Volcano's Land - A New Beginning

Game Master Miner Cotren

So, thought about this yesterday and can't think of a better option. Ideally, I'd dump my points into Dex and Int as those are the most class beneficial options.

However, I'm pretty sure that the Cauldron Lady would give him Strength cause... well he's a weakling and needs to be tougher and also maybe is hoping he returns to old Ibinu.

And Ibinu is going to be working very hard at resisting her influence and staying in control of himself, so I'm thinking a Wisdom boost would be a good solution for his mental stat growth.

I'll try to portray this at some point in the game, but I think I've already started the wisdom portion with his personal mantra he did earlier. In addition, I'm thinking I'll toss my extra skill point into Profession: Clergy as he may become the default leader of her flock and has some interesting ideas about transitioning her worship to new and improved methods (that don't involve murder/slaughter).

Level 7 changes
Stat Changes: +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom
Bloodline: Claws base damage becomes 1d6.
Skills Improved: 8/lvl + free Craft (Alchemy) : Disable Device, Heal, K: Arcana, K: Engineering, K: Nature, Perception, Survival, Profession: Clergy.
Bombs: 1 more per day, 4d6 base damage
HP: +7 (5 class, 1 con, 1 favored class)
BAB: +1
Saves: -1 to all after changing armor
Feats/Discoveries: Master Alchemist
Class Changes: Level 3 Elixirs!!!
Spell Changes
1 new lvl 3 known formula: Cure Serious Wounds (3d8+7)
2 lvl 3 slots: Both for CSW

Master Alchemy Feat breakdown for reference near the bottom of this page. Please advise if this is not a feat that you want in the game or if crafting should go a different route.

So... the armor that was blessed granted at least a +1 resistance bonus as well (according to a post back when we leveled to 6). But, Ibinu is no longer wearing that armor as he took the fancy invisible/shadow/sneak dark-matter armor the assassin used. I'm assuming that item does not grant any bonus to saves, correct?

correct. You could look into getting a cloak of resistance (common magical items like that wouldn't need to be RP'd unless you wanted to)

And I don't mind master alchemist. I think Ibinu is naturally against the things that might be crazy (like mass producing constitution death poisons). We'll just talk it out if anything becomes an issue, but for now I am in favor of anything that makes crafting in general less of a "why am I wasting 5 weeks crafting a single dose of poison" situation.

And I'm sure Ibinu's allies would be against it so it would be a good indicator that he's uh... being influenced a bit much.

Also - Ibinu's truth did indeed say not to mention the trickster by name, but I don't want you Players to feel left out of a major plot revelation:

==Level 7 Changes==

Stats: +2 Cha, +2 Con
Skills: Craft Armor +1 (background), Diplomacy +1, Intimidate +1
Smite Evil: +1 per day
HP: +23 (6 con boost + 3 con +6 class +1 favored+ 7 toughness)
Saves: +1 to all due to Cha change and an added +1 to Fort for Con boost
Feat: Toughness
Spells: Gained 1 2nd level per day

I think the Warrior would wish for Inam's personality to continue to blossom to better lead his flock and for her to be more stalwart so she can withstand the trials coming her way better. :-P

SO MUCH HP!!!

So now I have to put some thought in it. Curses.

As my wife says when she plays mostly True Nuetral characters, ”decisions are hard!”

Imo, don’t worry to much about it. :P

Waiting to hear from Kallik and Inam about where they want to go next. With holiday craziness around the bend, I'm happy to let the three of you talk out your revelations, next steps, etc.

How busy is everyone in the upcoming weeks? I'll definitely be out the 21st through the 26th.

I am working on figuring out my apparent issue with my hit points and skill points. I should be able to finish it up after my live game, so later this evening.

I will be around though the holidays though I know on the 23 and 24th I am required to spend time with people. Apparently face to face.

I’ll be hit and miss, but mainly hit. Saturday before and day after Christmas are very busy. The rest will depend on if plans get made or what projects I get into at home.

My game ran really freaking late so I will update everything on my profile when I wake up but this is the plan.

blood line spells: Entangle
medium armor proficiency and I can cast spells with no issues.
BaB goes up to 5.
saves do not change
HP goes up by 20. 5 from the dice, 1 from not taking the skill point, 7 from tougness and my con is going up giving me an extra 7. I think that is right but my math skills are weak!
I was missing 3 ranks for my skills cause math is hard. those will be going into Diplomacy, Intimidate, and arcana.
the other four from leveling up go into Perception, Diplomacy, Sense Motive, and Dungeonering.
Feat: Toughness
New spells. Haste and Vampiric Touch
And apparentlly I have took my magus arcana for last level cause I am a bad player. I will be taking Divinatory Strike (Su) Mostly because the really good ones are later and I like the idea that the sword might learn from blood.

The stat bonus's go to constitution and charisma. Kallik keeps taking damage and that will either kill her or she will get better. She isn't dead yet so she is getting better. Charisma because she is becoming better socialized and there is gradual improvement in her ability to nice to people, I hope! There is no sign of intellectual improvement thus far and wisdom .. Reckless is just more fun :D

20.5 from dice? At most that should be 10 from the dice + con modifier, right? (let me know if I'm missing something)

20 (period aka end of sentence). 5 from dice, etc...

I had to read it a couple times. :P

Ha, I see it now. Thanks!

I was tired :P

So apparently the black bladed magus's weapon has bonus's and at lvl 7 it is an enchantment +2. I realized that I have not done the blade's stuff. I picked a kinda complicated thing... A few things have gone up. Ego and all mental stats go up this level.

Also it apparently gets another language of Gm's choice. So woot.

2nd language is Rasp. It is decidedly unpleasant to your ears (or mind, I suppose, since Krz only speaks mentally)

yes, the blackblade (and magus in general) is a bit on the complicated side. If you need a hand, I can take a look sometime over the weekend.

Checking my math or if I missed something is always appreciated. And Kallik's profile is one of the busiest I have ever had.

Magus's are a pain but a lot of fun. Like a genius that was the first class I ever played. I mean why listen to the people who had played D&D before. I wanna stab people with magic!

And just because I like to cross post when new material comes up:

In response to a request for more info about the orean monks:
Orean monks and other elen philosophies

A history of the Ways of the Root, Branch, and Leaf, and their monasteries

In response to what kind of history/tradition magi have in Volcano's Land:
A "brief" aside concerning all spell casting classes, self-taught versus trained; as well as a digression about what 'priests' of the four races look like mechanics-wise

In which I concluded in a long-winded fashion that magi are weird flavor-wise, and that in my setting the norm would be magi taught at a university, and 'natural' or self-taught magi would be considered quite dangerous.

Here's something Kallik recently heard Krz 'shouting' in his sleep:

Держись от нас подальше!

The caster training and "priest" information has been put in a new document, under the spoiler "The Planes, Magic, Caster Training, and Priests".

That was an interesting read. I had considered and built a backup which was a warpriest. Pretty much an old “retired” tactical fighter that had been shuffled off the front lines and hidden in a small little parish in Hearth. I’m ambivalent about him now though, enjoying how Ibinu is progressing and if a death were to occur I’d be considering all my options again.

Other than alchemists and the rare other race deity worshipping divine caster, any thought on sylph magic users?

Magi would certainly be at the top of the list for sylphs after alchemist. Int-based makes sense mechanically of course, and flavor-wise sylphs have been studying both alchemy and the arcane since Sky fell.

I could certainly see a "debate" or knowledge-focused Bard (the archivist seems to have that flavor somewhat, for instance)

I'm trying my best to imagine a 'typical' sylph ranger or hunter, and mostly failing. I'm sure there's a cell of Unbelievers out there who stalk through Forest and have a sylph ranger among them, but it just doesn't play to typical sylph strengths very well. (there is a sylph ranger at my other table, a very well done PC with a solid background to back up the concept)

Skald is another one that just seems off. Skalds are so perfectly fritan in flavor that except for the rare oddball exception, I don't see this being the norm either.

Bloodrager seems like it should fall into the same camp as Skalds, but oddly enough with all the abuse that sylphs take I think this could actually work. Arcane magic + repressed anger!

As I mentioned in the other thread, I've always liked the idea of leaving paladins open to being 'god-ordained' or "paladin of ideals" or"chosen by fate" kind of stories. Sylph paladins would mostly be anti-god Unbelievers, but if someone wanted to play a Paladin that worshiped Sky's Tears or the Breathless Valleys that could work.

(I know inquisitors and warpriests have the DM approved option of not having a deity, but I would need a heck of a background to justify that in this divine-centered world)

What? Are you saying Sylph paladins are flawed?! NEVER! :-P

I would like to say my holiday availability will be fluid....however this week is full of after-school stuffs for the kiddos between band, volleyball, ag...things I will likely be hit and miss this week. I do have family stuffs starting this weekend and going through Christmas Day.

I work both New Years Eve and New Years Day, however from experience I can say work will likely be hectic so I'm unsure how much posting I'll get to do from there. Add to that...this time of year tends to be stressful on my mental capacities due to my history in my career field.

Short answer, I should be around to post, but I may miss a day or two around Christmas. :-P

Oooh, mystic theurge with... bard and hunter. That’s going to take one impressive backstory! :D

Ha, I should have mentioned our own Inam is the exception that can never be duplicated :)

And really, with Christmas coming up so soon I think just letting the scene sit for a while is fine. The three of you can talk about the current revelations and your next moves. It just doesn't make sense to force the next scene when posting will be sporadic.

That is because she had a chicken show up and tell her she had a destiny!

I will read those things later as work was insanely long tonight. But a Monk is on my list if Kallik actually dies.

Checking my math or if I missed something is always appreciated. And Kallik's profile is one of the busiest I have ever had.

Magus's are a pain but a lot of fun. Like a genius that was the first class I ever played. I mean why listen to the people who had played D&D before. I wanna stab people with magic!

First I'll respond to the latter part. Wow, just wow. That is probably the hardest class to figure out and you decided to play it first. I'm thoroughly impressed.

As for the former, I am looking over your math again (related to skill points). You specifically said when you leveled up that you are getting "the other four from leveling up go into Perception, Diplomacy, Sense Motive, and Dungeonering."

However, your profile shows you to be getting 5 skills (2 class + 1 favored + 2 int) per level + 1 in a craft, profession or perform skill. I'm thinking that you might have 7 more skill points to spread around.

Also yay! I picked the option that perceived as dangerous :D

And with that info my back up charater is probably a Drunken Master Monk. And probably an ifrit cause they seem like fun.

Oooh, if we get killed we could all play Ifrits that lost power when the damn Blessed came into Hearth and now we gotta build our illicit empire back up, trampling over all that stand in our way!!! Muahahhaahaha!!!

Don't be impressed. I am kind of an idiot. I refused to listen to listen to people with experience. I had fun though. Pretty sure that one died in a fight with mummy monk. I tried a fight who lasted like two levels and then a witch who got to ride a dragon.

The very first campaign I decided to run was a story I made from wanting to run a few modules and suddenly I turned it into a full campaign I had to plan for. And to top off the insanity I added the mythic rules. Cause balance is a joke.

My math is never right! Arrg!

Also everyone going evil could be fun. But I kinda wanna be on the true dark side. I wanna be one of the dark monsters! And the world will bow before my might!

I should probably be looking into buying stuff myself. And mostly the council thing is to let them know what just happened. And we should get you jeweler for your horns :D

I'm quite tempted by the jeweled horns idea personally, though I'm not quite sure how Ibinu feels about them at the moment. I'm still parsing that change. About buying things, there are some good items out there but with you having less than 1000 gold total not many are affordable.

Full evil can be fun. The only evil game I was part of I gm'd. I may have complained about it here before so ignore if I'm boring, but the players I had were at best lukewarm evil. I'd say the best of them were mischievously devious at times, but very little evil for evil's sake was done. Most kills were even just tactical decisions to further their mission, no one even seemed to enjoy any of the murders!

I got some really good examples of why one should not split the party in that game though... pretty much led to every single player death.

Got it, TPK means we'll switch to an evil ifrit campaign :)

--Ibinu, go ahead and deduct the 1000 for your cloak - I agree, no reason to RP unless you are dying to see that owl guy again.

--All, let me know any other errands or RP/NPC/character stuff you want to do

--As for the council, it's fine to just say you inform them of the latest doings. If Inam and Kallik want to RP, cool, but if you just want to give me a rundown of what you tell them (and HOW you tell them) that's ok too. (are all three of you going to the council?)

--The one major thing the council will inform you about is the growing unrest of some of the Watches. The Ardere Watch is unhappy with how their men were handled (the ones who attacked the Tree under the influence of the Lady), and there is a growing division among the ranks in general since the former Commandant was killed (this was around the time a civil war was brewing the Inam and Etrah diverted).

Inam: your Greatsword should be +1 Darkbane right?

Kallik: Is your axe +3 AND bewildering, or is it +3 total (part of which includes bewildering?)

I recall giving everyone a +1 to their weapons back in the day (when So Khong was still around), and then Kallik and Inam both got an additional +1 of their choice (normal +1 or something else, and I think that's where darkbane and bewildering came from).

Did you spend some gold on upgrading your axe Kallik? Let me know.

I got it, it's the "free" +1 I gave you, the bewildering I gave you, AND the blackblade is a natural +2 now due to the archetype, right?

Yeppers!

Alright, I'm officially off DMing duty until the 26th. Happy holidays everyone!

Ibinu I am reading your last post or two as implying he did not want to go to the council. If that is not true, let me know.

do you have your hood up as you traverse town, or openly showing horns, etc?

I do wish to go to the council. I won’t split the party... yet.

Re: getting rid of warpriests

9th level spellcasters do not exist in this world. Now, getting rid of warpriests has a few implications with spell lists, but I found two that were particularly interesting:

Raise Dead. (and breath of life)
Plane Shift.

I'm actually okay with both of those spells being pretty much gone from the world. I like that death really means something, and though the world has magic, none of it is strong enough to pull the dead back to life.

I'm fine with a rare class ability that might mimic these. For example, I've said at one table or another that I would be fine with the paladin feat that allows the paladin to raise dead. If there's some class ability out there granting Plane Shift, that would probably be fine too.

One minor thing to go along with this:

There may be common sense minor rulings here and there, like Riversight should be River only, which means it is actually a 2nd level Bard spell. Air Step, Air walk, Wind Walk, would all be Alchemist only, etc.

In general, I don't think I would make any other changes, so this will go into the houserules - warpriests don't exist, death and planar travel are pretty serious things, and ask me about specific spells that might pertain to only one god.

Kallik -

would it make things easier on you if I put all your black blade (white axe) stats and text and put it in my Krzysztoff profile?

Here's a fun way to get the game rolling tonight or tomorrow:

post in a spoiler where you are going, along with some text you would likely say or do as you begin your day. For example, :

"To the council.

So Khong berates the others about their boorish behaviors and lack of piety on the way to the council meeting."

I'll post them all and then we'll be on our way

(or at least post where you want to go first if you don't have time for a full post)