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So just thinking out loud... The the linked scenarios cone out Jan, Feb, March? If I have that right, I think we are ok... Because we just can't run more than 3 scenarios before we start the three linked ones, right? Or do I have my info mixed up?
-Posted with Wayfinder
You don't have to run the linked ones consecutively, but you are right: no more than 3 scenarios as well as the linked ones.
Sounds good. Then I can fill in in between! The main issue is poor Amaranti can't play. He's offered to run, if you'd like a break...
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I can run it... no big deal. Unless Amaranti really wants to run it. If he does, maybe I'll use a GM star replay, and play it with you all (I've got 3 replays, plus the boon to recharge... and that's until I get my 4th star).
If I did replay, I would for sure use Gunari, just so that Lort and Gunari can ride again!
It's all weird the way Paizo picks the top alias. I'm having trouble picking the right alias. Had to edit a post 4 times the other day before I finally got the right one.
Scarab Sages gets my vote, then.
Thanks for stepping up, Jyri! Lort and Gunari ride again... blown together by the winds of the north.
If you want to know my internal monologue with Lort, just listen to any recent (last 6 years) song by Amon Amarth (loud and on great speakers or headphones... otherwise, it's just white noise). Those songs are permanently stuck in his head. \m/
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SIGH.
Just killed a character in The Paths We Choose. I am not going spoiler what happened, but let us just say that you should never be anywhere near a combat at level 3 with 15hp. There was a dhampir cleric (negative energy) that had a CON 8.
Not a good decision. He almost died in the first combat, and now he is dead.
SIGH.
You killed a dhampir? Waste of a boon! ;-)
That's what you get for being a numb-skull, though. If you don't want the con, don't go toe-to-toe with the baddies!
You know you play too much PbP when...
The site is down and rather than do something productive at night, you watch crap TV in case the site comes back up again. Then you post over breakfast when it finally does come back up.
You know when you play too much PbP
When the site is down and you check to see if it came back on at a red light on the way to work and you want to pull over to make an Kn Arcana check....
You know when you play too much PbP
When the site is down and you check to see if it came back on at a red light on the way to work and you want to pull over to make an Kn Arcana check....
Hahahah, I checked on my drive home from work too, and then every 10 minutes for the rest of the night, and then this morning at 5am, 5:30am, and 6:00am. I was actually a bit panicked that I couldn't see what was happening.
Dude. Make a Knowledge (traffic safety) check instead! ;-)
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Bahahaha! I am guilty of all of these things! I almost drove off the road when my wayfinder app actually loaded!
-Posted with Wayfinder
Yeah, that's what it says on their FB and Twitter (not that I was obsessing last night...).
I feel like posting on the forums somewhere to tell them about the benefits of off-site hosting (with failover!) and the Amazon EC2 servers that can easily ramp up as needed for things like, I don't know, the Great Golem Sale, to stop the site from getting overloaded.
Seriously, what the hell is their IT department doing?
In other news, I searched around for alternative PbP options... but found none that I liked quite as much as the Paizo forums. Sigh. Then there are the other benefits of having it on Paizo (reviews, stalkers, PbPs hosted by others, existing aliases... etc). Not worth switching. But I did look into it! Paizo.com is so effing flaky.
Just by the way, I'll be (mostly) out of action tonight. Got a poker tournament. I may be able to post between hands, depends on how active the conversation at the table is.
I know the action is pretty intense right now, so I'll try to post like my usual ridiculous self until 6pm.
Oh, and by the way, I'm trying to track down why this encounter is harder than the one as written for the full complement of players in subtier 4-5. I can't find this "jalmeri leucrotta" anywhere - the referred to bestiary entry for it is just the standard leucrotta... so I can't figure out why the advanced leucrotta is so much harder than it. Since CR6 is correct for this encounter, it's more of an issue as to why the leucrotta they play tested with (and presumably didn't TPK with the current tactics) is more underpowered than the 4-player adjustment (and a party needing that adjustment would get WALLOPED by this if they weren't quite as good as you guys).
I think the tactics as written (getting you to be up in the trees) make this encounter at least 1 CR higher. CR 7 is not kosher for your APL.
Ah, the beauty of virtualization...
Anyway, not my job to tell them how to do a server implementation. ;-)
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Hey-o - I might have kicked a hornets nest on accident in RPG Superstar. If you are interested in some debate about the contest and such, go check out that thread.
If you haven't submitted an item yet... DO IT!!! you have today, and trust me, its awesome and fun, regardless of how well you do. Being part of the process is a fun ride.
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I have half of a mind to create a Rapier of Drunken Prowess. Something about taking a drink to reroll a missed attack, or something. Not sure yet...
Oh, how Gunari has infected my mind!
Or, I could build Faustus's The Final Arbitration.
Not sure at all what it would do, but it would have to be cool. Free Demoralize attempt when a critical is confirmed, or something. I dunno.
That's pretty impressive, Papasteve. Looks like you silenced your main critic, for now.
Thanks! Hopefully I don't make people mad, that certainly wasn't my intention. I just want people to see the whole picture. Sometimes people get so wrapped up in these "unofficial" rules that they automatically dismiss anything they see that breaks them, and I think it's unfair. Just had to say my piece... :)
am not argumentative, are too, are not, are too, are not, are too
Anyone want to talk about the merits of the Rick Porcello/Yoenis Cespedes trade?
:)
Ok, so if I may share my initial thoughts - that was .... irritating, but in a kinda sorta good way. Being 2nd level, I felt very nerfed. My attacks did no damage, and my secondary capabilities were marginal at best. Granted I am a level 2 going against something that was way out of my league - so those things are to be expected. But once you are in the fight, you want to do something. When you hit you feel good, when you miss you feel bad. Missing a lots feels very bad. All the encounters made sense, both thematically and practically. Leucrotta for a tiger was cool, outsider in a temple was cool.
I think that my main gripe could be that PCs are expected to always have the 'thing you should be able to do". The handful of scenarios I have seen so far have really run a wide spectrum of 'things you should be able to do', from skills, abilities, combat tactics, weapon types. If time permits over the upcoming holiday, I might peruse back through to see what we needed in order to achieve a success condition. At first blush, there might be too many 'things you should be able to do'. All it takes is one encounter where you don't have that TYSBATD, you are nerfed sitting on the sideline praying there isn't a TPK. In this encounter, without Gunari's good ability (THYSBATD), we would have been crushed.
So where does the fault lie: is my character too 1-dimensional, was my character unprepared (i.e. he should have had that something), was my character just too far below the CR of the encounter (and my expectations are too high), did I misplay my part, is it just the variability of rolling dice and missing a lot?
I though the adventure was very well written and (goes without saying) run very well. I just tend to be a pessimistic introspective person by nature.
Now you know how a bard feels. ;-)
Seriously, though, I wouldn't worry about your lack of effectiveness in the last fight too much. You needed the "good" buff to help out properly. Also, your shocking grasp just happened to be cancelled out by the asura's immunities. It was a real Finarin-buster (at any level). If you couldn't overcome its DR, I wouldn't have used blink.
The leucrotta (as I complained to Ben) had a much higher AC than it should have for the 4-player adjustment (higher than the original by 3). It was just carelessness on the author's behalf that made it happen. True that the actual encounter should have been harder, but that's a discussion for somewhere else.
That said: if you want to be a warrior-type that is taken seriously, you absolutely must be averaging over 10+ damage per hit. DR can and does always tend to happen, and if you can't deal more than 10 damage, you can't get past most DR creatures. It's always something specific, and chances are you won't have it. As a front line warrior, you simply must be able to push past DR with high damage. Oh, and that's just my opinion by the way. Thoughts vary, of course.
Finarin can do this, but he needs to get his spell-combat in order to be effective. This requires a lack of immunity to electricity on behalf of the bad-guy. Sorry!
Also, Finarin was 5 below the CR of the bad guy. In old school terms, that's a TPK for a party of 4 Finarin / Miro level characters. With 6 of you, it's a possible PC death.
Preparedness for those edge case scenarios is a massive key to success in PFS (and Pathfinder in general). Just look at Arturo's gear list (Hero Lab separates combat and regular gear in a very strange way, so read both). It's a hard-learned list, and costs about 250 gp to get. This is quite a hit at lower levels, but when you need it... you need it!
You can look into versatile weapon as well. Could help you out a lot in later levels, or as a scroll now.
Also, as was used very well in this encounter, don't forget about "aid another". Those rolls stack, and you can really help out a more beefy comrade get in some extra licks.... or to avoid taking a beating (Kaisharga's +2 AC for Gunari was instrumental in that).
Just to clarify my initial thoughts - and glad that you understood Damo, it was a very well written adventure, head and shoulders above Trail By Machine and Flesh Eaters, I am just trying to get better as a player. Those are fantastic suggestions and I will really look into them.
As an aside - how much does Hero's lab cost in its current iteration? I know it is pay per book. PCGen doesn't have the ACG in its database yet. Playing a pregen Skald and really liking it so I was going to roll one up over Christmas.
And Papasteve, my Superstar has 2 auto-reject features but I don't care. IMHO a good design is a good design.
You can get bundles and stuff, but I've shelled out almost $200 to get all the options I wanted. I have been using it for years and years now, though, and it's much easier to pay $10-20 at a time instead of all at once.
Hero Lab is $30. Pathfinder is $20.
For Finarin and Ophiuchus, you'd also need to add: Ultimate Magic (Magus class), Advanced Player's Guide (Oracle, and because it's so good that it is basically part of the core rule book) and Advanced Race Guide (Nagaji).
Those are $10 each.
If you want to include the PFS legal checks and the boons (etc) from the PFS field guide, you also need Player Companion #12 and Campaign Setting #6 repsectively for $5 each.
So, overall, you'd be looking at $80-90 to get a functional version of Hero Lab working for Finarin.
It's quite the cost, but I f*cking love Hero Lab. I don't want to game without it anymore.
Ohhh... good thoughts Bob. Here would be my response/reaction - because I felt similarly in the fight, mostly because the only way I could truely do damage is with sneak attack, and even then I had to do special things to make that work.
For me, the TYSBATD answer is encompassed in expendables. Expendables are something I have always dismissed as a waste of money. However, in this situation, having a handy "align weapon" scroll that had been collecting dust would have been ideal. Can't afford a magic weapon yet? Oil of magic weapon is 'only' 50 gold.
Like I said, I have always ignored these because they were a 'waste' of money on my way to saving up for my +11 weapon of awesomeness. I now see the incredible value of having a wide variety of these things, so you always have an answer to the TYSBATD question. Next scenario if we all/most of us carry an align weapon scroll, oil of magic weapon, antitoxins, etc, we theoretically should be prepared the next time we need to pull out all the stops.
I can tell you that I am definitely buying whatever it is that does stone-to-flesh in case we come across a basilisk or medusa...
I actually think this thread is the perfect place for the party to discuss what expendables we should all carry, particularly based on our recent experiences, and especially if we want to continue to play up. (and I do... that was awesome...)
So inspired by Bob/Finarin/Poochie's post, here is the first things off the top of my head we should all consider having, or at least someone having one of in the party:
-CLW wands (totally covered)
-Oil of magic weapon (until we can all afford our own, maybe even keep for secondary weapons, just in case)
-Antitoxin
-Alchemist Fire (for those pesky swarms)
-Whatever does flesh to stone
-Scroll of align weapon (good/lawful/chaos)
-Tiny hut
-EDIT: HOLY WATER *ahem*
-A bunch of other stuff I am already forgetting...
Oh, and $10 for Advanced Class if you want Scald.
Options and costs:
http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=hero_lab&page=pathfinder_rpg_ packages
Steve, nothing I know of does Flesh-to-Stone, but Smoked Goggles help with gaze attacks. Yes, Aturo does have a pair. ;-)
... and, dude: HOLY WATER.
*ahem*
You can get bundles and stuff, but I've shelled out almost $200 to get all the options I wanted. I have been using it for years and years now, though, and it's much easier to pay $10-20 at a time instead of all at once.
Hero Lab is $30. Pathfinder is $20.
For Finarin and Ophiuchus, you'd also need to add: Ultimate Magic (Magus class), Advanced Player's Guide (Oracle, and because it's so good that it is basically part of the core rule book) and Advanced Race Guide (Nagaji).
Those are $10 each.
If you want to include the PFS legal checks and the boons (etc) from the PFS field guide, you also need Player Companion #12 and Campaign Setting #6 repsectively for $5 each.
So, overall, you'd be looking at $80-90 to get a functional version of Hero Lab working for Finarin.
It's quite the cost, but I f*cking love Hero Lab. I don't want to game without it anymore.
+1 - I don't know how I gamed without it....
Only 10 gold! Sold. :)
... and, dude: HOLY WATER
Yes - total fail on our part there.
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TYSBATD?
I wouldn't say that Finarin was totally useless, but it may have seemed like he was. Magi have a tenancy to be all-or-nothing characters -- if you can land your nova strike you are golden, if not, you struggle. They also seem to take a few levels to really get started.
Things that might help you...
- Wand of Magic Missiles (always have a "pew pew" available -- doesn't help as much against critters with SR, but for others you can always do damage)
- Wand of Mage Armor
- Get your AC up -- Going to be tough before you hit 7th level and get Medium Armor proficiency, but a wand of shield as your opening move in combat never hurts.
- Make sure you have a variety of energy types. Consider getting Close Range arcana, so you can use rays with spell strike.
- Consumables, especially alchemical. If we had a bunch of Holy Water, you could have been flinging that!
All that being said, I haven't actually played a Magus, except as a BBEG. They tend to be great at nova-striking, but longevity in battle is hard.
The Wand Wielder arcana is pretty damned good... get a wand of Chill Touch to go with it, you are always spell-striking for extra damage (and negative energy at that).
Ray of Enfeeblement is also great whith Close Range and Spellstrike!
Just look for options... save your spell slots for attack spells, use consumables (scrolls, wands, potions) for utility.
I know that some of this will take some time, but I've seen Magi that are AWESOME! Just takes some time.
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I agree, being prepared for all kinds of encounters is the key. Perhaps the problem here was that we were playing up. Level 4-5 characters should have all kinds of tricks up their sleeve, whereas lvl 2-3 might not. I'd say it's part of the learning curve for the character and the player.
But such encounters are good learning experiences - there will be times when you won't be able to do any damage, and especially damage-dealers lose their main function. Then one just needs to figure out the ways to help others. Flanking, aiding, whatever is in your inventory...
Indeed. Oh, almost forgot about the immunity to flanking. It was a real party-f*cker, that one.
Anyway, once the epilogue is done and dusted, I'll be taking a break from my GMing duties. Jyri / GM Karma is stepping up to run Paths We Choose and I'm happy to play (ableit posting from Australia) over the coming weeks if he's happy to run it. There will be possible delays for me while flying (my flight leaves this Friday) and doing holiday / vacation stuff. Even when I'm posting, I'll be awake at totally different times to you. If you thought Finland was far away from the US timezone-wise, you ain't seen nothing yet!
Otherwise, we'll continue to smash Thornkeep, yeah?
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SMASH Thornkeep? THORNKEEP SMASH!
You ain't seen nothing yet. Though, I think you know why I suggested you all be 2nd level. That wight has a very good potential as a TPK encounter at 1st level.
Granted, it is only +4 to hit, but if it hits a 1st level character... you'll be facing 2 wights in 1-4 rounds. And so on. On the previous run that I GM'ed of this, it did happen. Of course the ONLY level one character charged in, and was hit.
Heck, it can even happen if the wight crits (doubles ALL damage, including level drain!)
There is still at least one more tricky encounter, but you've been through the worst. In the Accursed Halls. Each level gets tougher!
My first thought was, "What wight?"
Then I remembered I didn't open the knowledge roll spoilers (for probably the first time in my PbP career).
Just finished my Segang Expedition review.
Please do check it out if you're interested.
Also, Deussu (of the one month - one combat for Gunari and Lort fame) has only given it 3/5 stars due to it taking too long (got a pretty good idea of why his game took that long).
In unrelated news... if you liked the scenario, give serious thought to giving it a positive review (same with all scenarios we play, really).