I'm fine with moving on to the next one, assuming we perish in the struggle against the evil manticore.
If we're waiting for the rogue to pull off a stunning victory we could be waiting a long time!
Flying creature with good saves is just too strong. Short of a couple of good archers AND someone to get the fly effect there's no way this ends well.
What slightly ticks me off is that the DD book specifically tells GMs that the +1 weapon should NOT be a ranged weapon "as it can skew the results of this playtest." (actual quote!)
For what it's worth, I *am* enjoying myself with the playtest =P
Ali, remember that if you make the recovery save, you wake up and can act in the same round.
Badia - I don't think that's right. Alistilae made his save, which reduces him from Dying 1 to Dying 0. The new errata states that "When you’re unconscious and at 0 HP but no longer dying, you naturally return to 1 HP and awaken after sufficient time passes. The GM determines how long you remain unconscious, from at least 10 minutes to several hours."
So Alistilae is at 1 hit point but unconscious for an undetermined amount of time.
If you think I've misread it, let me know!
Ah, you're right. My mistake.
The DD book says the manticore encounter happens when you're 2/3rds of the way up the mountain, so...
So. I think one person is still standing?
If ever there were a time for Naadhira to land a critical hit, now would be it.
Not this time, I doubt even if he takes double damage he won't die from it.
Am I still dying 1 with my 37 recovery check?
Sorry, my bad! You're just unconscious at 0 hit points, same as Ali.
Still getting to grips with the rules
Been a looong time since I wiped a party out.
Sorry all. Still thinking if I could have done anything differently - maybe I should have had the beast flee when you reduced it to 50% hit points? I don't know.
The problem I think with the PF2 system is that fights are desperately swingy, and that +15 modifier to hit made crits all too easy to come by.
That plus poor ranged damage capabilities in the party. Three gusts of wind that did nothing. A few acid arrows or magic missiles would have helped a lot.
Technically Ali and Naadhira could use their Hero Points to stand up and try a few Hail Mary attacks, but I am okay with writing this part off and moving on to part 3.
Yeah, save-or-suck against something that saves on a 3+ (and critically saves on a 13+) is a bit unfair...
I'll post the character creation rules for part 3 in due course.
And I'll give you all an extra Hero Point for staying the course after that massacre :/
I don't think there's anything more that I could have done there. If it were within 30 feet I could have webbed it, but I never got a good shot and it takes 3 actions to cast. Everything I had (except gust) was 30ft or less.
At least I managed to save Caraid... who is now stranded in the middle of the desert surrounded by quicksand and Gnolls.
I had some really bad rolls, were there any pugwampis hiding near us?
Normally when I DM I have animals run pretty early if they get hurt, but I'm not sure how much liberty you have in running this and either way it's a judgement call.
I'm happy to go to part 3, after I mourn a little for Naadhira.
He crit us, what, 10 times? Compared to us critting him 0 times. I had maxed out my attack and could only crit on a 20. And we did 91 damage and he still did not fall. The rules greatly favor the monsters.
RIP, Badia. You're leaping in froggy heaven now.
Yeah, I had the hyenadon run away; and the manticore was only a few hp away from dying, at the end, but I sort of figured it was vicious enough to want to kill you all for hurting it.
But that +15 to hit meant it was way too easy to crit you all. And when the rogue and the wizard have the highest AC, something isn't right...
Armor is underpowered.
Also, I picked the wrong totem. If I had chosen another, I could have used the +1 falchion while raging and done more damage.
I intentionally sacrificed some durability for intelligence. I wanted to be knowledgeable, have Gnoll as a language, and be more supportive in the skills aspect. I don't think 1 or 2 more AC would have helped me though. Unless I have over AC 25, those attacks will hit me at least 50% of the time.
Well it was fun while it lasted. :) I'll probably reuse Caraid's alias at least - only got a couple spare, specially if I'm trying to hold on to Edric for the next few scenarios.
Fights are certainly as swingy as heck... maybe time to try an archer :)
OK, character generation for the next meat grinder adventure:
7th level
Standard background from core book
Classes: 2 of you (at least) need to be clerics channelling positive energy. The other 2 should be classes capable of healing to some extent (e.g. alchemist, bard, paladin usw).
Gear: you start with one 6th-level item, two 5th-level items, one 4th-level item, two 3rd-level items, and 125 gold pieces (i.e. 1,250 silver) to spend on any additional items.
One of you gets to start with a suit of +2 armour (your choice of armour type).
You can pool your money to buy magic items.
You also start with 3 Hero Points.
I'll put up the introduction in gameplay so you know what you're dealing with.
I'll do a cleric. And does it really force us into this much healing? Holy....
Also who wants the armor? I say Brainiac after last time! :P
Maybe Brainiac has had enough of being the front-liner - and I wouldn't blame them :(
And yes, there's a lot of positive energy being sloshed about in this one. But then, it is set in Ustalav.
I'll go paladin and take the armor. :D
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Thinking about it this would be a good time for Bitey the Goblin Bard... :D but I'm not that cruel!
I'm looking at a cleric of Gorum, for and probably speaking like Brian Blessed.
What Anathema will a gorumite have?
Wastrel said no goblin PCs, alas. :)
Gorum's anathema is on page 288 of the Rulebook: "kill prisoners or surrendering foes, prevent conflict through negotiation, win a battle through underhanded tactics or indirect magic."
Cool.
I'm building for Channel Smite and Irresistible Energy for lots of single target holy smiting. Other cleric might want to be more 'positive energy bomb' build? :)
It is Anathema not to use ALL CAPS to write the name of BRIAN BLESSED
(Seriously: tvtropes has his name in caps lock whenever it appears)
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HAWKMEN! DIIIIIVE!
I think that's a firm YES to your character concept, Nikolaus!
Working on a paladin of Shelyn now. I'm actually quite happy about what she's going to be capable of with her abilities. We'll see how she does in actual play.
I have been reborn as Rozalia Tilescu, paladin of Shelyn. I believe everything is correct on my character sheet. Brief backstory to come later today.
I can play a cleric or a bard. What do you prefer, Fox?
Hi Rozalia - impressively speedy work!
Do you mind giving me a breakdown of your hit points and saves? I can't get to those totals and I want to see what I missed. Thanks
Also - I take it that you are calling dibs on the +2 armour? Just want to make sure nobody else claims it as well.
Give me a moment or two and a few more cups of coffee. I just woke up it's 5:30 right now.
DM what can you tell me about our location and starting goal? I always build character concepts from that.
And THEN I read the gameplay tab XD
I'll take cleric. Since we have a cleric of Gorum, I'll go more support/AoE. That ank makes me think a cleric of Sarenrae would be good, but I don't think she has a presence in Ustalav?
The cult of the Dawnflower gets everywhere - despite the best efforts of hard working villains, who toil for long hours unappreciated, making one sacrifice after another, unsparing of their families or anyone else in their attempts to Make Sarenrae History...
I don't get the reference, but you're saying the religion of Sarenrae has spread to Ustalav
Yes, sorry if that wasn't clear!
I shall play as a Sarenrae missionary who travelled to Ustalav to convert the populace, but was never truly trusted. She made some friends (first the bard, then the paladin, and finally the Gorumite) and eventually learned that it was more effective to bring light to the lands by destroying the dark, rather than through rhetoric and contrition.
HP: 8 human + ([10 class + 3 Con mod] x 7) + 7 Toughness = 106
Fort: 9 master proficiency + 3 Con + 2 armor = +14
Ref: 7 trained proficiency + 1 Dex + 2 armor = +10
Will: 8 trained proficeincy + 2 Wis + 2 armor = +12
Gah - I always forget about the armour! And I missed the Toughness feat. Bad GM.
Thanks Rozalia.
@TreasureFox - sounds good. No shortage of darkness in Ustalav!
I might be a bit slow. Got a vicious cold that has kept me in bed for almost two days now. Hopefully, I'll get to push out my character by tomorrow at the latest.
Bouncing back and forth between a demonic sorceror (emo level 9000) or a bard. Both have access to heal, so there's that.
Is there any point in me investing in Intimidate or is everything we fight going to be immune? I like it for a Gorumite, particularly Battle Cry, but if its all undead I don't think there's much point?
I don't think undead are specifically immune to fear anymore, so I think Intimidate might still be useful.
Looking through the Bestiary, most undead are only immune to asleep, death effects, disease, paralysis, and poison.
I don't have the bestiary with me, but that's my understanding as well. The immune to mental effects thing is much more tightly restricted now.
By the way, I can't actually use the staff of healing on my character sheet. I didn't have any other better 3rd-level items to get, so I picked that with intentions of giving it to one of the clerics.