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Cool, makes sense to me. Just wanted to ask the question. :)
Still, 5 extra rounds of Bane/day sounds pretty nice.
Re: Glitterdust - I can totally respect Anthys's desire for honorable combat. I think Vindler has a little less commitment to that given that he follows Abadar rather than Iomedae. He is Lawful Good, but his directive is to bring those who would subvert the rule of law and order to justice, not to have an honorable/glorious fight.
Anthys, this may not be totally in line with what you're thinking for your character development, but would you feel more comfortable attacking blinded targets non-lethally, or using combat maneuvers and the like to subdue them instead of killing them outright?
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You know, I have used combat maneuvers in such situations, like against Kelseph. She was blinded and then I disarmed her and she still wanted to fight to the death. At that point, NL damage was an option, but I preferred to honor her wishes. Had she chosen to surrender, I would have accepted, but I understand why the scenario did not have that as an option.
None of this is to try to impose any restriction on what anybody does, of course.
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Okay, final decision time, I'm definitely going with Anthys's suggestion to make my shield +1 Folding so I have the option to switch between ranged and melee while still using my shield.
Question now is, do I go with the Bane Baldric or the Belt of Physical Might? Bane Baldric obviously would be useful for giving me extra rounds of Bane, but the Belt would help boost my AC, ranged attack rolls, etc etc. I'm leaning toward the belt, but want to see if anybody has any objections to that?
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Done!
I didn't look into this before, but this doesn't stack super well with my Ability Mastery feat, since they'll both be enhancement bonuses, but that means I can use the boost from Ability Mastery to boost something else, like my Wisdom, which will boost a bunch of my skills, Will save, Initiative (because Inquisitor), etc. Still a good deal!
For more on Kelseph's motivations: She had basically promised Shayle her only non-demonic daughter in exchange for greater power. If she hadn't been trying to get Vegazi to give to the Erinyes all of her power would have fled and her soul would have been immediately forfeit. She deemed even the chance of beating you was better than just outright quitting.
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As to what we do next, here are the modules for L8 as best as I can determine:
Cradle of Night
Cult of the Ebon Destroyers
Doom Comes to Dustpawn
No Response from Deepmar
Realm of the Fellnight Queen
The Gauntlet
The HarrowingAnd of course there are a LOT of PFS scenarios. I am open to any of those - if it's one that I've played, I'll use a replay. I'd prefer to play something I haven't done, if possible.
Of the options Anthys listed, here are my top three votes:
1) The Guantlet
2) Deepmar
3) Fellnight Queen
I'd also include Harrowing as a 4th option.
I've just recently played through Dustpawn, so would prefer not to do that one.
And yeah, there's plenty of PFS scenarios I haven't played, so there's tons of options there.
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I’m mostly done. Turns out I had 3 characters that needed level ups and it’s all done now barring a new feat, 4 new free spells (plus any additional ones I want to pick up) and anything else I might want to spend money on.
@anthys - how far does this characters morals go? Do you have a problem with me tripping enemies or dumping them in a pit?
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@Elaril - pit spells slow things down because I can't stand on the edge and fire without risking falling in. A whole lot of rounds of me standing around waiting for it to expire. If we are vastly outnumbered then pit spells can help even the odds, but they are not a solution for every situation.
Look, it's not as much about morality as it is about getting to be awesome. Being relegated to mopping up nearly-helpless enemies just feels pathetic. See my Conan reference above. This is about fun first and foremost. If you can't see why taking down blinded foes feels uncool (or shooting fish in a barrel), I can try to delve into the topic some more.
And, again, it is only about what Anthys will do. Not about what you should do. Do what you want. Just don't get mad at me for passing on the job of mop-up duty.
If the other players' enjoyment would really be impaired by my not doing mop-up duty, then I can withdraw, if that is what a majority would like. I know a lot of "god wizard" guides suggest this approach is enjoyable to some, with the wizard neutralizing enemies and the martials doing the HP damage, but I just don't feel it.
"And then the valiant hero easily slaughtered the helpless foe" is not a line you find in a lot of fantasy fiction.
If everyone is cool with me doing my thing, then that's what I'll do. I am sorry to still be in this conversation but it seems I wasn't clear before.
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I'm not mad and I can see the "uncoolness".
Im just trying to find a niche for myself where I'm not standing on anyone else's toes.
I realise that we, as a group, are not really setup to deal with what pit spells do - I'm probably going to change that one (+ Glitterdust) out for something else TBD.
I've never used a full spell caster before so I'm fumbling around a lot with what spells to use. None of my other characters have 3rd level spells (let alone the 4th level spells this character now has access to). Elaril is built as a blaster and has a spell slot at each level that is required to be dedicated to an evocation. Due to Versatile Evocation giving me the ability to change the damage type, additional evocation spells seem a bit wasted to a certain extent so I'm trying other things (Glitterdust, Create Pit etc).
Is there a spell that can bring flying creatures to ground? The flying creatures we've come up against so far have been quite annoying. We are not very effective when we cant get into melee.
With this being my highest level character, I've played very very little content suitable for this level so 99% of it is probably OK for me.
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Blasting is a great option and directly contributes to ending fights faster (important for PbP), plus it works against enemies flying out of range. You could easily have a CL11 Scorching Ray at level 8, right? For the 3 rays? Because, yes, flying foes are annoying. That can be a part of Elaril's niche.
Buffs are always welcome. Non-combat utility spells are awesome and underappreciated. Specific counters like Dimensional Anchor are good to have even if not often used.
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Elaril: dispel magic. Solves many situations. Also: fly. Although Anthys will be happy to see that Berato has air walk memorized now... for those times Elaril is out of fly spell and we're facing a flier or hard to reach archer... ;)
This may necessitate breaking formation, but the heroic imagery will more than compensate. :)
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I'm all set and ready to go!
From what I understand, Dispel Magic is a caster level check. I can Aid Another those now, for a +4 CL boost to divine casters and a +2 for Arcane (also, can help with spell penetration checks and any other Caster Level checks). +5 if I'm wearing my Ring or Anthys'.
Glitterdust is super good, but is actually probably best held in reserve for invisible stuff under most circumstances. We usually aren't going to have problems fighting things we can see, so moar blasting!
One of our weak-ish points is going to be repeatable AOE damage. We can all pass pretty much all our saving throws, but until/unless we get evasion somehow it can still wear us down. I see Berato's got communal Protection from Energy, but having Communal Resist Energy could also be very good as an option.
Wall of Fire is a good situational blasting type of option with some versatility. Its a damage over time effect, which makes it bad under certain circumstances but pretty good under others, and is well suited to the endurance nature of our group. Its probably best combined with Communal Resist Energy so we're immune to it, but there's other potential uses like cutting line of sight or putting us in a 25' radius ring where we're taking up the only space not being cooked.
Also, you can put us in a giant fire ring for purposes of epic showdowns, which is just cool.
Marcus purchased a Ring of Tactical Precision, a Benevolent enchantment for his armor, a +1 enchantment on his shield, and upgraded his cloak to +3.
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Caster support is awesome! wow! :)
AoE dmg is not a huge worry IMO: I can add communal resist, and between that, protection vs. energy, my 7 channels per day, and the air walking Anthys heat-seeking missile, with Marcus helping people's rolls in an insane way, and the Inquisitor/Wizard artillery going full tilt, I have the utmost confidence in our abilities. :)
Wall of Fire is VERY situational. As in: it breaks the line of sight, as you said. So that removes targeting capacity for the inquisitor and wizard, and might help the enemy if they're mobile enough or impervious to fire.
Although, probably cool to have in the spellbook, no doubt, (used as a 'sudden casting' exploit if Elaril has that instant recall thing...) for those odd "Formation Alpha Bravo!" moments when we need a giant circle of fire to contain us along with our foes! lol! :)
So preferences for the next game? Module? Scenario?
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So preferences for the next game? Module? Scenario?
Of the options Anthys listed, here are my top three votes:
1) The Guantlet
2) Deepmar
3) Fellnight Queen
I'd also include Harrowing as a 4th option.
I've just recently played through Dustpawn, so would prefer not to do that one.
And yeah, there's plenty of PFS scenarios I haven't played, so there's tons of options there.
Gauntlet gets poor reviews mostly for editing, so stuff on my end. In theory a Bonekeep 4 without a time limit.
Deepmar is incredibly freeform and the reviews reflect that based on the preferences of the group that played it, higher for those that enjoy freeform adventure, lower for those that wanted a module that laid everything out before hand.
Fellnight queen has high reviews, but only by those that were able to delve into a podcast with the author and add things that had been cut to the horror of page count. Others who were not able to add the original bits back in, or were crunched for time as PFS tends to be, gave it middling or lower reviews.
Harrowing has the highest ratings among the lot. It is also rated for a level 9 party, but an unoptimized one, so y'all should be fine. Has a whimsical tone from what I can tell, which may not be everyone's cup of tea.
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Join in for the next game
Marcus, in case you are still checking this old thread, thought I'd give you a new post notification to check into the link above.