Got it, thanks, and I saw Valgrim's as well.
Not getting much time to post til Wednesday probably, continue to chat away and decide where you are going to hole up and rest. Post will include all your loot, it is quite a haul. As tempting as it is, unfortunately I don't have any spare time with school to devote to another game at this time, thanks for the invite.
Loot List:
From Venk:
+1 adamantine acidic burst short sword
+3 mithral chain shirt
belt of physical might +4 (Dexterity and Constitution)
headband of alluring charisma +6
ring of protection +3
ring of wizardry IV
bracelet of friends (3 charms remaining)
wand of barkskin +4 (20 charges)
wand of displacement (10 charges)
wand of cure critical wounds (38 charges)
wand of dominate person (14 charges)
10 doses of wyvern poison
From the Wyvern Zyrith:
+4 mithral chain shirt barding
amulet of natural armor +2
ring of protection +2
ring of evasion
From the Avolakia Priests:
bracers of armor +4 (x10)
headband of inspired wisdom +4 (x10)
From Mahuudril:
+1 speed ghost touch dagger
belt of physical might +4 (strength and constitution)
bracers of armor +6
headband of alluring charisma +6
From the Wormdrake's lair:
28,000 gp
4,000 pp
potion of cure serious wounds
potion of cat's grace
potion of reduce person
metamagic rod of enlarge spell
staff of enchantment (42 charges)
a wand of charm person (3 charges)
a bronze griffin figurine of wonderous power
robe of stars
No particular item interests Valgrim. The gold could serve Friar for a greater planar ally spell, if he so chooses.
GM, what is your opinion on that spell? I am thinking we may need all the help we can get against Dragotha. If we were to summon, say a solar (well within the 42HD maximum of double HD), would you enhance the encounter against Dragotha by giving him allies, assuming he does not have any already? If we summon, bad guys summon also kind of thing? Just curious on your GMing in this situation.
I think we all know Dragotha is up very soon, so prepare spells that are undead heavy. I think the only way we even have a sliver of a chance to win is Valgrim attacks and distracts, Friar counterspells when not healing (it is a lich after all), Alie persistently disintegrates with Brilliant inspiration (to try to crit) and Bubba greater dispels and counters as well, after buffing. And you avoid full attacks from it at all costs! We need to buff fire (it was a red dragon in life) and negative energy (death ward). We all need freedom of movement to counter its paralyzing touch/gaze. We all need to be flying...with SR...even then I think we're fighting a losing battle. Its AC/saves/SR must be off the charts!
No, we just fought a number of liches so we know their abilities.
I have embarked on my annual autumn excursion to Someplace Else(TM) and so my availability and access may not be what they generally are. It looks like I should be able to post in the evenings, but can make no guarantees, so please feel free to bot Bublaka as necessary.
I should be able to resume normal activity after the 17th.
(I didn't see a lot of gotta-have-it for me in the loot list. I think Alie and I overlap quite a bit with regards to what we can utilize. Alie, would the metamagic rod of enlarge help any of your spells? I assume you already have the headband of charisma maxed out - you are welcome to the one from the loot as far as I am concerned.)
Yes, I meant Gate. Looking at Friar's list, he did not pick Gate, so the point is moot.
Checking in:
Protection from Fire vs Resist Fire: Since both are cast, which takes precedence? I have Fire Resistance 30 thanks to the order of storms' banner, but I would be happy to accept another energy type...
What level SR does Friar's Spell Resistance provide?
Am I correct in assuming that Valgrim's Barkskin grants +5? (Thank you, by the way)
Freedom of Movement would absolutely be made available to the party, as is Brilliant Inspiration to anyone that is interested.
Alie - I can use the staff and the robe, I believe, but I don't know if I would get more use than you would. I would have to go back and study them - will it matter much going into this battle? Would you be able to use the Ring of Wizardry IV? (or did I just imagine that from the loot list?)
I can provide freedom of movement as a spell. I have two rings, also, but one is a ring of wizardry II; an extra fourth-level spell for me is probably more significant than it is for you, I suppose, since I'm only a six-level caster to begin with.
Valgrim's Barkskin is +5 and Friar's SR is 33 since he casts as a 21st level caster.
I'm already carrying two rings I can't use, I guess. I need that wondrous item that lets me wear two extra rings on my feet and get their benefit.
I will take the ring of wizardry - fourth-level has some useful options for me.
Any thoughts as to when we're picking this up again? We kind of left off at a cliff-hanger.
From the game thread:
Thanks, Bublaka...but we are the 12th now, hence my question. :)
Two days seems a little early to be concerned, so I assumed you had forgotten about his announced absence. Other than that, I have no insight.
True. Good point.
Good question, I am back but getting back into the swing of things with school has eaten up my time. After I finish my homework this evening I should be good to go. Sorry, should have given an update earlier.
Looking forward to Dragotha time....!
VUG!!! We've missed you!
Great to hear it, GM! Just wanted to make sure we had the climactic fight...for good or bad.
Hey Vug! Hey GM, glad to have you back.
Heya Vug! Hope it proves to be a good show :)
Valgrim, while I see the value in your plan in stealing the dragon's treasure (after all, we no longer have to kill Dragotha since he is not the head honcho in Kyuss' army), there is no spell in the book that allows someone to teleport a hoard treasure away. Even with Miracle duplicating other wizard/druid/ranger spells, I cannot find a spell that accomplishes that task. So I guess we're stuck waiting for him to come back.
I do see that as a flaw of this AP. They build up Dragotha as this legendary and vital story encounter, how we have to find and destroy his phylactery and then invade his super secret sanctum and fight through all his guardians to finally meet him, only to then take away the reason to fight him. We could just teleport away and head to Maskholm. There is no motivation to kill him really other than his large treasure hoard, of course. But I am sure in game we would not have the time (1-2 months) to spend the gold on crafting or improving our items with the end of the world upon us (every 1000 gp of improvement is one day), so there is no immediate benefit to the hoard, unless there are some really cool items in it.
As for the vengeance factor, yeah we destroyed his phylactery but he's also seen now how powerful we are in direct combat and how he would have been dead many times over without his wish spells, so he would be wise also to leave us alone or wait till we're close to dying to spring a surprise attack on us.
I am not criticizing the GM, just the AP. Sure, it would be a great notch on the belt to say we killed Dragotha but the story motivation is gone.
My 2 cents.
I was kind of wondering if there might be something important to Kyuss' or Lashonna's defeat in the hoard.
Thanks for looking for spells, Friar. Oh well.
I see your point with the motivation. And don't forget we had to seek the three parts of the wizard's soul also just to fight Dragotha. With regard to motivation, Valgrim hates undead so that is enough to want to kill the dragon. That and the wizard's rage driving him. I was just trying to get him to stop teleporting away....who knows how many other 25000 gp diamonds he has for his wish spell? With the size of the hoard, I guess the answer is: many. The pattern to the rest of the fight is going to be same: TK charge followed by d-door away until he runs out of wish diamonds or Alie runs out of spells, which thankfully she has many. Curious as to where Dragotha carries those diamonds: on a necklace? A purse hanging around his neck? A bag of holding...LOL
I really hope you are right, Bubba and that this hoard's magical treasures are worth it, if we succeed.
Curious as to where Dragotha carries those diamonds: on a necklace? A purse hanging around his neck? A bag of holding...LOL
Oh, er, I spotted it and... you don't want to know.
j/k
;-)
Lol, yeah....doesn't really say where the diamonds are stored. I would say they are embedded in him somewhere, probably inside his ribcage. Would even say that Valgrim did indeed see some there.
Ferez: Totally understand your viewpoint and it is definitely valid. Up until this stage you have been under the impression that Dragotha would be the architect behind Kyuss' return. Frankly, your still sure he would be if it weren't for Lashonna's shennanigans. So he is still a threat, just not the immediate one. The AP definitely throws some curveballs that make certain actions that you took seem like red herrings. Could have just stayed in Maskholm and waited for Lashonna/Dragotha to show up and then just beat them there instead of chasing around all creation and into their strongholds. I guess, you still would have to find Dragotha's phylactery to permanently destroy him.
I have been wrestling with what the Dracolich's next action will be but think I'll stick with the letter of the law for what they wrote for Dragotha's reactions to developments in the battle.
Still here. Recovered from election day. Will post a little later today.
Was out unexpectedly all day today. Hope to get a full post together tomorrow.
Beyond 20th Level
Although Classes doesn't describe what happens after 20th level, this isn't to say that there are no resources available to you should you wish to continue your campaign on to 21st level and beyond. Rules for epic-level play like this exist in numerous products that are compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, although in many cases these alternative rules can provide unanticipated problems. For example, if your campaign world is populated by creatures and villains who, at the upper limit of power, can challenge a 20th-level character, where will epic-level PCs go for challenges? You might be looking at creating an entirely new campaign setting, one set on different planes, planets, or dimensions from the one where your players spent their first 20 levels, and that's a lot of work.
Paizo Publishing may eventually publish rules to take your game into these epic realms, but if you can't wait and would rather not use existing open content rules for epic-level play, you can use the following brief guidelines to continue beyond 20th level. Note that these guidelines aren't robust enough to keep the game vibrant and interesting on their own for much longer past 20th level, but they should do in a pinch for a campaign that needs, say, 22 or 23 experience levels to wrap up. Likewise, you can use these rules to create super-powerful NPCs for 20th-level characters to face.
Experience Points: To gain a level beyond 20th, a character must double the experience points needed to achieve the previous level. Thus, assuming the medium XP progression, a 20th-level character needs 2,100,000 XP to become 21st level, since he needed 1,050,000 XP to reach 20th level from 19th. He'd then need 4,200,000 XP to reach 22nd level, 8,400,000 XP to reach 23rd, and so on.
Scaling Powers: Hit dice, base attack bonuses, and saving throws continue to increase at the same rate beyond 20th level, as appropriate for the class in question. Note that no character can have more than 4 attacks based on its base attack bonus. Note also that, before long, the difference between good saving throws and poor saving throws becomes awkwardly large—the further you get from 20th level, the more noticeable this difference grows, and for high-level characters, bolstering their poor saving throws should become increasingly important. Class abilities that have a set, increasing rate, such as a barbarian's damage reduction, a fighter's bonus feats and weapon training, a paladin's smite evil, or a rogue's sneak attack continue to progress at the appropriate rate.
Spells: A spellcaster's caster level continues to increase by one for each level beyond 20th level. Every odd-numbered level, a spellcaster gains access to a new level of spell one above his previous maximum level, gaining one spell slot in that new level. These spell slots can be used to prepare or cast spells adjusted by metamagic feats or any known spell of lower levels. Every even-numbered level, a spellcaster gains additional spell slots equal to the highest level spell he can currently cast. He can split these new slots any way he wants among the slots he currently has access to.
For example, a 21st-level wizard gains a single 10th-level spell slot, in which he can prepare any spell of level 1st through 9th, or in which he can prepare a metamagic spell that results in an effective spell level of 10 (such as extended summon monster IX, or quickened disintegrate). At 22nd level he gains 10 spell-levels' worth of new spell slots, and can gain 10 1st-level spells per day, two 5th-level spells per day, one 7th-level and one 3rd-level spell per day, or one more 10th-level spell per day. At 23rd level, he gains a single 11th-level spell slot, and so on.
Spellcasters who have a limited number of spells known (such as bards and sorcerers) can opt out of the benefits they gain (either a new level of spells or a number of spell slots) for that level and in exchange learn two more spells of any level they can currently cast.
You might want to further adjust the rate of spell level gain for classes (like paladins and rangers) who gain spells more slowly than more dedicated spellcaster classes.
Multiclassing/Prestige Classes: The simplest way to progress beyond 20th level is to simply multiclass or take levels in a prestige class, in which case you gain all of the abilities of the new class level normally. This effectively treats 20th level as a hard limit for class level, but not as a hard limit for total character level.
I also would need guidance. Wouldn't a Mythic tier be easier?
Hope everyone's holiday weekend went well. Didn't end up having much of a chance to post. Studying for a test tomorrow. Should be back to normal posting on Wednesday. Gives Bub a little more time to weigh in with a bardic story if so inclined. In the meantime, if everyone is fine with it. We'll go with mythic tiers. As we are all new to this process, post resources and helpful hints in here please.
I'm fine with mythic tiers, was just responding to the idea that had been offered.
I'm afraid I don't know if I would have time to craft an epic of our encounter, but you know Bublaka would certainly rise to the occasion to entertain and inform.
If we are going Mythic, these would be Friar's selections:
Path: Hierophant
4 bonus HPs (don't know if you get Con)
Hard to Kill
Surge: +1d6
Mythic Power: 5/day
Divine Surge - Recalled Blessing (Su): You can expend one use of mythic power to cast any one divine spell without expending a prepared spell or spell slot. If you prepare spells, this spell must be one you prepared today; if you're a spontaneous caster, this spell must be one of your spells known. You can't apply metamagic feats to this spell. If the spell requires a saving throw, non-mythic creatures roll twice and take the lower result. If the spell heals damage or requires you to attempt a caster level check to cure an affliction or remove a condition, roll twice and take the higher result.
Path Ability - Faith's Reach (Su): Whenever you cast a divine spell with a range of touch, you can instead cast the spell with a range of 30 feet. If the spell normally requires a melee touch attack, it instead requires a ranged touch attack.
Mythic Feat - Lightning Reflexes (Mythic)
Benefit: Whenever you roll a Reflex saving throw against a spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability from a non-mythic source, roll twice and take the higher result.
There won't be enough time to sell or barter things at the moment.
The magical part of Dragotha's hoard:
15 different arcane spellbooks
+5 ghost touch chain shirt
admantine +3 fire resistance breastplate
+2 heavy fortification light wooden shield
an adamantine +2 aberration bane vorpal greataxe
+3 disruption spellstoring morningstar
an oathbow
rapier of puncturing
sun blade
ring of air elemental command
ring of wizardry (iv)
greater metamagic rod of maximize
staff of the woodlands
bracers of armor +6
folding boat
tome of understanding +1
robe of scintilating colors
Instant Fortress
Greater Strand of Prayer beads
apparatus of the crab
philosphers stone
staff of the magi
3 stones of controlling earth elementals
A triangular shard of crimson metal the size of a halfling's hand. Radiantes strong conjuration (teleportation) magic but its purpose is unknown.
A petrified ancient reptile skull weighing 200 pounds that has Druidic magical runes carved in the inside.
Mythic Path: Champion
5 bonus hit points (No Con)
Champion's Strike: Sudden Strike
Path Ability: Extra Mythic Feat
Mythic Feats:
Improved Critical (x3 crit multiplier)
Power Attack: -6 attack/+27 damage
Hard to Kill
Surge: +1d6
Mythic Power: 5/day
I think Bublaka will probably go the Marshal route for his Mythic tier, but I have some homework to do before I can make much progress on him.
In other news, it's that time of the semester when my posting may become even more sporadic. I need to bury myself deep in my studies to wrap things up and survive the final. I will try to check in on a daily basis, but I make no promises. Well, I make one: I will be back.
Mythic Path: Marshal
4 bonus hit points (no con)
Marshal's Order: Rally (grants allies one d20 reroll for the next round)
Path Ability: Focus (allies within 30' reroll surge rolls and take the better roll)
Mythic Feat: Spell Focus (illusion)
Hard to Kill
Surge: +1d6
Mythic Power: 5/day
I seriously debated Mythic Spell Lore and mythic Cure Critical Wounds to assist Friar on the healing front or even mythic Haste or mythic Slow, but I'm hoping that boosting my shadow illusions might help offensively.
----------------
Alie, would the rod of maximize, greater, be of use to you? You could be maximizing spells of 7th - 9th levels up to 3/day. I don't get spells that high, so if you can't use it, perhaps Friar?
The Greater Strand of Prayer Beads sounds like a good one for the good Friar to carry, especially since he's already used some of his spells.
Friar will take the Greater Strand of Prayer Beads, the +3 Disruption Morningstar, and the +2 Heavy Fortification Light Shield. He stores away whatever items the party does not use.