hit Points: 8d10 ⇒ (1, 10, 7, 9, 8, 4, 6, 7) = 52

Tonight Beorn (pronounced Bee + ornament - ament) and myself (pronounced Ra + ga + shingle - le + go) into a fiercely heated short debate on the correct pronunciation of "Thaleniel."

Beorn claimed it is pronounced something like: "Thaleniel"
I threw my hands in the air and claimed I'm terrible at pronouncing unfamiliar words.

Which of us is correct?

Heh. I intended it to be pronounced:

(soft "th", as in "thought") Thay - len (as in "lemon") - ee - el (as in "fell")

But part of the fun in writing with weird names is seeing the different pronunciations that others interpret!

You guys have reached level 5. As you make your level-up choices, I have noticed a few shortcomings that you as a party might want to discuss and maybe shore up.

Firstly, there have been a few Knowledge (planes) prompts that have gone unchecked so far, and I anticipate prompting at least a few more before you guys are done with the tower.

Secondly, it has not come up yet, but be aware that Use Magic Device checks might also be prompted pretty soon.

Also, something to mention now, if perhaps you use the library again: It will benefit you to ask specific questions when researching, if the success of that research is based on a d20 roll. For example, instead of rolling with the query “I want to learn all about unicorns,” and the roll yields a (1), you are not going to get very much. But if your stated query was, “How does a unicorn fight?”, you might get some more specific answers even if you roll (1) on the Knowledge roll. Also, this frees up other lines of questioning in case of a low Knowledge roll. Example 2: “Ok, so I didn’t find much on how unicorns fight. But now I am going to research what kind of magic unicorns tend to use...”

I hope that makes sense. Just some protips for ya.

Remember to roll your HD here in Discussion, and to make a post of your level up changes (skill point allocation, feat selection, etc).

1d10 ⇒ 2

Do we get anything special this level? Like a feats or ability score point?

Feats come at every odd level and ability score points come at every 4 levels. Your next ability score point comes at level 8. You do get one feat at 5th level, in addition to whatever class abilities you gain.

One more bit of advice for the party rogue, the dashing Themp Namor!

As you might recall, the entrance to Ithalgol's Keep was boobytrapped with a magical glyph. These glyphs, as with other magical traps, can be disabled by a rogue with the trapfinding class feature. However, disabling them can be very difficult, typically with a Disable Device DC of 25 plus the level of the spell. The spell used on the front door was a Glyph of Warding, and had a Disable Device DC 28.

Magical traps are also very difficult to spot, but noticing them is possible with a good Perception roll. The DC to perceive the example Glyph of Warding was the same as the Disable Device DC.

So, my suggestion is: if Themp is feeling brave enough to mess with magical traps in the future, it might be worth bumping up his Disable Device skill. But that decision is entirely Zacks!

Also, while we are on the topic: the Glyph of Warding on the door was attuned to a specific password. Craig's shack had a stack of letters in the tongue of Giant. If any of you had attempted to decipher the language to understand the contents, you would have known the password and been able to avoid the sonic damage (the sonic damage also alerted the baddies to your entry, and hitting the books gave them time to prepare). The letters also detailed exactly how to keep the Quons'Maki from attacking your boat.

Beorae HD: 1d8 ⇒ 8
Shark HD: 1d8 ⇒ 7
(nice!)

Beorae gets 7 Skills (4 Druid + 2 Int + 1 Favored Class) and 1 Feat:
Knowledge (planes)
Knowledge (planes)
Knowledge (nature)
Spellcraft
Heal
Linguistics
Use Magic Device
F: Natural Spell

---

Shark gets 1 Skill and 1 Feat:
Acrobatics
F: Toughness

Health roll: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 Well, crap

+11 skill points, +1 Feat, Sneak Attack is now +3d6 (!!!)

Skill points:

Stealth +1 (at rank 5 now)
Perception +1 (at rank 5 now)
Disable Device +1 (at rank 5 now)
Acrobatics +3 (at rank 5 now)
Use Magical Device +5 (at rank 5 now)

Feat:
Rapid Shot

Level Up:

Knowledge (Arcana) +4 (+1[Skill Point] +3[Cleric Class Skill])
Knowledge (Planes) +4 (+1[Skill Point] +3[Cleric Class Skill])
Feat: Extra Lay on Hands (Two extra uses of Lay on Hands / day)
Smite Evil +1 / day
Lay on Hands heals 2d6
Channel Energy (Paladin) heals 2d6
+1 Level 1 (Paladin) spell slot

Okay, I derped on the rolls for the goblin loot.

They should have gone like this:

Item 1:
Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Item 2:
Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Item 3:
Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

So she only knows about Item 2 (the ring).

Loot distribution:

headband to Beorae +2 Wis
torc to Shark +1 Nat armor
panther belt to Nme'an
chainmail shirt to Themp
short sword to Themp
100g each

I think Nme'an picked the wide leather (+2 Str) belt over the panther (+2 Dex) belt?

Do you guys remember who got the Ring of Protection +1?

I forgot to say it in my previous post, you guys gained another level! Congratulations!

Feel free to RP that now, or after you wake up, whatever. Remember to roll your Hit Dice here and discussion, and indicate which skills are receiving skill points this time around. No feats or ability score increases are gained at 6th level unless your class does something fancy.

Also, did we determine the answers to my last Discussion post? Those are magic items that affect pretty important things, and I would hate for you guys to be missing out.

1d10 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Good Horse: 5d8 + 3 ⇒ (1, 8, 7, 8, 4) + 3 = 31

Health roll: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 Max HP is now 37

+11 skill points, +1 Rogue Talent

.

Save Bonuses are now:

• Fortitude +2
  
• Reflex +5
  
• Will + 2
  

Skills rank-up:

• Acrobatics +1 ..............(Current Rank: 6)
  
• Escape Artist +5 ..........(Current Rank: 6)
  
• Perception +1 .............(Current Rank: 6)
  
• Sleight of Hand +2 .....(Current Rank: 6)
  
• Stealth +1 ....................(Current Rank: 6)
  
• Use Magic Device +1 ..(Current Rank: 6)
  

Rogue Talent:

Minor Magic: Disrupt Undead

HD Beorae: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
HD Shark: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 . . . (sad trombone)

Beorae Skill Points: (4, +2 Int, +1 FC)

-Acrobatics
-Diplomacy
-Intimidate
-Knowledge (arcana)
-Ride
-Spellcraft
-Survival

Shark Skill Points: (+1)
-Acrobatics

Reading up on the Use Magic Device skill, there are rules for spell activation. You can read them here if you wish:
https://prd.dungeongrid.com/coreRulebook/skills/useMagicDevice.html#use-mag ic-device

They seem needlessly difficult to me. So I'd like to create a homebrew scroll activation as outlined below. One with fewer rolls and lower DCs.

Regardless if a scroll's magical aura is identified, the following step is to decipher the magical writing. This can be done by casting Read Magic, or by rolling a Spellcraft or Use Magic Device check, DC 13 plus the caster level of the scroll. Once you have deciphered a scroll, you can try to activate the scroll at anytime. Deciphering a scroll takes a standard action to complete.

Second step, scroll activation. Now that you have deciphered the gibberish, read it! Roll a Spellcraft or Use Magic Device DC 13 plus caster level of the scroll to cast the written spell. Activating a scroll is a standard action, unless the casting time for the spell is longer (such as most summoning spells).

What changed with the homebrew:
1. The option to use Spellcraft does not increase skill check DCs by 5.
2. Doing away with the "Emulate the ability score/class/alignment" checks. Skip that garbage.
3. The decipher/activate DCs decreased by 7.

Not sure if it was already done, Nme’an: the 1 strength score damage could decrease your attack roll, damage roll, and Str based skills depending on the original score. If it was an odd number, then there is no change to your modifier for subtracting 1. If it was an even number, reduced to an odd, that would unfortunately lower your Str modifier by 1. I hope that makes sense?

Example:
If Nme'an's Str score was 15 (+2 mod), reduced to 14 (+2 mod) doesn't change his attack rolls, damage, or skills.

But if Nme'an's Str score was 16 (+3 mod), reduced to 15 (+2 mod), his attack rolls, damage, and Str skills are also reduced by 1.

I've been giving it some thought for awhile, but I haven't made a formal announcement: the results of the encounter with Ithalgol will be the conclusion of this campaign. I'm letting you know now, because this seems like a crucial point where the group can press on and face Ithalgol, or leave the tower with the spell notes, or some other third option I haven't foreseen.

I plan to draft an epilogue of the following events after the encounter, so that we can all see what happens afterward. There's a few different endings I can imagine, interesting in different ways.

Heh, hopefully this doesn't mean we'll see a steep drop in posting frequency to delay the end of the game! :P