Why Can't Fighters Have Nice Hobgoblins? Ironfang Invasion

Game Master Stalwart

What do you all think?

Sneak out now and go back to camp, or clear the fort (at least taking out Halk if not all the fey)?

I am okay with either. I think this place is far enough away that they won't bother us if we leave them here, and in a couple of levels the "lost" XP and loot won't matter so much.

If we go back to camp, I would say we take a couple of days to craft items and then head out for the next fort, which Ceirio can point us to.

If we clear more of this fort, I say we try to make a beeline for Halk - if we take him out, the Revel might disperse. Or fall to fighting among themselves. And maybe we'll find Ceirio's stuff.

I guess I lean towards just leaving now.

Sneaking past the first time, we gained the XP, so there's no loss there.

I lean toward leaving. I don't see the value in clearing the fort at this point.

Let’s go then. Keep the story moving and keep our rescued halfling safe

Sounds good. I'll get a post up later this afternoon/evening.

After selling the loot at the end of Book 1, everybody got 3,000 GP (in addition to whatever they had before).

Grum spent his on a +1 armor upgrade and +1 weapon upgrade.
Aerel did that as well.
Benedict got +1 armor upgrade and 650 gp in NPC-brewed potions; with what he had already, that left him with 2008 gp (enough to craft his Belt, which he just did).
Amkarang upgraded his Meteor Hammer (2,000 gp), not sure if he got anything else at that time.
William, did you ever take your 3,000 gp from that distribution and do anything with it?

If we now sell the stuff from the archer ambush, we have another 670 each. Benedict can craft items, or Rhyna can brew potions, or we can buy wands or scrolls or low-cost items. Or save up.

I might suggest Weapon Blanches for the archers. Each one coats 10 pieces of ammunition and they last until a hit. Ghost Salt (200), Adamantine (100), and Silver (5) are all quite useful. (For Cold Iron it is cheap enough to just get such arrows.)

I am behind in updating my inventory, both for the items you have distributed and for the things I have used recently.

I eventually need to look at a belt of strength and/or muleback cords (I think that's what they are called) to augment my carrying capacity. Other than that, I think the suggestion for the blanches and cold iron arrows make the most sense for Aerel.

I have no concerns with the proposed items to sell.

Ok, I've added the gold to my sheet and I'm looking to upgrade my bow to +1. I will need mithral armor at some point but it may be best to wait until I can afford mithral full plate.

I can craft bows and arrows. If anyone wants these I will be happy to make them. I can make cold iron and adamantine as well as mithral. I'll need to get some cold iron to make a bunch of those arrows. Any adamantine or mithral will take longer to make.

Actually, Aerel can craft bows and arrows, also, so he could aid William's checks if we are going to have that much downtime.

Also, you now have followers! While they are accompanying you, on the second or later round of any combat, you can make a Diplomacy or Intimidate check, DC 12, as a free action to get an Aid Another bonus to your AC or your next attack, to have someone hand you something, to have someone make a First Aid attempt, or to have someone drag a fallen ally away from a battle. With a DC 17 check they will make an attack for you, but even the warrior is likely to go down fast if someone actually attacks them.

Is this rule still in effect?

Um, sure! If you want your folks to get into combat with you, I'll let them assist you.

I mean, we're still near the camp, which isn't the case for most of our fights. And we had equipped our four warriors (and our late elven commoner) with bows.

We could call in that support next round if needed - don't want to risk our followers in melee. They probably don't have Precise Shot, so this is probably not going to pay off in any meaningful way, but it's just keeping the followers part of the story.

I like to think that they have been having CR appropriate encounters as well. Fending off kobold thieves and whatnot, not bother the PCs with such trifling matters. But when they (maybe) settle down, they will have stories to tell. Such as how they purified the drinking water by beating the Pixie Queen in a game of riddles, or how they uncovered a mimic posing as an outhouse (in the middle of the woods of all places).

Everybody back?

I think we need to decide what to do next.

Grum wants to steer clear of the large plant creature whose tracks we found.
I want to follow the tracks.
Thoughts?

Grapples are bad
Plant creatures aren’t good food
They probably won’t have good loot

So Grum says nope

Not the same kind of plant creature that we fought before, so grappling might not be its thing.

And this plant creature might have something to do with why we keep getting owlbear attacks.

At the very least, it's a significant entity in the woods near us, that we should know about.

That's Benedict's reasoning for wanting to investigate.

@Everyone else, those are the arguments for and against. Happy to go with a majority vote on this.

Aerel is inclined to investigate. He's not particular interested in fighting another plant creature, especially since his fire arrows are all used up.

But he thinks they need to know what threats are in the area.

William is up for investigating. We need to know what threats are around and this one may be driving the owlbears into us.

I’m fine to investigate.

Hopefully we don't have to fight, and Benedict can Diplomacy/Bluff our way to success.

On XP, I assume it is another 480 for these owlbears like the last pair?

Actually, these were advanced owlbears, so the xp is 3200 for the pair.

640 each. Nice!
That puts my total at 18,320.
5th was 15,000, and 6th is 23,000.

Onwards and upwards!

I'll get a post up later today

I think our next plan should be to check out Fort Nunder. Anything else we need before we go?

Benedict will be happy to craft another item for somebody else if desired.

If the Darklands Merchant can provide scrolls, then a Scroll of Haste (375 gp) would be a big asset to the party for a tough fight; William can cast that spell from a scroll. If that is possible, Benedict will pick up such a scroll, leaving him at 303 gp (had 8 left after making the belt, got 670 from selling the highlighted items).

Weapon Blanches are Alchemical Creations, not Wondrous Items. We did find WAY back the components for crafting 600 gp of alchemical items, which we have never used. I think Benedict is the only one with Craft (Alchemy) at a +6, none of the NPCs have it (unless they got it with a promotion), so probably we are just buying the weapon blanches. They don't cost a ton, with Ghost Salt at 200 for 10 arrows, and Adamantine at 100.

Traps seem to be a hole in our all Fighter party. So I’m thinking of taking this feat:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/racial-feats/trap-wrecker-orc/

Benefit: You can attempt to disarm a trap by striking it with a melee weapon instead of making a Disable Device check. As a full-round action, make a melee attack against an Armor Class equal to the trap’s Disable Device DC. If you miss, the trap activates. If you hit, roll damage. If this damage is at least half the trap’s Disable Device DC, you disable the trap. If this damage is less than half the trap’s Disable Device DC, the trap activates. You can only attempt this on non-magical traps. You must be able to reach some part of the trap with your attack in order to use this feat. At the GM’s discretion, some traps may not be susceptible to this feat.

Anyone have any experience with this in action? Is it as useful as it seems?

Aerel can disable traps, actually. He has VMC Rogue and can do magical traps.

Oh shyt! So he isn’t just here for good looks! How’d I miss that? Thanks, it will save me a feat. :)

Well, the good looks aren’t bad as side benefits go...

So, I don't think Sir Kingston can actually Aid Another on attacks rolls unless he enters the enemys square (thereby provoking an AOO).

"If you’re in position to make a melee attack on an opponent that is engaging a friend in melee combat, you can attempt to aid your friend as a standard action."

Given that he is a Figment, you could give him the Reach evolution to get 5' reach. That would mean giving up whatever other Evolution he had before.

Is the map updated? I assume there is a troll 10' in front of us so our front line should 5' step and attack.

So, I don't think Sir Kingston can actually Aid Another on attacks rolls unless he enters the enemys square (thereby provoking an AOO).

"If you’re in position to make a melee attack on an opponent that is engaging a friend in melee combat, you can attempt to aid your friend as a standard action."

Given that he is a Figment, you could give him the Reach evolution to get 5' reach. That would mean giving up whatever other Evolution he had before.

Is the map updated? I assume there is a troll 10' in front of us so our front line should 5' step and attack.

And that’s why I like having you around! I’ll do that. Thank you :)

As you wish.

@Amkarang, for future rounds, I would guess these probably have too high a CMD to trip unless you get really good at it. You do a lot of damage and that may be a better choice.

You yourself have a 22 CMD, and the troll is bigger and stronger.

I had posted earlier:

And we have 11 CLW potions and 7 CMW potions. 2 CLW and 1 CMW each, with 1 CLW and 2 CMW in 'party stash.'

After that we identified one more CMW.

So we have 2 CLW and 1 CMW each, with 1 CLW and 3 CMW in 'party stash.'

@GM, I think you may want to things moving; Amkarang has been 'up' for five days, and the normal expectation is within 24 hours of your turn being up. I think that is a good rule of thumb to stick to.

If we were to bot him, based on IC advice, I guess Benedict would curse loudly and tell him to go back up Grum. This is a bad tactic but Grum is now stuck out there on his own which is even worse.

Generally, a melee brute that lacks a ranged attack is not a foe you need to close with. Especially one with multiple attacks and reach. Much better to let it come to us. But since Grum is there, I guess Amkarang needs to go help him. Benedict will be there next round.

It's not about the troll up front in my opinion, it's about getting to the magic using one in the back.

My 2 cents

Good points. I mainly didn't want to act for Amkarang since the tactics in this moment are fairly critical. But I'll go with your advice on his actions and bot him.

I think we need another 200 XP each for level 6!
So a trap or two should give that.

Debating Power Attack or Barroom Brawler for the Ftr6 feat... the extra damage would be nice, but "Being prepared for anything" is quite valuable too. Swarms and haunts in particular we would have trouble with, and Barroom Brawler can help.

So we just hit lvl6

HP: 6 (Class) +2 (Con) + 1 (Toughness) = +9
Saves: +1 Ref +1 Will
Skills: +3
Feat: Dazzling Display as standard action (from archetype)

Neat! I’ll get leveled either later today or tomorrow.

Btw. Out of all the gear the only thing that is an upgrade to me is the bow, as it would make full use of strength. But it isn’t needed as Grum is dex12 and is melee focused. So if anyone can make better use of it, I won’t complain

Aerel has no strength bonus, so the bow would be wasted on him other than the extended range. William would get the most use out of it, I believe, but I didn't look to see what he's already carrying.

OK, trying to take care of leveling up immediately so y'all aren't waiting on me like you have been for the last while. Thank you, by the way, for your patience, this was really the most I've felt like Aerel was contributing to this game, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Level 6 Fighter (archer)/Rogue
HP: 6 (class)+ 1 (con) = +7
Saves: +1 to each
Skills: +6 (Disable Device, Knowledge (dungeoneering, religion), Perception, Stealth, Survival)
Bonus feat:

The feat is a question, as it is every time I level up. I'm going to leave some notes here for myself and come back to it later.

Teamwork feats:

Coordinated Shot (ally in melee grants attack bonus to archer)
Covering Fire (archer grants AC bonus to ally in melee)
Volley Fire (attack bonus from allied archers)

Non-teamwork feats:
Deadly Aim (trade attack penalty for damage bonus)
Dedicated Adversary (gain favored enemy - thinking goblinoid)
Dodge (because - armor class)
Elven Accuracy (single re-roll of failed concealment roll)
Expert Sniper (halves penalty while sniping)
Far Shot (halves range penalty)
Focused Shot (add Intelligence modifier to damage roll)
Improved Initiative
Stabbing Shot (because - Legolas!)
Weapon Finesse (because I'm not going to avoid melee forever)
Weapon Focus (longbow, working toward Weapon Specialization)

Other thoughts since this list was created:

That would be Snap Shot and its sequel to make AOOs with a bow (though the range is very limited).

Point Blank Master removes the AOOs for using a bow, but requires Weapon Specialization (which is I think a very good feat for Aerel to take).

Stabbing Shot is an elf-only feat that works if you are caught in melee.

Generally I have seen archers annihilate everything with the machine gun of Weapon Specialization-Deadly Aim-Rapid Shot-Manyshot-Clustered Shots. The "one big hit" build using Focused Shot is intriguing for disrupting enemy spellcasters and could be fun tactically but is pretty far behind on damage. Overwatch Style closes the gap a bit.

As to your Sneak Attack, would Benedict using Greater Feint cause an opponent to lose his Dex bonus against the entire party's attacks? That could be a really good way to make use of his Bluff skill... and Aerel could even be using Rapid Shot rather than just a single attack... it would be three feats for Benedict to get there, so Level 8.

Leaning toward Deadly Aim or Clustered Shots at this point, but so many interesting choices remain.

I can use the long bow and will take it if there are no objections. I have an oil of magic weapon I can give to someone if they need it.

I took deadly aim as my feat this level. Can't pass up +4 to dam. I also get to pick one spell off the bloodrager list but don't know what to take. Any suggestions?

@Aerel - Aerel was awesome! Glad you got to feel you were contributing. I greatly appreciate Aerel's contributions.

@William - happy to give you the bow. As to spells, I would say Protection from Evil is a good choice for the protection against ongoing mental control (and the other bonuses are also nice). There are some fun and flavorful bloodrager spells like Barbed Chains that don't get used as often, but Prot Evil is just such a staple for a good reason. Mount could be useful to help carry this loot back to camp...

@All - I believe we know from Ceirio that the hobgoblins have an allied black dragon, so also acid like the Green Dragons that the Rangers more often fought. The ring should grant Resist Acid 10. Benedict naturally resists 5, so the ring should go to somebody else, but we can also try to get some potions of Resist Energy brewed for us.

Benedict's update:
HP +1d10+1 = +7 (new total of 46)
+1 to all saves
+1 BAB/CMB/CMD, and iterative attack
7 skill points: Perception, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, Bluff, Disguise, Knowledge (Religion), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) - the latter 2 to make use of Barroom Brawler to fight haunts or swarms
Feat: Barroom Brawler

I would say we split the Dragon-Bane arrows between Aerel and William.

@Amkarang - I don't know if you have any feats in mind, but Dirty Fighting could be good if you want to focus on Trip. That is already a pretty good option against hobgoblins, and if you got to Improved/Greater Trip (as Dirty Fighting qualifies you for them) you could reliably could trip Large foes as well at L8.

+8 BAB, +4 Greater Trip, +4 flanking (Dirty Fighting), +4 Str (with belt), +1 weapon, +1 WF, +1 Twin Blades, and then maybe +2 flag (with Banner of Ancient Kings). That's +25 right there. Then you could pick up Fury's Fall to boost it further if you wanted.

It would seem to make good use of the meteor hammer and our focus on humanoid enemies.

Of course, your Ftr6 feat can be retrained for free at Ftr8, so you can really take anything and not worry too much about being stuck with it.

I love that feat! Going to retrain F6 into that at the first opportunity

Interesting, I’ll look into it. I’ve been thinking of leaning more heavily on TWF, but I guess until I get my dex to 17 I can’t progress much further.

@Amkarang, we can probably get you that.
You have a Belt of +2 Con? For 3,000 gp in components, Benedict can add +2 Str or +2 Dex to the belt (then another 3,000 for the other stat).

I think you are getting close.
We each got 3,000 gp at the end of Book 1, and you spent 2,000 on making the meteor hammer magic. So 1,000 left.
Then there was a distribution of 670 each, and now it looks like a distribution of 675 each.
That bring Amkarang's total up to 2,345.

(Can you try to track this stuff on your sheet?)

Benedict would be willing to loan Amkarang the remaining 655 to upgrade the belt. Would Str or Dex be the first priority?

I don't think Benedict needs anything from the trader this time. Just selling the various weapons and things we got from the fort.

He'll ask Rhyna to brew a potion of Resist Energy (Acid), giving her 150 gp for the components.

If Amkarang wants his Belt to get either +2 Dex or +2 Str, Benedict will loan the gold that Amkarang needs, get the components, and do the crafting.

@All - keep or sell the Metamagic Rod? William can use it and does have some spells that benefit from it (like Shield). But he only gets 2 spells per day. Selling it gives us another 300 gp each.
I imagine the Marvelous Pigments could be useful. A very versatile item. We do have one refugee with Craft (Paintings) at a +5, and the DC is 15. So if Varesha can Take 10, we could get just about any non-magical item needed.
And keeping all the wands?

I’d probably bump Dex first, just so I can satisfy those requirements for Improved TWF eventually.

Sell what we can, I say.

I’d like to save up for this: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-armor/magic-armor-and-shield-spe cial-abilities/mind-buttressing/

8k gold for +2 Resistance bonus to saves and immune to possession and mental control (including charm and compulsion effects like command and charm person).

A good investment.