No problems Mi'Dre - I'm an itinerant lurker so I often sneak in and post during edit windows.
And here is the bit where the guard makes me his prison b~$~~ for getting too cocky.
Unless he crits (again :p) you'll be fine...
Nope, that's a DM VoV custom. To be honest I'm fine with you getting it for free. It really is just a downtime healing assist, so isn't going to break anything. As you say, it cuts through the evil cleric healing issue.
Sadly this would not work in my games. Rovagug does not heal. He uninjures.
Are you intending to let it scale in any way with additional dice, or just the 10 hitpoints over one minute?
Either way still pretty good :)
I'm thinking that extra dice will affect duration rather than the Fast Healing number.
So a 2d6 channel would turn into Fast Healing 1 for either 1.5 or 2 minutes.
Tark - aye, there's a reason why it's infernal healing and not abyssal healing ;)
Yeah that's what I was thinking. Good to know :)
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I'm thinking that extra dice will affect duration rather than the Fast Healing number.
So a 2d6 channel would turn into Fast Healing 1 for either 1.5 or 2 minutes.
That's more than fair. (Since 1d6 positive energy would heal much less anyway!)
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I never even considered preparing infernal healing, because I'd written it off ages ago because of the devil's blood material component, which, in any party but this one, would be a non-starter for a 1st level cleric. Since there's a devil in the party, I totally need to prepare that instead of cure light wounds...
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Seriously, do the forums no longer allow spaces between paragraphs, or is my computer borked up?
Balanced out by it being single target healing rather than full party healing too.
As far as devil blood goes... just make sure you ask nicely first before you go taking samples :p
I'd say that's your computer.
Nostrus - it's been a while and I'd appreciate a check-in. If it's a temporary RL interference, then I can understand - but I'd like to know if you're still here and interested in the campaign...
Here and interested. Possibly going to be going through a momentous change in personal circumstances but nothing set in stone yet. I'll try and catch up this evening.
Good to know that you're still around - I know it can be hard sometimes, but even a quick two or three word note in OOC helps me know that you're busy and keep things rolling on in thread even if you're unable to post.
Oh and as a side-note, have a level up :)
Woohoo! So what do I get for my level up? +1 BAB, +1 HD(d10), +1 Fort & Ref, +6 skill points as an outsider, but any other abilities recovered yet?
I'd add on:
- DR 1/Good
- Ventriloquism SLA
- Noxious Breath to 2/day
Sound ok to you?
Sounds alright to me... I don't have book of the damned with me at the moment though, so not actually sure what he's missing :p
Do we have to roll for hitpoints, or take the average? I've done average for now (12 current + d10 for 6 + con of 2=20)
Other than that should be up to date.
HP are your choice - either take average, or roll. But once you roll, you take whatever you end up with.
Main things that you've got to look forward to are increased DR, flight, increased elemental resistances
I'm happy with average.
Yeah that was pretty much what I thought... Am I ever going to get the summon ability?
As an honest question - What would you want with a 35% chance to summon an Imp?
uhh, yeah I dunno, the Imp one isn't great, use it to torment Gurthok probably :p The Magaav one if he gets there however is better
I'm guessing US holidays have slowed things down a little - so will pause a bit longer before the meeting with Thorn.
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Albina is level'd up;
+6 HP (average d8 = 4, +2 for Con)
+1 BAB
+1 Fort & Will saves
+5 skill points (+1 Diplomacy, +1 Disguise, +1 Knowledge (arcana), +1 Perception, +1 Sense Motive)
+1 1st level spell / day
+1 cantrip
+1 DC to channel negative energy
+1 damage to firebolt, copycat now lasts 2 rounds
Albina - it's average rounded up, so for a d8 it's a 5.
Nostrus,
I'm putting this in the open so there is nothing hidden. For some time now you've had issues getting in regular posts to keep up with the reasonably sedate pace of the game. Your last IC post was two weeks ago on the 16th and there's been not much response to my plea for more activity a week ago.
If it was just a complete lack of access or RL kicking you in the teeth I might have a bit more sympathy - but a check on your profile shows a number of other posts made this week in other threads.
So the question is asked - are you able to commit to being more active and engaged, or should I be looking for a replacement?
I'm also interested in the thoughts of the other party members, which you can either PM to me or post up here.
Cheers,
DM VoV
I definitely regret not making Shendalyn a synthesist now. He definitely gives off an evil Ultimate Tony Stark vibe.
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I definitely regret not making Shendalyn a synthesist now. He definitely gives off an evil Ultimate Tony Stark vibe.
I kinda love the flavor of the synthesist (in your case, summoning a devil to possess yourself, and your outer body becoming warped and transformed in the process), but the mechanics seem a bit complex.
In a normal game, I'm not sure I'd want to deal with the appearance changes and possible social issues, but in a group that already as a full-on devil, and possibly a fiendish ogre, that's less of an issue. :)
From all examples I've seen Synthesists are kinda broken :p Interesting concept, but a bit too powerful I think.
Synthesists are definitely easily optimizable - but broken-ness is a harder label to apply. I would posit that Master Summoners are probably a more powerful archetype. A synthesist ties a lot of his effectiveness into keeping the suit on - and by having the suit opens himself up to quite a few relatively easy counters (such as dismissal).
But yes - the RP possibilities and cool factor on synthesists are very appealing.
The appearance issues will be a concern for part of the game, and not for others. You'll find out soon enough why :P
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Synthesists are definitely easily optimizable - but broken-ness is a harder label to apply. I would posit that Master Summoners are probably a more powerful archetype.
IMO, the biggest advantage of the Summoner is the ability to scoff at the action economy and have multiple actions each round, split between the Summoner, the Eidolon and / or the summoned monsters.
The Synthesist, for all it's excellence at tankage (which, still, IMO, isn't as good as a Paladin out of the box), loses that advantage entirely.
I've never been terribly impressed by builds that spend a bunch of buff spells, or use a bunch of class features, or devote all their feat slots, to becoming, for a few minutes a day, a better fighter than a Fighter. I'd rather play a Fighter, and not have to buff, and be almost as good all day long, and not be limited to my 'hour of power' or some theoretical ideal perfect fight were I get 5 rounds to prebuff before combat begins (which may only happen one fight in five).
Especially in 3.X/PF, where combats can be over by round three, the cleric who spends rounds 1 and 2 casting divine favor and shield of faith makes me want to punch them in the face. They end up looking like Kurt Russel's character in Big Trouble in Little China who spends an entire fight fumbling to draw a knife, while his 'sidekick' beats the crap out of six guys.
"Aha! I'm ready!"
"Yeah, we killed them all while you were buffing yourself to have the same AC and attack bonus that the Fighter had the whole time."
Well I haven't actually played a Synthesist, and my Master Summoner only got to level uhh 5 or 6 before that campaign fell apart, so I don't have personal experience with either to weigh into this fight.
AS far as action economy goes however, who needs to buff when you have 3, 5, or 7+ natural attacks and strength augments and all the rest. Admittedly the main example of a Synthesist I saw was at 12th level or so and rather unorthodox, but even so it was utterly broken.
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AS far as action economy goes however, who needs to buff when you have 3, 5, or 7+ natural attacks and strength augments and all the rest. Admittedly the main example of a Synthesist I saw was at 12th level or so and rather unorthodox, but even so it was utterly broken.
Depends. Technically, the Eidolon / meat-suit itself is a buff that takes an entire minute to 'cast.' If you're campsite is attacked at night, you're a second-rate spellcaster (which still isn't a terrible thing to be!) with no meat-suit. If ninja kick in the door while you and your party are eating at the inn, you, again, probably don't have your 12 ft. tall six-armed meatsuit 'on,' and are stuck without your 'buff.'
.Even then, the synthesist has access to spells like haste, which are wicked useful to the party, and if you were playing a bog-standard Summoner, you could cast haste, while your six-limbed 12 ft. tall Eidolon waded into combat. Playing a synethesist, you lose that freedom, and have to choose, haste the entire party *or* wade into combat. A normal Summoner, while his Eidolon is tearing up the battlefield just as well as he could wearing a Synthesist meatsuit, can be messing up the enemies with grease or glitterdust or black tentacles, making him, IMO, significantly more useful a party member *to the party* than if he'd gone the Synthesist route. He may not *personally* get to tear things up with a half-dozen melee attacks, but he's still controlling the Eidolon that does (and with a much finer degree of control and optimization of battle-tactics than a Druid could manage, as there's no 'Handle Animal' check that allows a Druid to tell her companion to 'step 5 ft. to the left, to set up a flank so that the Rogue gets a Sneak attack.').
There are exploits, but they are more exploits built into the Summoner, that the Synthesist take advantage of, than flaws inherent to the Synthesist itself (such as taking a bajillion arms and being able to make a bajillion weapon attacks with a 'Shiva' build).
I like the 'biotech Iron Man' aesthetics for a whacky over the top game (perhaps one set in Nex, where the fleshforges churn out all sorts of whacky critters, or around Alkenstar or Numeria, where magical / alien mutations abound, or in the Spelljamer or Planescape settings), but the mechanics, no matter how exploitable, don't exactly blow up my skirt.
AS far as action economy goes however, who needs to buff when you have 3, 5, or 7+ natural attacks and strength augments and all the rest. Admittedly the main example of a Synthesist I saw was at 12th level or so and rather unorthodox, but even so it was utterly broken.Depends. Technically, the Eidolon / meat-suit itself is a buff that takes an entire minute to 'cast.' If you're campsite is attacked at night, you're a second-rate spellcaster (which still isn't a terrible thing to be!) with no meat-suit.
Than you're a second rate spellcaster with standard action summons at full strength multiple times per day that you would otherwise not be using. That kind of power is what makes the master summoner strong to begin with.
Still though shendalyn's build is working towards a theory of a more conservative melee summoner. Still has a great buff list that gets even better with summons. Plus I can summon my own flanking partners. The fact that I have a UMD eidolon is just icing.
Than you're a second rate spellcaster with standard action summons at full strength multiple times per day that you would otherwise not be using. That kind of power is what makes the master summoner strong to begin with.
Minutes/Level Standard Action summons really can't be exagerated enough. Oh, and free Augment Summons at second level. I ended up taking Superior Summons too for even more awesome.
Hmm, Eidolon with UMD, not a bad idea. Mine when it was around most got used as a pack-mule, as my summoner was a dervish dancing halfling, so not much in the way of strength.
and he didn't even have the better Evolution Surges :p
Just a short note - at this point I've removed Albrecht from the active list of players. That leaves us with a solid four remaining - which is the intended number for the PbP anyway.
Are y'all happy to move forward with four? or would you prefer to pick up a fifth?
I'm fine with 4, especially with 25 PB. Shame about Albrecht :(
5 is fine. There is a concern about having more arcane prowess about but isn't mi'dre eventually looking at SLA's anyway?
Uhh in this form the only other things he may be getting are Greater Teleport (self and 50 lbs of objects only), and a 1/day summon of an imp (35% chance). Depending on what other form he goes into however, he may be; currently looking at Magaav (less than currently), Osyluth/Bone Devil (Constant—fly
At will—dimensional anchor, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), invisibility (self only), major image (DC 17), wall of ice
3/day—quickened invisibility (self only)
1/day—summon (level 4, 1 bone devil, 35%))
or Hamatula/Barbed Devil
At will—greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), hold person (DC 17), major image (DC 17), produce flame, pyrotechnics (DC 16), scorching ray (2 rays only) 1/day—order's wrath (DC 18), summon (level 4, 1 barbed devil 35%), unholy blight (DC 18)
but those last two won't be for quite a while. Leaning towards an Osyluth at the moment. Depends on how this devilish advancement works I spose :)
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The Hamatula has way nicer SLAs, IMO (although at will wall of ice has potential as a stalling / control tactic).
Gotta love hold person and scorching ray at will. Pyrotechnics is not terrible for save or suckage, since blinded is such a sweet condition to impose on others, and even once / day order's wrath and unholy blight can be fun.
Still, the osyluth's at will invisibility (and quickened invisibility 3/day) has potential if you plan on picking up some rogue levels as well. Plus the fly at will is all kinds of sweet.
I'm going to be tying the devilish promotion to specific points in the AP that make sense - that is when there is either a suitably unholy place to hold a ritual, or suitably holy place to defile.
Mechanically - the first opportunity will be at ~6-7th level.
Yeah the Hamatula's are definately better for SLAs, but Osyluth gets more attacks and is large :) I like the Fluff for Osyluth's better too. The Quickened Invisibility is from Quicken Spell-Like ability, so it would also take a feat slot (since VoV has said I get to retrain feats and such when he changes). Dimensional Anchor is not to be sneezed at either when we're going to be going up against celestial types. Still, a fair way off though.
And uhh, nice work handling Mi'Dre there, hehehe :p
I'm going to be tying the devilish promotion to specific points in the AP that make sense - that is when there is either a suitably unholy place to hold a ritual, or suitably holy place to defile.
Mechanically - the first opportunity will be at ~6-7th level.
Ahh awesome, so okay for either the Magaav or perhaps an Osyluth (with hitdice still to gain as he has to adjust to his new form).
Personally I prefer parties of 5 but I am good with whatever is decided. I will have my equip list ready tonight.
Just remembered there were a few more pieces of loot Mi'Dre had (from the guard's lockers, now added to his sheet). Can I retroactively say he asked for the silver holy symbol of Iomedae to be ground up for silver dust?
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Being able to change avatars, when using a hat of disguise like item, is pretty sweet.
An option to have it only change for certain posts, would be sweeter, but this will do.
(If I really cared, I could make up another Alias for 'Albina in Drag,' but I'm not that motivated. I've got way, way too many Aliases as it is...)