GM supervillan's Gameday VII 8-20 Torrent's Last Will (Inactive)

Game Master supervillan

This game will open when Gameday VII part 2 begins.

I normally run a fast-paced game. I will be aiming to finish by 7 December (because that is the date my first child is due!)

Otto O'Read, reporting for duty. He's not in any other games so no problem to start whenever you are ready.

Still need to get him updated to level 7...

I should be ready whenever.
FYI, I have run this before but never played it.

Is there any info you would like to collect from us before we begin?

Is there any info you would like to collect from us before we begin?

Yup, the usual stuff please:

Player Name:
Character Name:
PFS number:
Faction:
Slow or normal xp track:
Character level (so I can confirm tier):

In addition please let me know if you have played 8-19 Treacherous Waves with this character and if you have played 2-18 Forbidden Furnace of Forgotten Koor with this character. If you played 8-19, how many Prestige Points did you obtain?

Player Name: Michael Hallet
Character Name: Ursahla
PFS number: 2608-2
Faction: Exchange
Slow or normal xp track: Normal
Character level (so I can confirm tier): 9

Neither scenario with this PC.

Player Name: Greenclaw
Character Name: Seldanna
PFS number: 74677-2
Faction: Concordance (formerly Scarab Sages)
Slow or normal xp track: Normal
Character level (so I can confirm tier): 9

Neither of those scenarios with this PC.

NB: We have recently locked in a family vacation for the 1st week of October, returning Sunday 7 October. I hope I will still be able to log on briefly each day prior to that, however there is the chance that this may not be possible every day, or at best my posting will be a little bit less regular for these days.

I'll ensure to have some botting instructions up by then but if this is likely to be a more significant problem, let me know and I'll understand.

Zut'alors, I have missed one!

Player Name: I'm Hiding In Your Closet
Character Name: Zeno Loxley
PFS #: 40025-8
Faction: Liberty's Edge
XP track: normal
Character level: 8th

I have never played "Forbidden Furnace of Forgotten Koor", period.

"Treacherous Waves", on the other hand, was the very last adventure Zeno's been on - he received *2* Prestige!

Player Name: Batpony/Tim P
Character Name: Kelumur
PFS number: 222036-5
Faction: Liberty's Edge
Slow or normal xp track: Normal
Character level (so I can confirm tier): 7

I haven't levelled him up yet, but he has enough chronicle sheets to meet 7! Looking forward to this!

have not played either!

Player Name: Abraham Z.
Character Name: Otto O'Read
PFS number: 100198-23
Faction: Dark Archive
Slow or normal xp track: Normal
Character level (so I can confirm tier): 7

He *has* played 8-19 Treacherous Waves and received 2 prestige. He has not played 2-18 Forbidden Furnace.

Player Name: Yogadragon
Character Name: Kramac
PFS number: 239325-1
Faction: Grand Lodge
Slow or normal xp track: Normal
Character level (so I can confirm tier): 9

I have not played either of the modules in question. I should level up and hit 9 before this game, unless Kelumur kills me in the next two weeks.

I look forward to your usual character sheet audit to make sure everything is on the up and up supervillan :D

Looks like we have 4 melee fighters(one of which is a divine caster), an archer and a haste bot... errr, I mean arcane caster. Seems like a pretty good spread of characters with a decent spread of skills. Should be fun!

Illustrious GM! As this takes place on the Plane of Water and you have posted the underwater combat rules up top, I am going to assume that there will be some underwater combat in this module. I just wanted to ask before we got started what your ruling on tripping during underwater combat is?

Complete no go, can't trip?

Tripping works if someone is walking around on a hard surface?

Tripping always works even while swimming?

I'm cool with whatever, I just want to make sure we are on the same page.

There may be some underwater action in this adventure ;-)

You can trip a target that is standing/walking, but not a target that is swimming. So if something is using a landspeed it can be tripped, if it's using a swim speed it can't. I'll try to remember to point out wherever it might not be obvious.

Ursahla's damage (1d6+6) isn't all that special. Her main contribution to combat is handing out some combat bonuses and debuffing the enemy via dirty tricks.

Outside of combat she is a master of disguise and an adequate face.

My previous game finished up, so I should be ready to go whenever. I need to level, but that won't take too long (I have mostly done it in my head) and spend gold I have saved up (I'm thinking an amulet of the mighty fist(menacing) for my animal companion and adding the jousting property to my armor since I am picking up Mounted Combat at level 9)

It looks like everyone is available, so if you can complete your level ups and character sheet updates I'll get us started this weekend.

Do try to have botting instructions in your profile in case they are needed. Seldanna, no problem with your holiday absence. Check in when you can, I'll bot only if necessary to maintain momentum.

APL is a smidge over 8, so we are in low tier.

I'm all done leveling up and ready to go.

Apologies for the delayed response, work has been keeping me too busy, and wife had done an eye procedure. I'll have everthing ready and caught up by this weekend! Looking forward to this!

No worries Batpony. I'll get us moving as soon as Kelemur and Otto are updated.

Looks like past me pre-emptively planned it all out! Applying chronicles was a breeze, and I have about 10k gp unspent! Don't have anything in mind but that might change through the scenario.

Updated and ready to roll!

Otto, just waiting on you to finish levelling up and check in on Gameplay thread :)

All leveled up and ready to go. Thanks for your patience.

First pathfinder party I've ever seen with two rhinos in it!

Otto and Kramac, you have time to switch your companion creatures to something more aquatic if you so choose, but there's no obligation.

I assume if we elect to switch companions, we are back to square 1 in terms of tricks?

@DM: There is ONE thing I'm sort of interested in buying: Would you be willing to let me benefit from a diving suit when all else I've got are my Handy Haversack, spell components, Efficient Quiver, bow, spear, and sidearm? I don't wear physical armor.

Kramac, indeed. Bonus tricks only on a replacement companion.

Zeno, arguably the spear is a "large" weapon, but given that it's an elven spear I'm not going to say that it's "cumbersome" so you're OK for the diving suit.

When I played this scenario it was with my verminous hunter - so I took a giant crab companion in place of the usual mantis, and I bought some flippers (masterwork tool for Swim checks!)

FYI, it's signifer, not signifier. Signifer means standard bearer.

First pathfinder party I've ever seen with two rhinos in it!

Otto and Kramac, you have time to switch your companion creatures to something more aquatic if you so choose, but there's no obligation.

Thanks but I'll stick with the rhino.

FYI, it's signifer, not signifier. Signifer means standard bearer.

Never realized that. Thanks for pointing it out. Makes much more sense.

Ok, I'm back from my vacation. Thanks for holding my spot and I hope my absence hasn't held up the game much.

Turns out I had zero internet access all last week, which was very relaxing but means I have LOT of catching up to do on these boards. I've caught up with the GamePlay thread here and will be ready to have Seldanna contribute from here on in.

I'm quite interested to see how the two dirty trick builds fare. I have a Besmaran dirty trick-er, but mine's based on the Kraken Caller druid plus the Untamed Rager barbarian. Also he's a tengu.

Dirty trick seemed like a fun maneuver that wasn't overpowered. It can hinder opponents greatly, but can't shut them down as much as grappler's can.

I'm very sorry to have dropped the ball on our game the past several days! Getting caught up now.

Ursahla is at 1 hp. I suggest converging on Zemdar as fast as you can, I'm probably going to have to retreat.

Ah Lunge. So good at lulling PCs into a false sense of security and causing them to take full attacks.

Seldanna, I also picked up several scrolls of Slipstream in preparation for this module. After this fight, if you'd like to use one on yourself, you are welcome. It gives you a swim speed of 20 for 30 minutes.

I've had another look at Broken Wing Gambit in the Rules Forum, Kramac.

I'm persuaded that there's no element of choice for the feat's target, ie it isn't possible to refuse the bonuses to hit and damage; but if you explicitly can't feint a creature with no intelligence score then I don't see BWG working either, for similar reasons.

I made a thread in the Rules Forum here. If discussion there (or here) changes my mind I'll retcon any additional resource expenditure that my ruling causes.

You guys can take one measly coral golem ;)

I'm struggling to see how I could adjudicate the Hydrophobia spell at all in this setting.

It has an Area of Effect (30' burst) and no Target line, and does not define Targets in the text of the spell. We might infer that it affects anything with a mind, since it has the mind-affecting descriptor. A useful comparator is the spell Crushing Despair. This is also a mind-affecting emotion spell with a burst area of effect and no target line. However, the spell text for Crushing Despair says "each affected creature..." Confusion is also a good comparator, being a mind-affecting spell with a burst effect, but Confusion has a Target line: "all creatures in a 15' burst."

If one assumes that the spell is supposed to affect creatures, then which creatures? This is a fear spell that makes 'targets' afraid of drowning. Fair enough, if cast on a natural air-breather the subject becomes afraid of drowning and reacts appropriately to liquids as per the spell description. But if cast on a water-breather? Water-breathers can drown in air, except that creatures with the Aquatic subtype are often also amphibious and capable of breathing air. OK, but any creature that respires can drown in fine sand, for example, so the "fear of drowning" would remain. But in that case, the rest of the spell effect description makes no sense, because it is all written on an underlying assumption that the subjects fear drowning in water. 'Hydrophobia' is a fear of water, not a fear of drowning.

The next line says: "if the target is swimming or otherwise submerged in water, it must spend all of its efforts attempting to escape from the water." Again, that makes sense if the subject is a natural air-breather, but not otherwise. If cast on a water elemental plane resident that has never known an environment that is not underwater, how can such a creature seek to escape from the water?

Then: "As long as an affected target remains in water, it takes 1d6 nonlethal damage as it thrashes around and swallows water." Is swallowing water the cause of the nonlethal damage? Even to a water-breather that wouldn't suffer an ill-effect from swallowing water?

Last line: "Even out of water, targets cannot imbibe potions or willingly interact with any fluids for the duration of this spell." So you can still imbibe potions underwater (via potion sponge one assumes), but not if you're out of water. Perhaps this should be read as applying underwater and out of water equally though. (Also, air is a fluid).

The entire spell appears written with an assumption that it would be cast on air-breathing creatures, and is an example of atrocious splatbook editing. It should at a minimum define the valid targets of the spell, in similar fashion to Confusion.

As such, here is the best interpretation I can come up with:

The spell affects living creatures only; it has no effect on creatures that do not need to breathe or that possess the natural ability to breathe water.

My reasoning is as follows: the spell creates a fear of drowning in water. A creature that cannot drown in water is unable to experience such fear.

Otto, feel free to replace the spell in your prepared list.

All good points. I really just prepped it because I thought it would be funny. Swapping it out for Communal Resist Energy.

Super-duper sorry for the prolonged absence. I was feeling extra-terrible for a bit there.

Gameday officially closes tomorrow (19 November) so I will report the game and make boon rolls now: a boon is won on a roll of 19 or 20.

Zeno: 1d20 ⇒ 8
Ursahla: 1d20 ⇒ 1
Otto: 1d20 ⇒ 1
Kramac: 1d20 ⇒ 19
Kelumur: 1d20 ⇒ 16
Seldanna: 1d20 ⇒ 15
GM: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Kramac's boon: 1d4 ⇒ 2

Congrats Kramac :) Please PM me your email address so I can get the boon sent to you.

Huzzah! Good con for me - won a boon here, and in the Assault on Absalom game.

Crap. I didn't open the initiative spoiler earlier. I actually should have gone between Razethka and the sahuagin. My initiative modifier on my sheet does not take favored terrain (water) into account, so my initiative should have been 21, not 19.

I missed that too Ursahla - your favoured terrain would be in effect for pretty much the whole of this scenario, certainly all of the combats.

I doubt that any actions would have been different in this fight though - Razethka would use her breath weapon, you'd move in and 'bane' her, the sahuagin would stab with their tridents, then the rest would act; if you don't mind I'd like to leave the initiatives as they are, to speed play.

Otto, Seldanna, and Kelumur what god or goddess do you worship, if any?

Seldanna worships no god, her witch patron is Time.

I don't mind. I'm usually more cognizant of telling GMs about it. Figures I would forget to in the all water all the time scenario.

Kelumur likewise worships no deity, but has greatest respect for Milani.

Wish me luck on the impending dragon full attack!

Otto, Seldanna, and Kelumur what god or goddess do you worship, if any?

None right now. This encounter may encourage me to find one!