Right! OK, so I'm gonna assume we win init and each get a surprise round to boot. :)
Well, we could have Dragomir pick a fight with him and then I can diplomacy-diffuse the situation and earn the XP that way. ;-)
Hey Cyn, me and I believe it was Karrik still need to tell everyone about the haunt siphons. I assume we will do that back at the house before divvying everything up.
Which brings me to my next question--in order to neutralize haunts we have to deal positive energy damage to them. If I splash holy water around in the haunt's area, does that count as "positive energy" damage? I know it hurts creatures that have "good" damage reduction, but I don't know if that counts as the same.
If holy water does help to neutralize haunts, I will be asking Iona if she can direct me to whomever is in charge of the temple resources so I can see if I can buy some holy water on credit. I have a plan, but if the holy water doesn't work on haunts then I won't do it since we have quite a bit already
Well, we could have Dragomir pick a fight with him and then I can diplomacy-diffuse the situation and earn the XP that way.
Buh-buh-but I'm supposed to stab people in the head, Walt said so!
Well, the benefit to you stabbing him in the head is that when he dies and the Sheriff and his Deputy show up, it's more XP for us!
Hmm, this could work...
"Listen, Mayor. Yes, we murdered old Gibs, and your local law enforcement. But in doing so we gained enough power, AKA 'Hit points', to drive the evil souls from Harrowstone for good. So really, you should thank us."
I don't see a problem with that at all.
Which brings me to my next question--in order to neutralize haunts we have to deal positive energy damage to them. If I splash holy water around in the haunt's area, does that count as "positive energy" damage? I know it hurts creatures that have "good" damage reduction, but I don't know if that counts as the same.
If holy water does help to neutralize haunts, I will be asking Iona if she can direct me to whomever is in charge of the temple resources so I can see if I can buy some holy water on credit. I have a plan, but if the holy water doesn't work on haunts then I won't do it since we have quite a bit already
Let me get back to you with a proper ruling on that one--I will need to re-read some of the AP to be sure, but from memory, holy water works to disable some haunts, and does deal damage to others, but I am not confident in saying that is always the case.
Plus I want to take the opportunity to work out how I am going to run the haunts, mechanically speaking. I have all the general stuff sorted out, but getting it right in a PbP can be tough.
So I will try to get back to you tonight, in around 12 hours. That okay?
Well, the benefit to you stabbing him in the head is that when he dies and the Sheriff and his Deputy show up, it's more XP for us!
Hmm, this could work...
"Listen, Mayor. Yes, we murdered old Gibs, and your local law enforcement. But in doing so we gained enough power, AKA 'Hit points', to drive the evil souls from Harrowstone for good. So really, you should thank us."
I don't see a problem with that at all.
<slides Lem's alignment toward Neutral Evil>
; )
Gibs' stats are on page 21 of HoH.
Which brings me to my next question--in order to neutralize haunts we have to deal positive energy damage to them. If I splash holy water around in the haunt's area, does that count as "positive energy" damage? I know it hurts creatures that have "good" damage reduction, but I don't know if that counts as the same.
If holy water does help to neutralize haunts, I will be asking Iona if she can direct me to whomever is in charge of the temple resources so I can see if I can buy some holy water on credit. I have a plan, but if the holy water doesn't work on haunts then I won't do it since we have quite a bit already
Let me get back to you with a proper ruling on that one--I will need to re-read some of the AP to be sure, but from memory, holy water works to disable some haunts, and does deal damage to others, but I am not confident in saying that is always the case.
Plus I want to take the opportunity to work out how I am going to run the haunts, mechanically speaking. I have all the general stuff sorted out, but getting it right in a PbP can be tough.
So I will try to get back to you tonight, in around 12 hours. That okay?
Sounds good. I think I'll go ahead and post question to Iona tonight asking about who I should speak to regarding holy water. I'll post it in maybe a half hour or so.
Be careful, folks. Lem's player has a long history of degenerate holy water abuse with prior characters.
Be careful, folks. Lem's player has a long history of degenerate holy water abuse with prior characters.
A handy haversack is a beautiful thing
Hey guys, I want to download a PDF. I have the Pathfinder Advantage because I now have an AP subscription. When I put the PDF in my shopping cart, it doesn't reduce the price and has a thing that says "Pathfinder Advantage, subscribe today to get 30% off" or whatever.
Do I have to activate Pathfinder advantage somehow?
I don't think it shows the discount until you start checking out.
Hmm, it never showed up. It was the Pirates of the Inner Sea pdf. The print version is 10.99 and the PDF is 7.99. It charged me 7.99, but I thought the Pathfinder Advantage would take off 30% of that. Who should I speak to about this?
Hmm, it never showed up. It was the Pirates of the Inner Sea pdf. The print version is 10.99 and the PDF is 7.99. It charged me 7.99, but I thought the Pathfinder Advantage would take off 30% of that. Who should I speak to about this?
It should look like
<strikethrough>$19.99</strikethrough>
$16.99
when you are looking at your shopping cart.
If it doesn't, then send an e-mail to customer service. Link's at the bottom of every Paizo page.
Cool, thanks.
Hey guys, I want to download a PDF. I have the Pathfinder Advantage because I now have an AP subscription. When I put the PDF in my shopping cart, it doesn't reduce the price and has a thing that says "Pathfinder Advantage, subscribe today to get 30% off" or whatever.
Do I have to activate Pathfinder advantage somehow?
If you haven't already heard back from customer service, I imagine what's happening is that you probably need to have the first volume of the AP shipped to you before the Pathfinder Advantage will apply. Otherwise Paizo could open itself up to folks turning up, saying "I'll subscribe!" and then getting 30% off the entire catalogue without Paizo being certain of the income from the subscription, because they could cancel their subscription after making the order.
Paizo is already generous enough with its subscription rules; you're able to unsubscribe at any time with no notice and no consequences, and then resubscribe again later. I'm sure they have mechanisms for weeding out the real exploiters of that system, but there's a lot of trust being shown there that folks will honour the commitment they've made to subscribe. Being in a small business myself, I can tell you that cashflow is king, and foregoing that subscription revenue must surely have the potential to be really painful.
Hey Cyn, have you made a ruling on the holy water thing? No big deal, just asking because it will affect the amount of holy water I try to acquire.
Just a heads up, Karrik has quite a bit of gold in reserve as well. So before we head into any adventure, we should put some serious thought into the best way to use it.
Well, Septimus could use a new alchemist's lab...
Well, Septimus could use a new Still...
Fixed that euphemism for ya, chief.
I'm just gonna admit it... I can think of nothing but the Transformers every time I read Septimus's name.
SEPTIMUS PRIME!
Transformers... Alchemists in disguise. :)
Hey Cyn, have you made a ruling on the holy water thing? No big deal, just asking because it will affect the amount of holy water I try to acquire.
By RAW, the only thing that can affect a haunt is positive energy. Some haunts have specific weaknesses in addition to that, but positive energy (via a cure spell or a channel) is the only sure-fire way to damage a haunt.
I am wavering though, because although (a) as a group you don't have access to any channelling, (b) you are a group of eight and I don't want to reduce Harrowstone to a lengthy 'chuck holy water at anything that moves' experience.
So I'm of a mind to rule that no, holy water doesn't work on haunts. It will, however, still work on undead, so taking some into Harrowstone will still be useful. And while I could treat haunts as incorporeal thingummies and make you pour your holy water on them instead of throwing it, to my mind haunts don't really work that way--it's hard to damage them directly as they are the creepy result of intense emotions. They don't really have a localised presence, even if they are manipulating physical objects.
You will, therefore, need to be prepared to experience a lot of haunts in Harrowstone that you may not be able to overcome easily.
By using haunts, the author is able to present low-level challenges that--although relatively easy to avert and won't outright kill anyone--come back again and again until they're properly dealt with. Going and finding out how to deal with those recurring haunts, and then putting them to rest one by one, makes for both a much more satisfying means of pacifying Harrowstone, and a lengthier in-game stay in Ravengro, even if it runs counter to the usual expectations of Pathfinder (i.e. "running around jumping off of things and rolling under stuff and stabbing monsters in the head and so on", as Walter put it).
But then, this is a horror AP, and so a few tweaks to the usual model here and there are probably a good thing.
So both for metagame balance reasons, and for pacing reasons, and for campaign feel reasons, no, holy water won't work on haunts save for where it's explicitly mentioned in the haunt's description.
Hey Cyn, have you made a ruling on the holy water thing? No big deal, just asking because it will affect the amount of holy water I try to acquire.By RAW, the only thing that can affect a haunt is positive energy. Some haunts have specific weaknesses in addition to that, but positive energy (via a cure spell or a channel) is the only sure-fire way to damage a haunt.
So both for metagame balance reasons, and for pacing reasons, and for campaign feel reasons, no, holy water won't work on haunts save for where it's explicitly mentioned in the haunt's description.
There is one or two where you might want to allow it (something with hardness 10+).
Edited for a little error (thought about book 2)
Well, hopefully the stuff that Theron just told the sheriff will prevent a mass panic, and not contribute to it ;)
Hey Cyn, have you made a ruling on the holy water thing? No big deal, just asking because it will affect the amount of holy water I try to acquire.By RAW, the only thing that can affect a haunt is positive energy. Some haunts have specific weaknesses in addition to that, but positive energy (via a cure spell or a channel) is the only sure-fire way to damage a haunt.
So both for metagame balance reasons, and for pacing reasons, and for campaign feel reasons, no, holy water won't work on haunts save for where it's explicitly mentioned in the haunt's description.
There is one or two where you might want to allow it (something with hardness 10+).
Edited for a little error (thought about book 2)
I appreciate the thought, but I'd also appreciate if you'd refrain from revealing anything about the way the adventure is written. Or at least put things like that in spoiler tags.
As for that particular issue...
Well, hopefully the stuff that Theron just told the sheriff will prevent a mass panic, and not contribute to it ;)
Hopefully I've shown the Sheriff and his deputies to be level-headed so far--even if the Sheriff himself can get a little hot-headed at times. So you should be right. : )
Ok, I finally have a little time to type now...
Hey guys, I want to download a PDF. I have the Pathfinder Advantage because I now have an AP subscription. When I put the PDF in my shopping cart, it doesn't reduce the price and has a thing that says "Pathfinder Advantage, subscribe today to get 30% off" or whatever.
Do I have to activate Pathfinder advantage somehow?
If you haven't already heard back from customer service, I imagine what's happening is that you probably need to have the first volume of the AP shipped to you before the Pathfinder Advantage will apply. Otherwise Paizo could open itself up to folks turning up, saying "I'll subscribe!" and then getting 30% off the entire catalogue without Paizo being certain of the income from the subscription, because they could cancel their subscription after making the order.
Paizo is already generous enough with its subscription rules; you're able to unsubscribe at any time with no notice and no consequences, and then resubscribe again later. I'm sure they have mechanisms for weeding out the real exploiters of that system, but there's a lot of trust being shown there that folks will honour the commitment they've made to subscribe. Being in a small business myself, I can tell you that cashflow is king, and foregoing that subscription revenue must surely have the potential to be really painful.
Yeah, that makes sense, but I thought they already charged me for the first volume of the AP, so I thought I should at least get the Pathfinder Advantage up to the time when the second adventure releases. Maybe they don't actually charge my account until the adventure actually ships. (I assumed this wasn't the case, since I was able to get the free download. If they allowed a free download before charging for the subscription, wouldn't people just get the subscription, download the adventure for free, then cancel?)
Anyway, it's only $1.20, but I hope someone gets back to me.
Update--as I was typing this I checked my email and saw the response from Paizo, which mentioned that it should have been active at that time and I was given a credit for the $1.20. Sweet! :-)
Hey Cyn, have you made a ruling on the holy water thing? No big deal, just asking because it will affect the amount of holy water I try to acquire.By RAW, the only thing that can affect a haunt is positive energy. Some haunts have specific weaknesses in addition to that, but positive energy (via a cure spell or a channel) is the only sure-fire way to damage a haunt.
I am wavering though, because although (a) as a group you don't have access to any channelling, (b) you are a group of eight and I don't want to reduce Harrowstone to a lengthy 'chuck holy water at anything that moves' experience.
So I'm of a mind to rule that no, holy water doesn't work on haunts. It will, however, still work on undead, so taking some into Harrowstone will still be useful. And while I could treat haunts as incorporeal thingummies and make you pour your holy water on them instead of throwing it, to my mind haunts don't really work that way--it's hard to damage them directly as they are the creepy result of intense emotions. They don't really have a localised presence, even if they are manipulating physical objects.
You will, therefore, need to be prepared to experience a lot of haunts in Harrowstone that you may not be able to overcome easily.
** spoiler omitted **...
Sounds good. I totally understand the ruling, I was just curious. I'm really excited about Supernatural-style taking care of the haunts one at a time.
Well, hopefully the stuff that Theron just told the sheriff will prevent a mass panic, and not contribute to it ;)Hopefully I've shown the Sheriff and his deputies to be level-headed so far--even if the Sheriff himself can get a little hot-headed at times. So you should be right. : )
Yea, I definitely got that impression of the sheriff, though I was being more cautious of the deputies and worried about their reactions, ;)
Yea, I definitely got that impression of the sheriff, though I was being more cautious of the deputies and worried about their reactions, ;)Well, hopefully the stuff that Theron just told the sheriff will prevent a mass panic, and not contribute to it ;)Hopefully I've shown the Sheriff and his deputies to be level-headed so far--even if the Sheriff himself can get a little hot-headed at times. So you should be right. : )
Well, only one of them can hear you right now, and she's a woman, which--so my wife tells me--makes her the sensible one.
; )
Oh, it’s probably nothing, but I noticed that all of the inmates were admitted into Harrowstone by a man named Gurtis Vortch. Do you know anything about him?
I had considered this, too, so good call on bringing it up. As Iona said, I think it likely that it was just his job, but (as I'm sure you're most interested in) if he's still alive and we could interview him? Could be very helpful.
The only other thing(s) I'd like to do is to see if we can get some kind of map of Harrowstone. GIven that we know where the Prisoners were located within, even a rough map could give us some insights as to where to expect them as we move through.
Then we should put a little bit of time into gearing up. :)
So, I think we should try and have Kendra be on night watch for more letters. It might make her less upset over not going into harrowstone, since she'd still be doing something to protect the town.
Well, only one of them can hear you right now, and she's a woman, which--so my wife tells me--makes her the sensible one.
; )
XD
Oof. I'm for our characters helping the sheriff out as de facto deputies to patrol the area in case of more letters appearing. We could even sweep in 2-man teams when we aren't Harrowstoning. (It's a new verb)
But I'm a little concerned about Kendra patrolling by herself or when we aren't around. If she insists, OK.
That was my reaction as well, Rajuna. I'd rather have her cooling her heels in a comfortable and safe location <cough><sheriff's office><cough> than wandering around by herself when we know a serial killer or copycat killer is likely on the loose.
Yea true, it would probably be good to use two man teams. We don't really know if we'll have to deal with ghosts outside of Harrowstone.
However, I am concerned about what the locals might think if they saw outsiders patrolling their town, lol. Maybe the best option would be to have someone patrolling with Kendra? [cough]Raj[/cough]
Bahahaha! I love the banter of this group. Hilarious. : )
Does anyone object if I ship you all back to the house to start making preparations? Happy for Lem to finish his conversations at the temple simultaneously.
Bahahaha! I love the banter of this group. Hilarious. : )
Does anyone object if I ship you all back to the house to start making preparations? Happy for Lem to finish his conversations at the temple simultaneously.
;)
Sounds good to me. At least, I've finished everything I was planning to talk to the professor about. Now I just have to get people to look at that book I've been holding onto before it is too late, haha. I have a feeling that only Rose is going to be able to read it though.
Harrowstoning
So... during the day, the characters are going to run around town and interact with the townsfolk inbetween periodic bouts of research, and at night, everyone is going to travel through a labyrinthian dungeon until we're exhausted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbsAyGQ0k_U
: )
Does anyone object if I ship you all back to the house to start making preparations?
Sounds good.
However, I am concerned about what the locals might think if they saw outsiders patrolling their town, lol.
This might work to our advantage if the Sheriff makes it clear that we are 'helping out' the local law enforcement due to our 'experience'. We might be able to get information from folks as needed as we investigate... uh... stuff.
And we'll just ignore the fact that Raj's 'law enforcement experience' was more on the side of how to elude the cops than help them. :P
Maybe the best option would be to have someone patrolling with Kendra? [cough]Raj[/cough]
'Patrolling'? Is that what you kids are calling it now-a-days? :D
Cyn - I'm totally good with you hitting the Fast Forward button to get us back to the house.
I wonder what Arcana each character would be.
Hmmmm.
I've never been a fan of Anime but I do respect Atlus for putting out some seriously 'against the norm' games... particularly the Shin Megami Tensei series. (Digital Devil, etc.)
I think I have 5 of their games. :)
After a long day, everyone is glad to get back to Kendra's house to rest--but serious discussions are needed to prepare for any attempt to assail Harrowstone.
###
Well, here's what I'm thinking.
1) We should go to Harrowstone in the daytime. Pretty obvious, right?
2) Default marching order is probably a good idea.
3) Well, if they're Arcane spells they can't be used by Divine casters, even if the spell is on both lists, right? If that's the case, only Septimus can use them.
4) Not sure.
5) Probably very soon. ;-)
Here's Rajuna's list
- 12 × alchemical silver arrows <- 2 Raj, 10 Theron - DONE
- 10 × magical arrows (Type A: +1) <- 2 Raj, 8 Theron - DONE
- 5 × magical arrows (Type B: +1 Ghost Touch) <- 2 Raj, 3 Theron - DONE
- 2 × magical arrows (Type C: +1 Undead Bane) <- 2 Theron - DONE
- 4 × sunrods <- 2 Raj, 1 Drago, 1 Lem -- DONE
- 12 × flasks of holy water <- 1 Drago, 2 Walt, 2 Lem, 1 Raj -- 6 more now, anyone want some?
- 5 × potions of cure light wounds <- 1 Drago, 1 Raj, 1 Walt, 1 Karrik, 1 Rose -- DONE
- 2 × potions (Lesser Restoration) <- 1 Walt, 1 Drago -- DONE
- scroll of detect undead <- Walt -- DONE
- 2 × scrolls of hide from undead <- 1 Walt, 1 Lem -- DONE
- scroll of protection from evil <- Lem -- DONE
- scroll of detect undead <- Septimus? -- DONE
- scroll of anticipate peril <- Septimus? -- DONE
- thin darkwood case (planchette, etc.) <- Walt -- DONE
- 5 x Haunt Siphons <- Maybe Karrik and Rose can have these, as Walt and I can use Cure Spells to hit the haunts.-- ???
Good thinking on saying that you could pay them back later.
Hmmm, I have those ghost touch arrows, so I'll let other people take the holy water. Worst comes to worse, I can use Disrupt Undead, even if it would only do half damage.
After a long day, everyone is glad to get back to Kendra's house to rest--but serious discussions are needed to prepare for any attempt to assail Harrowstone.
###
Well, here's what I'm thinking.
1) We should go to Harrowstone in the daytime. Pretty obvious, right?
2) Default marching order is probably a good idea.
3) Well, if they're Arcane spells they can't be used by Divine casters, even if the spell is on both lists, right? If that's the case, only Septimus can use them.
4) Not sure.
5) Probably very soon. ;-)
I should add that I am perfectly happy for you to sort all this out in the discussion thread. No need to spend time crafting posts--save for telling Kendra she has to stay home. ; )
Oh, and on the arcane scrolls, I seem to recall that they're on the magus spell list as well, so Karrik and Rose could have them. I could be wrong, I'm going off memory here.
No need to spend time crafting posts--save for telling Kendra she has to stay home. ; )
Yea, I bet you're planning to have fun with that part ;)
Just verified, Detect Undead and Anticipate Peril are not on the Magus spell list.
Definitely nominating Raj to tell Kendra she ain't coming.
ROFLMAO!
Oh, I see how this is goin' down. I'm the sacrificial lamb. :D
We will need to adjust the Default 2-across and single-file marching orders to account for Septimus, unless it seems best to just slot him in where Kendra was?
I copy/pasted from the Crypt, if this is the correct one (just did a quick search for it).
Rajuna/Rose <- Scout&Traps / Vision&Fight&Spells
Dragomir/Karrik <- Crunch / Fight&Spells
Flori/Lem <- Spells / Centralized Healing
Kendra/Walter <- Spells / Oracular Goodness
Theron <- Distance Weapon/Rear-guard