If nobody minds, Sven is just going to close the door and leave them alone.
I must say, I'm digging having a tiefling and an aasimar together in the party.
Two tieflings, but Bart has been low key about it.
That's because Bartholomew doesn't know that he's a tiefling and thinks he's just human. He just assumes that he can see in the dark because he has superior senses and most anybody could do it if they tried. Poor sheltered boy - perhaps he'll learn someday (especially with another tiefling in the party).
d'oh! Yeah, Bart has just seemed so normal-human-from-Sandpoint the whole time, I didn't realize. I'm sure I've even read it in his stat bar.
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Just a heads up, as you've probably noticed Gudada has been MIA for almost 3 weeks now. I sent him a PM to see if he is still around. If I don't hear back by the beginning of next week I will be looking for a replacement, since it kind of slows things down when our main door checker is missing.
Hey.
First, I owe everyone apologies for vanishing without a word. I've come back to try to apologize for doing so, and to let you know that I have no idea when I'll be able to meaningfully return.
That's as far s anyone needs to read. If you're curious, you are free to keep going, though.
Why did I vanish? My wife had started an evaluation of her knees, scheduled to run for about 2 months. First appointment was on a Monday. Late that same Thursday we were told the evaluation was over and they were going to schedule her for a full knee replacement in her worse leg. We found out that next Monday that surgery was that Thursday, a week after we were told she would be having surgery.
I took some sick leave to help her through the surgery and earliest recovery stages. I've been working half days, taking sick leave for the rest, for the past couple of weeks, trying to keep her from doing too much with the live-in grand kids and doing her exercises, with only partial luck.
She's doing her exercises while I type, and the grand kids are down for their naps. Today is going to be the last day I PLAN to do the half-day thing. Thing is, even having been home so much more than normal, I've been going non-stop. We were two weeks past her surgery before I even got into the office where my computer sits, and we're over three weeks past it now and I've had to steal the time to let people know what's going on.
I don't know how long it will be before I can reasonably expect the leisure time to properly contribute to these games again. I am sorry for vanishing, but I have to focus on my wife's actual needs before I play.
Game specific:
And my Gudada curse seems firmly in place, with me unable to get this character through book 1, let alone the AP. Gah!
Sorry to hear that and appreciate the update. Not sure if you'll have an opportunity to drop in again to see this, but I'm not opposed to keeping you on board. Would anyone like to volunteer to bot Gudada to keep him with us until he might be able to return? The other option is once we get to a pause point he just heads back to Sandpoint for one reason or another and chills there until such time as Gudada might be able to return.
Thoughts either way from everyone?
Bartholomew can swap archetypes to cover our trappy needs until Gudada can return - assuming the GM is fine with that sort of shenanigans. That would let us continue while letting Gudada come in and out as needed.
And hugs, Gudada.
@Gudada: Wow sounds like you had a busy couple of weeks!
Completely understand, RL comes first!
Best Wishes to you and your wife.
@Dak: I'm okay with either alternative. I'd be willing to try to bot him if Gudada's cool with that and nobody else wants to. Another alternative is one of us create an extra temporary pc until Gudada is back.
Sorry I haven't posted since Tuesday. I'm just finishing this HUGE project at work I've been working on since October. After work, I have my home Pathfinder game so I won't be able to post until tomorrow. But I will post as soon as I can tomorrow morning.
Dropping a note in all my games. I will be away this weekend, potentially through Monday. Heading to Space Camp with my son for a cub scouts thing so likely won't get an opportunity to post.
If I'm dead I'm dead, no worries—dice happen. And I made a risky move. But I'm just wondering about how he pinpointed my square if he's blind. I think there are mechanics for that. I'll see if I can find them after I finish this project at work.
Yeah, if there is something I missed let me know. That confusion would have been brutal had they not made their saves. He has blind fight so figured he could pinpoint you since you were talking and channeling, but if I missed something and you find it we can adjust as needed.
Okay, this took longer than I meant. We had a long meeting at work at the end of the day and we're all working from home for at least a week. Then I stopped at Costco and wow, it was pretty crazy. Anyway...
relevant rules discussion thread
The main things are, RAW it takes a perception check—min DC 20 (reasonably read as to know the general area, not the square) and DC 40 (to locate the exact the square)
And there's this:
Intentionally searching for stimulus is a move action.
So he'd have needed a perception check (probably DC 40, as a move action) to try to figure out where I was. And if he succeeded on the check all he'd be able to do is move up to me.
Without all that, just handwaving "knowing" where someone is who you can't see negates abilities like scent, tremor sense, blindsight, etc.
Blind Fight feat just helps with your miss chance once you (think you) know where you're trying to attack. And even if you have made the DC 40 Perception to know the square, you still have the miss chance (which was done correctly—just adding it in for clarity in this demonstration)
I know Pathfinder breaks down really quickly as far as being a real-life-simulator, but just as an example, think of the game "Marco Polo". The person who can't see doesn't typically run right up to the person they're trying to get and touch them in 6 seconds the first time the person says "Polo".
I'll address this too, since this is the first time I've used it, and you mentioned it.
That confusion would have been brutal had they not made their saves.
Yes, my variant channel to confuse is powerful and a key part of how I built this character. Aasimars make excellent channel+caster-focused clerics because of the bump to both WIS and CHA—usually, you gotta pick one or the other to be good at. But anyway, it does have its limitations:
• Mind-affecting so it doesn't work on 20% of foes.
• Only lasts 1 round/channel (so if I want to try to confuse for multiple rounds I burn through my channels and they get a new save every round)
• I can only use Selective Channel to exclude 3 people currently, so with a 6-person party I have to be more than 30' away from at least 2 allies, or around a corner, to not risk confusing my own friends.
• Confusion itself still lets you act normally 1 out of 4 turns.
• The 1 out of 4 "attack nearest creature" part can be a double-edged sword if the foe is a hard-hitter and is near a squishy ally.
It's still a very nice control option but really it's a 1-turn-at-a-time save-or-suck that I have to position myself very carefully to use. It's really funny when it makes enemies start attacking each other though.
I am a big fan of variant channeling for clerics. We just finished a home campaign where I played a cleric of Calistria with Envy variant channeling—enemies had to perform a steal combat maneuver on a failed save (provoking AOOs because no one ever has Improved Steal). The "best" variant negative channeling is Ale/Wine, which makes you nauseated on a failed save. It used to be Rulership, which makes you dazed, until variant channeling got Paizo clarification that if the effect mimics a spell, it acts as the spell, and Daze only works on humanoids, with 4 HD or less.
Regarding what you posted, it makes sense, but you are not invisible. I understand the logic though.Went and read through the Core Rulebook looking for blind and I think the Blinded by Darkness provides the most clarity and seems applicable.
"A creature blinded by darkness can make a Perception check as a free action each round in order to locate foes (DC equal to opponents’ Stealth checks). A successful check lets a blinded character hear an unseen creature “over there somewhere.” It’s almost impossible to pinpoint the location of an unseen creature. A Perception check that beats the DC by 20 reveals the unseen creature’s square (but the unseen creature still has total concealment from the blinded creature)."
So will roll his perception. I think the DC 40 you are noting is to essentially negate concealment which isn't relevant here since we already know he hit the concealment check. If he beats the DC will carry on with the above. If not he will have missed.
posting in all my groups: besides the whole COVID thing, and the bizarre earthquake that hit my area this morning, I'm going through a couple of pretty rough (but temporary) personal things in my life. I appreciate getting some slack as my posting hasn't been as often as I should. I don't want to drop and I should be back to posting more regularly soon-ish. Thanks for understanding.
So, I know things are crazy, but so far I've only heard from Nyx about difficulties and Adarion/Sven have posted. I've reached out to Uvara to check if they are coming back. Not sure the status on Bart and we already know Gudada is gone. Want to get those of you still around to give me your thoughts. I can bot us through this fight and then we can see about getting replacements to keep us going or I'm open to suggestions. Just let me know.
Yeah, things have slowed down a bit. I'd love to continue with the current group but I'm not sure if people have dropped the game in favour of concerns in RL?
I rolled up a step-in char for Gudada when they left, I could play them as well and we can wait to see if anyone else comes back? It might allow you to bot someone else without increasing your workload?
The rough concept is here if anyone is interested (heads up: it's a bit dark).
Hey all! I got way behind on my PbP last week. Had some kinda rough IRL personal stuff and also work was kicking my butt, finishing 2 really big projects. But those projects are done! Gonna read through everything I missed now.
Nice, welcome back!
Apologies in advance: probably can't make another gameplay post until Monday. I'm out of town at my parents' house, still working my day job remotely and trying to juggle family hang-out time around my crazy work deadlines. If I can get a post in before bedtime I will, but no promises. Thanks!
Uvara is now officially in my alias!
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Dropping a note in all my games. I am hoping things won't change too much, but wanted to forewarn my games that there may be some delays in my posting. My work schedule is usually busiest over the summer months and while it is slow right now I know at some point it will get crazy busy when I start getting shipments in of hundreds of new computers for a rebuild of one of my schools I manage. On top of this I am finishing up my dual MBA/MSIS this summer with three classes in a condensed 8-week semester.
All of this to say, I will do my best to keep up and if I know of major delays I will try to notify people (like when it is finals week), but if I do end up disappearing for a few days here or there just know it won't be long term. All the craziness I have going on over the next couple months should primarily be wrapped up near the end of July.
As always, if you need something quick you can generally ping me on Discord.
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I know you guys are waiting on me. Lots to do to jump into the next book and has just been crazy busy. Sorry for the delay all. I don't know exactly when I will kick us off into book 2, but I've only got 2 and a half weeks of classes left at which point my schedule and mental bandwidth should free up significantly.
No worries, take the time you need!
So... I think I know how I'm going to level up Adarion, but I'm open to suggestion if you think something will be more useful.
For the favoured class bonus, I picked a skill point.
For his level 4 ability bonus, I selected Cha, bringing it up to 18. Extra spells per day and an extra +1 to DC, nice!
I also get an additional cantrip and a level two spell.
Current cantrip selection: Ghost Sound; might be useful for distracting or confusing enemies. Not much else of use that I can see here.
Current Lvl 2 spell selection: Glitterdust; can blind (pretty bad debuff) and also reveals invisible enemies in a 10-ft area (Useful if we fight the barghest again). My spell focus conjuration feat also adds 1 to the DC for a total of 17, which is respectable.
Skill-wise (4+1 favoured class bonus=5 total)
+1 to bluff: now +11
+1 to Kn. Arcana: now +8
+1 to Kn. Planes: now +8
+1 to spellcraft: now +9
+1 to umd: now +10
Background skills (2):
+1 to know. history: now +6
+1 to linguistics: now +5 (not sure what language to pick here, maybe Sven can teach him Giant?)
Next Level, I can use my feat for augment summoning and pick summon monster 2 as my lvl 2 spell. I also get invisibility from my bloodline which synergizes well with summoning/debuffing
Those look like solid choices - goodness knows it takes the pressure off our healers to have creatures take damage that we don't have to worry about when they poof back to their homes.
As far as Bartholomew goes, he's getting Precise Bombs so we can worry less about that inconvenient splash damage. He's also getting 2nd level extracts, though only one formula known for free unless we find some spellbooks or potions he can poach recipes from.
Speaking of which, the inventory sheet has a spellbook from a female wizard we fought in the catacombs. @GM, what spells were in it? Bartholomew can also snag see invisibility from the scroll we found and cure moderate wounds from a potion we found. This will consume the scroll, but not the potion. Is that alright with the party?
That looks good to me Adarion. In my recent experience with SM II, earth elemental 2 is tops, especially augmented!
Good, I'll stick with that for level up then.
I think I'll pick giant for the language as well, as that is mentioned in the player's handbook as one of the enemy types and Sven can teach it to him in a logical and convenient in-world way.
I wish I could swap my arcane bond from my MW bow to a familiar but it mentions that once you make the choice it's permanent. I'd originally planned to use Adarion as an arcane archer type PC but decided to stick with pure sorc afterwards. The bow was going to be a flavour tie-in for using his magic but I don't really use it at all with how Adarion is now. A familiar would prob be much more useful for him with the way he's developing.
@Bart: I'm okay with you using the scroll, glitterdust kind of fulfils the same role for Adarion anyway so unless someone else was going to use it, it would just be a way to avoid using a spell per day and we can always just buy another if we need to.
Dropping a note in all my games. Finished up with school yesterday, just waiting on the audit for me to officially be done and graduate even though there are no commencements with the whole virus thing. Wife is doing better after brief stint in the hospital. Looking at starting to get back into my games and get posting again sometime this week. My work is really crazy as first kids were coming back on the 17th but now everything is going to be virtual for an indeterminate amount of time, but teachers are coming back still and there is a lot of questions floating out there so bare with me as I ease into catching up on things and getting back into a regular posting routine again over the next week or so.
Whew! Congratulations on finishing school! Don't stress yourself about getting this game moving again until you're ready - your IRL stuff is more important.
+1 to what Bart said. Your IRL stuff takes precedence, take the time you need. Glad to hear your wife is okay and congrats with finishing your school stuff! Not having to worry about assignments or exams etc. is such a relief when you're finally finished up!
Slowly getting back into things, this one is going to take a bit to get all the pieces together though so may be this weekend before I get a detailed post up. Appreciate the patience.
A note to all of my games: My availability will be sporadic from now until the end of next week. Please DMPC me as needed.
Dropping a note here for Dak. I touched base with him earlier today and he's tested positive for COVID and has been sick and out of commission for awhile and he still remains sick. He said to let everyone know he'll be back when he recovers.
Thanks for the update. That sucks hope he's doing okay!
Hey, I wanted to drop in and give all my games an update. I'm still alive, obviously, and I've managed to stay out of the hospital and off a ventilator. However, I'm still not fully recovered. Even though I'm outside my two week symptomatic/infectious period by over a week there are some lingering issues that are still weighing on me (continued shortness of breath, getting light headed, overall fatigue). I doing my best to push through it but it is barely just enough to get me through work everyday and doesn't leave a lot of time for anything else. I would like to give a hard and fast "I'll be back and up to playing again by this time", but sadly at this point I can't. It could be a couple weeks or it could be a couple months for me to get used to this new (hopefully temporary) norm on top of a few other things going on.
All this to say, I'm ok, I'm trying my best to manage, but I can't give you a hard "this is when I will be back". I understand it has been awhile as it is, between this most recent struggle with COVID and my past slowness with finishing up my graduate stuff so if you need to move on without me I completely understand and I'm just sorry that right as I was getting back into things again this whole virus thing came along and knocked me back down again. I'll check in again once I feel I'm up to playing with everything else I am balancing.
That sounds really rough GM. It sounds like you caught a really bad viral load, hope you make a full recovery.
Highly appreciate you updating us. I cannot speak for the others, but personally I am content to wait until you are feeling better, and don't feel rushed because your health should take priority.
Wishing you and your family the best.
Hugs, GM. Take all the time you need - we’re happy to hear you’re still alive and kicking. Goodness knows you don’t need another thing to stress about right now.
We're chillin' until you get back! All the best, brother. :)
+1 to what all the others said. COVID has made things tough for many people even without getting the virus itself. Take care of yourself, we'll be here when you get better!
Just throwing a comment in here to keep the game active. All the above still applies... hope everyone is doing okay with everything!