PFS All for Immortality Hard Mode (Inactive)

Game Master KingTreyIII

By all means hit me up for advice! One piece of advice: only run it IRL if your group isn’t bound to a strict schedule (i.e. completing it in 3 4-hour sessions), because you will be pressed for time and a good chunk of the adventures—especially one part that you guys haven’t gotten to yet—is super roleplay heavy and you’ll likely not have time to do it that’s almost exactly what happened to me when I ran this the first time. These scenarios are surprisingly well-suited to PbP.

Thanks for the pick-me-up, Nox, now I feel a lot less bad about bull-rushing you into acid. :-)

Mwahahahahahaha!!!

Most GM that I know hate when characters die and they hate when they planeshift them into the negative plane.

Except that at this level, “death” is merely a status condition, so I don’t feel as bad.

PS: Nox, there is an in-game reason that this thing is targeting you; I’m not just being an a**. I’ll tell you when this combat is done.

... how? (That must be very great ac or very weird ability like a swarm)

We just know that bludgening doesn't work. We don't know about slashing or piercing.

If it is immune to bludgeoning, then Tortuga is completely useless against it. I have no way of dealing any other type of damage to it. We may want to consider leaving.

Tortuga can still trigger Coordinated Charge, and Aid Another, and I have a Cold Iron dagger he can use (which Kaldane can GMW).
I know that none of these are great options. But they're something.
With others to trigger Coordinated Charge, Sir Hendric can in optimal conditions get 2 charges per round.

I think Kaldane Said that if the creature was not an outsider it Will be an ooze.

Sorry about drinking the potion, Nox.

If this thing is vulnerable at all to weapons I have a chance of taking it down (I can charge in this room) but not if I get knocked into the acid.

I think the problem right now is that we can't see it. If we can't see it, we can't charge it.

Um...you can see it. It's out of the acid.

Given that it's visible, I'll move part way towards him in hopes that me being nearby makes me an opportune target. Total defense AC is 48.

The Banishment was an idea because it's a spell that could end this quickly. I will fight the ooze hand-to-hand if I have to. Unfortunately we have very few options for energy damage if that is needed.

My reasons for thinking it is extraplanar are primarily based on the research we did earlier.
Owbs are natives of the Shadow Plane
"Kramolag posited that owbs are 'splinter deities,' fragments of one or more mysterious, otherworldly consciousnesses that could be pieced back together like a broken vase."
Kramolag is trying to do this in the 'God Lab', where we are.
The ooze is distilled divine essence from Owbs
Divine beings are normally extraplanar and Owbs are extraplanar.

Then, there are visual clues suggesting it retains a strong connection to the Shadow Plane. Its skin radiates shadows. An explosion of pure darkness knocked Xon's hand away.

So that's my reasoning for making the suggestion. The suggestion is meant in-character, as one PC asking another, and is in no way an attempt for one player to tell another what to do. If Kaldane end up casting Prayer, then we'll see how that goes and reconsider next round.

(Actually, the Lovecraftian deities—like Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep—are native to the Dark Tapestry, which is on the Material Plane, but I digress.)

Which is why I’m intentionally not botting Kaldane in this circumstance, because the choice is ultimately his.

Hey guys! I meant to post something yesterday but real life hit me hard and I’m likely not going to post today either. Thought I’d let you guys know that I didn’t just vanish.

That said, in the interest of moving things along, if Kaldane hasn’t posted by the end of the day (or more accurately by the beginning of tomorrow) explicitly stating his actions, then I’ll have to assume that he cast prayer (since that seemed to be the most likely, based on his posts) so that we can keep the scenario moving.

Again, my apologies that I went dark yesterday without warning—start of the holidays and all that jazz—but I am still here and am still very much intending to finish this series.

Question about the interaction of two abilities. It might be needed for next round.

Greater Banner lets Sir Hendric wave his banner as a standard action, granting any allies within 60' an additional save against any one spell or effect that is targeting them. He can do this as often as he likes, but any ally can only benefit 1/day.
Indomitable Mount lets him make a Ride check in place of his mount's saving throw as an immediate action.

Can he use Greater Banner to give Sentry (and himself and Kaldane) another save, then Indomitable Mount to attempt the save for Sentry?

(Kaldane would likely want to Dispel or Cleanse the Mind Fog effects on himself before attempting a second save since he can only benefit from the Greater Banner reroll once per day.)

Double-checks wording on the two abilities Yeah, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t.

.... Well, i can't do anything ... I have two energy spells.

I can't stop the feeling there something weird. There no attack yet. There only the poison here. and the acid.

So goodbye piercing and bludgening... that is the first time i see this in my 7 year of pathfinder.

Sorry, I thought I had made it clear. My intent was that if I wasn't able to identify the creature using knowledge planes, I wasn't going to cast banishment on it, and was instead setting the alternate to cast Prayer..

@Géatan - this is a puzzle monster and unfortunately we lack the Knowledge skills to figure out the puzzle.

We can try slashing (Sir Hendric can do a sword charge for around 100 per hit). Or silver or good-aligned attacks (Géatan tried Cold Iron?). If you need energy damage to hurt it, then we are pretty much out of luck. But it doesn't seem able to hurt Xon, so eventually he would get enough Natural 20's to hit it and wear it down. Turn off the teleporter and leave the shadow in there with the ooze.

Martial/caster disparity is a thing at this level, but the scenario seems to be going out of its way to exacerbate it.

I do have to say, the first time I read this thing's stat block and actually comprehended how everything interacted, my jaw hit the floor!

And I can tell you that when I ran this for the group of mostly spellcasters, they had a difficult time dealing with it as well--so it's not necessarily in favor of one side over the other.

I have an idea... this creature... could have a mobile immunity. once by round it could chose something to be immune to. Next round, I will use bludgening and piercing .

Could be the acid is supporting it somehow.

Tortuga could try to help Xon hit with Aid Another and Flanking.

Does Xon also benefit from the Blessing of Fervor spell that Kaldane cast? In addition to the Prayer?

Prayer is mind-affecting and Xon is undead, but he does benefit from blessing of fervor

Stop rolling 1's on our saves!
It's like the RNG has a Hard Mode option as well...

Mwahahahaha!!!

I would have you guys roll your own saves, but I find it saves time to roll them myself—hope you guys don’t mind.

Well, Let's if this ooze is immune to electricity now.

BTW, Géatan have flyied to 25 ft into the air last round.

I had an ad hoc late gaming day yesterday with my home group which screwed up my sleep schedule and all that—I’ll try to get around to posting but I make no promises that it’ll be sooner rather than later.

Puts GM hat back on Now, we are approaching the end of the scenario, so that means chronicles are coming. I don’t know if all of you missed it when I asked at the start of Part 2, but I need everyone to roll their Day Jobs so that I can properly fill out the chronicles.

Additionally, I’ve been told that sending chronicles as .jpg files causes them to be blurry and hard to read—I’ll try to send these chronicles as .pdf files for that reason.

I am probably on the forums more than I should be, but this combat does have me on the edge of my seat and wanting to see what happens next. So I tend to post fairly quickly when it is my turn. I have a pretty flexible job and as long as I get my work done it isn't a problem to check in.

I like the game and your style. While the immunities are frustrating, the next scenario in the arc will likely have an all-new set of baffling challenges.

Profession (Barrister): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Sir Hendric takes on too much pro bono work in his downtime and doesn't earn a lot of gold.

Edit: I'll add that high-level games are really complex and you have done a fantastic job with keeping track of all the moving parts.

I'm in the same position as Hendric, my work happens to have me at a computer, and I've been so excited and been having so much fun I can't help but check in and refresh all the time to find out what happens next!

GM Xavier, you've been a absolutely treat to have as a GM, and I'm SUPER picky about my GMs.

You've done a fantastic job as a GM.

My issue with the scenario are the b.s. design decisions behind this particular monster that glaringly highlights probably the one thing I dislike about Pathfinder.

But my current lack of posting is a time of year thing.

While I do get a chance to post from work usually, I have a lot going on between end-of-year deadlines and our annual performance reviews.

On top of that, I sing in my church choir and this time of year is particularly busy as you might assume. I have a lot of music to rehearse over the next few weeks. (I'll likewise get busy around Easter, but we'll probably be done with part 3 before that becomes a real issue.)

Prof:Sailor: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27

Thanks, guys, that really means a lot! Like I said, my self-esteem is infinitesimal, so any good feeling I get is practically multiplied. I’m glad that you guys are having fun because, at the end of the day, that’s why we play.

Admittedly, I’ve certainly done my homework on these three scenarios to a greater degree than other scenarios that I’ve run because of how complex some of these combats are, but I actually like doing Pathfinder homework—I’m actually a much better high-level GM than I am a low-level one because I like telling players “actually, this is how this stuff interacts so what I’m doing is actually right,” pretty sure that’s just the know-it-all in me. But as I’ve shown multiple times while GMing this series: I will be the first to admit that I’m wrong when I’m proven wrong because I am human—I make mistakes—and I, as a GM, don’t want to “win,” I want to be correct—I want to run a fair game where the players are having fun as well as being able to accurately convey the story.

Wow I went on a tangent. Sorry guys, today’s kinda one of those days; thanks for humoring me on one of my low days.

Tortuga: I’m a choir singer myself, so I understand. I get that this time of year is crazy for some people so I won’t hold that against you guys, but I’d like to keep things moving as I have been nonetheless. If you can’t post on a particular day, that’s fine, real life takes priority over a game, but I ask that you all try to post at least once per day. Also, yeah...this fight is serious bull, but it’s less so than you would think (I’ll explain later).

Right now that shouldn't be too difficult as all I am doing is spamming the assist attack button. :)

I hate-love those scenarios because of those B.S. design decisions. The first version of Gaétan would have been a great help for knowledge. But now, I cheer Hendrik. That is fun. This group is disparate. We have no arcane spellcaster. Xon is superfun! And we still win.

Most of the time, I cannot post because A. I have too much work. B. I have social obligations.

This bonus lasts until the end of the wearer’s next turn

The Blood Reservoir of Physical Prowess is very powerful.

Nobody has a air crystal right?

@Géatan, right. Sir Hendric spent one round getting into position and using the Blood Reservoir. It's a standard action to use, so you can't normally attack in the same round.

But it works great with Coordinated Charge! Can use it on the immediate-action charge, then again for the next round's full attack (which I did), and then it ends.

@Géatan, right. Sir Hendric spent one round getting into position and using the Blood Reservoir. It's a standard action to use, so you can't normally attack in the same round.

But it works great with Coordinated Charge! Can use it on the immediate-action charge, then again for the next round's full attack (which I did), and then it ends.

Standard action?

Posting this to all my games, so sorry if you see it multiple times:

This week both my office and I personally are going to be moving. It's been crazy busy and I am not going to be able to post until Monday at the earliest. Please bot me if I am in your game, and if you are in a game I am running, I will get a post up as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience.

Well that explains a lot. Thanks for letting us know, Kaldane.

I’m currently at a choir concert, so it’ll take me some time to respond to Hendric.

I can also make a Diplomacy roll if needed (+16 bonus), but I thought bantering with her a bit and doing some exposition was better than just making a die roll and saying "Tell us everything."

No, no, that was fine, just that she has written-in answers and you touched on about 4 of those...

No dayjob by the way