Garduk reads the graffiti with distaste. "Kneel before Yealek-Vor, King of Jormurdun." He snorts. "A damned soul escaped from the Abyss and crowned itself. Sounds like most of the bastards who decide they ought to be in charge, now that I think about it."
So is this Yealek-Vor just a nobody with delusions of grandeur, or someone we need to worry about?
You hear the sounds of metal on metal clicking from the west, echoing in the expansive space. A goat-headed humanoid covered in a mangy gray hide that only partly covers its gaunt but muscled frame strolls out from behind pillars at the far end of the chamber, holding several pairs of manacles. It has a halberd in its other hand.
A strange mechanical servitor made of armor, cogs, springs and other mechanical parts follows closely with a halberd at the ready.
The creature draws itself up and announces, “I am the Keeper of the Doors. My lord is expecting you and asks that you please put these on before passing through the Clockwork Portal.”
It gives the manacles a shake for emphasis.
Goat head: Knowledge Planes 15:
It is an advanced schir, a CE Medium outsider (chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar)
You may ask one question for each 5 you exceeded the DC by,
Servitor: Knowledge Arcana 16:
The mechanical serivor is a clockwork soldier, a N Medium construct (clockwork) with construct traits.
Constructs are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). Constructs are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. Constructs are not at risk of death from massive damage.
You may ask one question for each 5 you exceeded the DC by,
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
- I propose to continue this talksss after twisting the demon in half... and construct just breaking.
Obviously, Chandrabha says it to the fellow pathfinders, ignoring horned chatterbox. Although her voice exudes poison, her snake eyes and face remain calm.
Female Dwarf LN Slayer 7| HP 67/67 | AC 25(26), T 13, FF 24 CMD 25 | F +9(12), R +8(11), W +5(8) | Init +3 | Perc +12 | SM +12 |
Kulga sizes up the damned majordomo. "Your lord's in for quite a surprise if he thinks we'd go before a demon so bound. Come, your threats ring hollow. Prove the truth of them, if you can. "
Advanced Schir
DR 5/cold iron or good;
SR 15
Special Attacks:
powerful charge (gore)
Disease (Ex) A schir gnaws constantly at the ends of its halberd. This infuses the blades with disease from the demon's filthy spittle. Any creature struck by a schir's halberd must succeed at a DC 14 Fortitude save or contract gray pox—a frightening disease that causes weakness, gray splotches on the skin, and eventual catatonia
Clockwork Soldier
DR 5/adamantine;
Special Attacks:
Latch (Ex) Clockwork soldiers have specially designed hands that easily grasp and lock onto weapons and objects. A soldier can attempt to disarm or grapple as a standard action without provoking an attack of opportunity, and it receives a +2 bonus on disarm checks. In addition, it receives a +2 bonus to CMD against attempts to disarm it.
Moving forward so we can complete the encounter. Feel free to banter during the combat.
When no one moves to manacles themselves, the creature says “None of you wanted to be a defenseless victim? Well, guess that means I have to slaughter all but one of you!”
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
- In the name of the Redeemer Queen! May your hideous demonic blood be spilled on these stones as a mockery of your pitiful master!
Surprisingly, but now Chandrabha speaks clearly and loudly, without the usual hiss in her voice. On the move with one hand she grabs a whip and the other hand touches the holy symbol on her neck.
Swift - Sentence on Demon (+1 sacred bonus to attack, -2 AC vs other foes except demon), move and disarm.
Chandrabha rushes forth and with her whip takes the halberd from Goat Head.
When Sha’ar rushes forward, it is surprised as the tin can steps in the way and attempts to skewer it.
halberd:1d20 + 18 ⇒ (10) + 18 = 28 damage:1d10 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24
Bolded may act.
Round 1:
Tin can
Chandrabha
Sha’ar -24
Wolfgang
Garduk +9 temp hp
Kulga
Goat Head
Brayne
Male Human Gunslinger (Bolt Ace) 3/ Fighter (Mutation Warrior) 3 | HP 55/55 - AC: 21 T: 17 /FF: 14 - Perception +11 - F: +9 / R: +11 /W: +6 - CMB +6 - CMD +22 - Speed 30 - Init. +8 - Grit Pool 2/2 day
A demon eh? Well met! I've been holding on these for an occasion such as this..." says the mercenary pathfinder as he produces cold iron bolts and shoots the vile creature twice in a mere instant...
Sorry - I can't usually post much during the work day.
Garduk barks as much of the information he knows about their adversaries as he can while moving into position to cast a spell.
"Beware the demon's weapon - it carries disease! Oh, good work, Chandrabha! It can also gore you with its horns. You'll want to use cold iron or good-aligned weapons to really damage it - like that, Wolfgang, nice shooting. And the clank, it may try to disarm you or get you into a grapple - try to avoid it if you can. Adamantine weapons work best against it!"
Once he has gotten as close as he dares to the combat, Garduk jams one hand into a pouch hanging at his hip. He barks out a phrase that crackles with arcane power - "Rasvaa lattia!" - and rubs a small bit of wax paper smeared with butter between the thumb and index finger of one hand. The ground under the demon and construct glistens with an oleaginous sheen.
Casting Grease, DC 16 Reflex save to avoid falling; if successful, DC 10 Acrobatics check to move through an affected square at half speed. I have marked the area with a red border on the map.
Wolfgang has to fire around Sha’ar, making the shots a little more difficult. The first shot misses, but the second one hits true!
Kulga rushes forward, getting within striking distance of the tin can.
Garduk tells what he knows of the two opponents while moving up. Then he tries to take their feet out from under them with his magic!
Goat Head Reflex:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 Tin Can:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
The Goat headed one manages to keep hooves firmly planted, but the tin can topples!
Goat head moves out of the grease without issue and then gores Kulga!
Acrobatics:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 27 gore:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29 damage:1d6 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Bolded may act.
Round 1:
Tin Can Prone
Chandrabha
Sha’ar -24
Wolfgang
Garduk +9 temp hp
Kulga -12
Goat Head -11
Brayne
The serpent, furious with its wounds, rushes fiercely to the tin can in front of it, filling the room with a ferocious hiss and the clang of metal. Meanwhile, Chandrabha steps to the horned demon.
- Don't let tin can to kill Sssha'ar, Kulga! I'll take care of the chatterboxss.
Chandrabha | grapple (dan bong):1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 13 + 1 = 29[demon] swift - Grabbing Style; free - drop a whip; 5ft step and grapple
With one hand she grabs the offspring of the abyss by the horns, and with the other hand she strongly presses the silver wand into the painful point in the middle of the goat's forehead.
Although it hugs and tries to nibble on it, the tin can is very hard.
Meanwhile Chandrabha uses her dan bong to grapple the demon.
Bolded may act.
Round 2:
Tin Can -26 grappled by Sha’Ar
Chandrabha
Sha’ar -39
Wolfgang
Garduk +9 temp hp
Kulga -12 AoO on Tin Can while it was still prone
Goat Head -11 grappled by Chandrabha
Brayne
Female Dwarf LN Slayer 7| HP 67/67 | AC 25(26), T 13, FF 24 CMD 25 | F +9(12), R +8(11), W +5(8) | Init +3 | Perc +12 | SM +12 |
Kulga slams her axe into the construct as it rises, but isn't quite ready to give up on battling its master. She swings her axe in a short brutal chop for the Schir, before whirling to backhand the construct back across the grease!
"Give me some stonecursed room to get around the robot and I'll tear it apart!"
Garduk draws his wand of magic missile and barks the command phrase, "Telum magicum!" Two ice-blue missiles appear in the air, already in motion toward the tin can.
Brayne finally catches up, but sees that everything is under control. "Hmm, looks like you've got this. I best not interfere." He pats Kulga on the back and imbues her with some divine energy.
In his boastful nature, Brayne steps up, takes a deep breath, and begins yapping, "Well you see, if I recall correctly, we first took a look at the temple area, there was some weird statue with magical powers I tell you! But Kulga here managed to retrieve a tome. We came across a weird looking shrine, and kind of made it somewhat whole again. Does that makes sense? Oh, and there was another altar, red liquid flowed everyone! I don't remember much, it seemed to had an affect on my head. Does that sound about right Garduk? Any bits I'm missing?" He looks towards his more thorough Pathfinder partner, hoping he would fill gaps in the information provided.
He directs one of his entourage to get a description of the statue from one of you.
He skims the tome, then hands it back. “Use the magic in it if you need it. It is an excellent find.”
Quickly reviewing the statue description, he says “Sounds like The Dweller Below, a malignant representative of the evil found in the Darklands from whence dwarves came.”
He asks a few more questions, then says “We need more agents to secure the area before proceeding. Feel free to examine the portal the demon came through, but do not tinker and with it. Otherwise, you can try to secure more of the area we have already found.”
——
Examining the portal, you find a pair of enormous brass doors blocking the way forward. Numerous plates are missing from the doors' surface, exposing complex clusters of gears, sprockets, springs, and other confusing clockwork innards. Every second a thousand gears twist, click, and whir. For all its complexity, the doors seem to be missing any means of being opened.
"That's right, Brayne." Garduk hands It Crawls in Darkness to the Master of Scrolls.
Garduk retrieves the vial of crimson oil from his haversack. "We were also able to collect this sample of an ancient oil used by the dwarven seers of this city to enhance their visions. I recommend that if there is to be any testing of this oil, the Pathfinder team assigned should work in a well-ventilated room and take other precautions. I am still suffering some of the effects of just a few minutes exposure to the fumes."
"And then, of course, there was the Abyssal graffiti in the previous chamber. You must have walked past it to get here. A demon named Yealek-Vor, claiming the title of King of Jormurdun. This one -" he kicks the corpse of the schir demon "- was some kind of servant for Yealek-Vor, maybe his steward."
Much as I'm always happy to get another encounter under our belts, if we're going to move forward tomorrow no matter what, I agree we're unlikely to finish it unless it's extremely fast, but if the group wants to try, I'll do what I can. I'm not likely to be able to post more than once in the next 10 hours (before 6 or 7pm US Central Time [GMT - 6:00]).
Kreighton nods at the additional details Garduk provides.
At mention of the name, Kreighton thinks a moment, then tells one of his entourage "See if anyone knows something about this demon. I don't recall the name, but there are others who might."
To the group of you, he says "I expect we shall be able to move forward soon."
You have an Aid Token, but it can't do a Lesser Restoration so you may want to hold. The other option is to pass it along to a group still fighting. If you want it passed along, I will ask other GMs who has a table close to getting another success and pass it along to them.
Yes, the schedule is to move forward tomorrow and the transition is immediate.
Female Dwarf LN Slayer 7| HP 67/67 | AC 25(26), T 13, FF 24 CMD 25 | F +9(12), R +8(11), W +5(8) | Init +3 | Perc +12 | SM +12 |
I'm fine with us taking a breather.
Kulga doesn't have anything particular to add to Garduk's account. The details of who slew what, and what the other teams had found could await this expedition's full chronicling.
Male Human Gunslinger (Bolt Ace) 3/ Fighter (Mutation Warrior) 3 | HP 55/55 - AC: 21 T: 17 /FF: 14 - Perception +11 - F: +9 / R: +11 /W: +6 - CMB +6 - CMD +22 - Speed 30 - Init. +8 - Grit Pool 2/2 day
I'm fine with resting a little as well. Also, I vote to pass the aid token to some group in need of it
"I hope I could tell you more about the exploration" Wolfgang yawns "...but unfortunately my colleagues here related everything of note so I think I let them do the talking about the scary goat headed demon we had to kill and its metallic friend..."
I always do my best to run a friendly game. I want people to have fun and everyone to be able to laugh when something crazy happens.
This is part of a special so it will be critical that we run a fast game.
I really want everyone to be able to post at least once a day, preferably more. If you are going to be away from the game for a short period (such as attending a convention, on a short vacation, or needing to do some business travel), I would ask that you please post that here so everyone involved knows.
Character Profiles
Please have a profile header displaying a brief overview of your character's current status. At the least it should include current/maximum hit points, AC (including flat footed and touch), saving throws, and any pools of expendable resources such as panache, grit, arcane pool, rounds of rage, rounds of bardic performance or other things like those that get expended as you use powers.
In the character profile, please include a complete stat block. You may put it under a spoiler if you wish, but if you do so please put it under a single spoiler. I do not want it split across multiple spoilers.
If you have your character sheet on a different site, please have a link to it in your character’s headers. This allows me to pull it up from any post by the character, rather than having to go to the profile and from there to the external sheet.
If you want examples, the PbP GM Kit has the pregenerated characters done in BB Code. Use those as a general guideline.
Botting
Botting is when someone else makes a roll or otherwise does something on behalf of your character. Bot is short for robot.
Please include botting instructions in your profile and a general tactics in case someone else needs to bot your character. It is alright if you put this in a separate spoiler from the stat block, but once again please don't split it over multiple spoilers.
Since this is a special, I would suggest you as a group come up with some general agreement for when people get botted. Some groups are more comfortable with botting than others.
Please also indicate if you have a preference for who runs your character. If there are resources you don’t mind them using, please say so.
If your character has any abilities that interrupt play such as Swashbuckler Parry and Repost, Dual Cursed Oracle’s Misfortune Revelation, the Bard Spell Saving Finale or any other things that can interrupt the normal sequence to allow an action, modify a check or cause a re-roll, I ask that you have something in your Botting instructions about when you want this used.. The reason is that it can really slow down a PbP if you have to serialize actions.
Initiative in PbP
I will roll all Initiative checks for PCs and NPCs, sort them, and organize them into blocks. I will bold the names of characters that should act. I will take the NPC actions in order and reserve the right to delay an NPC in order to make them act with a group of other NPCs.
When it is your turn to act, please post. Do not wait for someone else to post just because they had a higher Initiative. If you know what you want to do but want to wait for someone else’s action to go off first, just say that.
Here is an example of how you could post before another player but have it go off after another player:
Quote:
Sir Cumference waits for the elven archer Mister Oakleaf to get done firing his arrow before charging the Wily Snark.
I (and most other PbP GMs) do grouped Initiative in order to keep the adventure moving. In PbP people will have different posting schedules and often live in different time zones, Waiting for posts in order could make a single round of combat take days to resolve. Even in a normal game, that slows things down too much. In a special, you would never have time to complete anything.
Within the rules, it is as if everyone within the same Initiative block delayed until they could post.
Chronicle information
In order to be able to generate a PFS chronicle, I ask that each character please provide me the following information:
Player name:
Character name:
PFS and character #:
Faction:
Day Job roll (or a note that you have no day job):
Rules Questions
If there are rules questions, please post them in the discussion thread rather than interrupting the gameplay thread with rules debates.
Female Dwarf LN Slayer 7| HP 67/67 | AC 25(26), T 13, FF 24 CMD 25 | F +9(12), R +8(11), W +5(8) | Init +3 | Perc +12 | SM +12 |
Player name: Cwethan
Character name: Kulga Gruenakslag
PFS and character #: 182453-3
Faction: Sovereign Court
Day Job roll (or a note that you have no day job):Survival (Hunting Lodge):1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33
Player Name: Tusk the Half-Orc
Character Name: Garduk the Unteachable
Class and Level: Arcanist (Occultist) 5
PFS#: 199504-7
Faction: Dark Archive
Advancement Track: Normal
Day Job Roll: Craft (bookbinding), Crafter’s Fortune:1d20 + 8 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 8 + 5 = 28
I’ve got a handful of between-scenario purchases and spellcraft checks for scribing new spells into Garduk’s spellbook (including Crafter’s Fortune, which is an automatic success), which I’ll list this evening or over the weekend.
Male Human Gunslinger (Bolt Ace) 3/ Fighter (Mutation Warrior) 3 | HP 55/55 - AC: 21 T: 17 /FF: 14 - Perception +11 - F: +9 / R: +11 /W: +6 - CMB +6 - CMD +22 - Speed 30 - Init. +8 - Grit Pool 2/2 day
Player name: Rogar Valertis
Character name: Wolfgang Strabe
PFS and character #: 100733-7
Faction: Sovereign Court
Day Job roll: Profession(soldier):1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28 Progression: Standard
Notes: Just returning to the boards after the holidays (which I spent working anyway, mostly). Charatcter needs to be updated with 1 extra scenario completed but it does not change level or anything. Before we start I might ask to make some purchases though.
Male Human Gunslinger (Bolt Ace) 3/ Fighter (Mutation Warrior) 3 | HP 55/55 - AC: 21 T: 17 /FF: 14 - Perception +11 - F: +9 / R: +11 /W: +6 - CMB +6 - CMD +22 - Speed 30 - Init. +8 - Grit Pool 2/2 day
Wolfgang will purchase a Belt of incredible dexterity +2 for 4.000 gp and a wayfinder for 250gp. He will also upgrade this wayfinder to "dayfinder" spending 10PP.
So 4.250gp and 10PP spent.
I already upgraded Wolfgang character's sheet as well.
edit: Wolfgang also bought a Mithral Shirt for another 1.100gp and sold his old MW Chain Shirt for 125 gp.
To summarize:
Gold spent: -5.350 gp and -10 PP (Belt of Increbible dexterity+2, Mithral Shirt, Wayfinder, upgrade to "dayfinder").
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
I added tactics of the fight in the spoiler "tactics". There I also placed all the typical formulas (rolls) of attacks and combat maneuvers. Just [ctrl-c / ctrl-v] to bot Chandrabha.
I haven't thought about 'shopping' yet, but I don't think it's going to be anything serious. I'll write here in a few days.
If you know someone who wants in and currently isn’t playing in RetroCon, please point them this way!
I’m also allowing character introductions in Gameplay now. The special hasn’t started, but at least you can find out a little more about the people you will be working with!
One more purchase before leaving Absalom: Garduk buys a cold-weather outfit (8 gp) to avoid having to burn through charges on his endure elements wand every day. He’ll use it (and offer it to others) when needed, though.
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
Garduk wrote:
How does a reptile of any size - let alone one that big - function at all this far north?.
Excellent question. The world is full of magic and mysteries, some of which Pathfinders does not notice under their nose...
---
Colleagues! Need your advice. Do I understand correctly that in order to cure my snake from disease and curse I have to spend 2 RP? Should I make throws or after spending prestige the effect is achieved automatically?
Colleagues! Need your advice. Do I understand correctly that in order to cure my snake from disease and curse I have to spend 2 RP? Should I make throws or after spending prestige the effect is achieved automatically?
Money or prestige points. See pg. 19-20 of the Guide.
No, you do not automatically succeed at any caster level or other checks. As indicated in the very next section of the FAQ, you can purchase the services at higher than minimum levels.
You may also want to look over other sections of the FAQ, including the sections on replacing animal companions.
I do not know how this interacts with the boon I assume you have that allows you to use a giant snake as a mount for an animal companion. Cavaliers normally don’t ride snakes.
In returning from offshore today, don't have any of relevant knowledge skills, and will be happy to start anywhere the party desires. Sorry bout that, I'll catch up when I'm home, internet accessibility is limited. I can't open slides :(
Male Human Gunslinger (Bolt Ace) 3/ Fighter (Mutation Warrior) 3 | HP 55/55 - AC: 21 T: 17 /FF: 14 - Perception +11 - F: +9 / R: +11 /W: +6 - CMB +6 - CMD +22 - Speed 30 - Init. +8 - Grit Pool 2/2 day
I take we did not find a sixth player?
As for botting directions with Wolfgang... he a fairly straightforward guy. He will shoot anything threatening the party while keeping his distance and avoiding trouble if at all possible. Against truly dangerous opponents he might choose to activate his mutagen to give himself better stats as needed.
There is still time if someone comes in during the first two days (measured from the Overseer announcement) which corresponds with when a live table would be mustered.
After that, I would have to check if I am allowed to add a player.
The restrictions were NOT lifted.
You may only play at one RPG table and one ACG table during this convention. If one of them is a table not on Paizo.com or else is Cosmic Captive, you may sign up for two RPG tables.
To start the discussion regarding group placement on the map, I have placed Garduk roughly where I think he might want to be (assuming that the stairs near the top of the map lead down):
- Garduk would want a decent view of the center of the cathedral, because he assumes that's where Kreighton Shane will be to give his briefing, and
- Dwarves came from underground, so perhaps it would be most profitable to start our exploration by going down to the lower levels of the Sky Citadel.
Of course, I'm open to discussion, and my guesses about the mission never survive the briefing anyway!
To start the discussion regarding group placement on the map, I have placed Garduk roughly where I think he might want to be (assuming that the stairs near the top of the map lead down):
- Garduk would want a decent view of the center of the cathedral, because he assumes that's where Kreighton Shane will be to give his briefing, and
- Dwarves came from underground, so perhaps it would be most profitable to start our exploration by going down to the lower levels of the Sky Citadel.
Of course, I'm open to discussion, and my guesses about the mission never survive the briefing anyway!
The stairs in the northwest large alcove go down. Your figure is currently on the correct side for the stairs down.
The stairs in the northeast large alcove go up. I have marked them with an arrow and label. They are directly across from the stairs down.
Kreighton looks to be setting up in the middle of the center hall, where there is sunlight reflected in by the mirrors.
I have created a new slide (#3) that is a larger version of the area around where your group is.
I have placed Garduk and Chandrabha on the slide based on where they were on Slide #2.
If the rest of you can place yourselves on Slide #3, it would be much appreciated.
On a slightly different topic, I will be creating a recruitment thread to try and get one more player for our table. None of you need do anything in the recruitment thread, it is just another attempt by me to get a full table.
Ah, I was checking my character sheet again, I won't be using my Ioun torch as I do have darkvision! I have the oracle revelation "piercing through the veil" that gives me darkvision 60ft.
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
GM Bret, thank you so much for helping me with this matter.
I guess I'll replace my mount after all. Alas, this is the easiest way. Apparently it will be like a Roach from the Witcher series. According to the rules, I'll remove evasion and a few tricks.
GM Bret wrote:
I do not know how this interacts with the boon I assume you have that allows you to use a giant snake as a mount for an animal companion. Cavaliers normally don’t ride snakes.
This archetype allows this. You have to be nagaji to take it (even in PFS).
I assume your mount was poisoned in a previous adventure and the GM didn't resolve things? They are supposed to resolve these sort of conditions at the end, but I know that sometimes things get rushed.
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
Yeah, that's pretty much it. The game was almost 6 hours. During this time, we hardly reached the middle of the scenario, but we argued a lot on the rules and adequacy of the NPS reactions. After 6 hours, it was decided to finish where it is. Result: about 300 gold, 0 prestige, the snake is struck by some variant mummy rot. So, we did not resolved anything on the spot and the chronicles were sent by e-mail.
It just happens sometimes (however, I had that for the first time and hopefully the last)....
Bret notified me about this. I don't like to ding players for honest mistakes. Your character with an animal companion should have had handle animal all along. If you wish to quickly reallocate your skills so that you have it now, I will allow it. That will allow you to at least get basic tricks on your new critter.
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
Oh! I never paid attention to "trained only" in the description of this skill. On the other hand, after replacement of companion I have only bonus tricks* and "combat training", which goes automatically to the mount.
*Bonus Tricks wrote:
...These bonus tricks don't require any training time or Handle Animal checks, and they don't count against the normal limit of tricks known by the animal.
In any case, I thank you for explaining the mistake and for this opportunity! I have one unnecessary rank in ride (Chandrabha fighting on foot) that I'll transfer to handle animal. Thanks!
You might want to read Flutter's Guide to Animal Companions, Druid's Log. He helped me understand how animal companions worked when I was building my first character!
Combat training is automatic when you first get an animal companion as a Cavalier. But when you replace an animal, you get to do all that training yourself. So right now, you have your bonus tricks and can train a number of other tricks equal to your ranks in handle animal. With only one rank, you can train one additional trick after your bonus tricks.
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
Oh boy.... But without combat training will be hard. So, I am now once again will study this (thanks for the link!) and will make all normally (before my turn in combat). Thank you for your patience.
It looks like the Druid’s Log has not been updated since the publication of Ultimate Wilderness. You will find there is a lot of overlap between Ultimate Wilderness and Animal Archive.
If you decide at some point you want to be able to do more than what is described in the Core Rule Book, it may be worth it to get Ultimate Wilderness instead of Animal Archive.
In the mean time, I think I will go poke a big wolf with a stick. Find out if they plan to update the document.
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
I'll have to buy this book. We'll see.
About ranks, by the way. I still haven't seen a reason to have more than 1 rank in Handle Animal if you're OK with charisma. At the next level when I get back Link class feature, I'll take automatically tricks I’ll need (take 10). And when the animal has intelligence 1 and you can teach it only three tricks...
I think the only thing you are doing outside CRB currently is the Maneuver (Trip). If you are feeling lucky, you can get that off a push action.
I tend to max Handle Animal on my characters until I can fairly reliably manage DC 27 with a roll. That allows me to push the creature during combat when it is hurt. I like the flexibility of being able to do something unconventional when it seems appropriate. Lastest example of this was with my cavalier, where I wanted the mount (a boar in my case) to drag an opponent that I had just netted.
I don’t have a lot of pet class characters. Still, having done a little bit with them helped me learn the rules for Handle Animal and Ride.
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
GM Bret wrote:
I tend to max Handle Animal on my characters until I can fairly reliably manage DC 27 with a roll. That allows me to push the creature during combat when it is hurt.
That makes a lot of sense. So, I will take advantage of the generous offer to reallocate some ranks and on this I will close this 'off-topic'.
I'm sure my red opponent is still entangled, aside from the grappled condition. The fact that I let go the end of the net only affects the fact that I can't control his movements by opposed strenght check. But the entangled condition itself does not disappear :)
I will spend some time rereading nets as a weapon and get back to you on this.
So far, it hasn’t made a different but it likely will when they get their action.
I need to take a trip out of town the weekend, starting today and returning Sunday.
I will update once more this morning. After that it is likely that I will not be able to update again until sometime tonight. Tomorrow and Sunday will also most likely only be morning and evening updates.
Rereading the description of the net, it appears that Red is still entangled. I had thought you needed to hold the trailing rope. In rereading it, the only thing the rope does is put a limit on their movement.
Red started out grumpy. Now they are also entangled and grappled.
It looks like Wolfgang only updates once a day in the evening so we would have waited anyways. I don’t want to bot him right now considering the party is trying to decide if the NPC gets captured or killed.
Wolfgang, it would be good if you could add some Botting directions to your profile.
f CN Nascent Demon Lord | Chaos, Destruction, War | Blood, Catastrophe, Demon, Insect, Tactics
Thank you! I was clearing this up more for the future (now it seems our opponent is in big trouble anyway). Such schemes (plus to take away the weapon and to trip) - an essence of my character in fight.
Aid Tokens are the way that a special represents the help you can get from other groups of Pathfinders. All tables are working together on the same mission and the Aid Token represents something another group does to help your group.
It is a free action to use an Aid Token. You can only boost or use it. You can not use Aid Tokens twice within the same encounter.
If anyone hasn’t participated in a special before and needs a better explanation of what is going on, please ask! I will do my best to explain things.
The bonus depends on tier. I have already incorporated the changes so the below is for Tier 5-6.
Aid Another: A Pathfinder agent helps the PCs solve a puzzle, disable a trap, or accomplish some other task as if performing the aid another action for a PC, giving +3 to the check.
Allied Offensive: A Pathfinder agent strikes a creature at the same time as the PC, increasing the damage dealt by one attack by 2d8 points. In addition, after the attack, the target is considered to be flanked until the beginning of the attacker's next turn.
Burst of Healing: A Pathfinder agent heals all of the PCs of 3d6 points of damage. Alternatively, the agent can instead cast neutralize poison, remove curse, or remove disease with a caster level equal to the table's APL (minimum 5).
Spellcasting Synergy: A Pathfinder agent casts a spell at the same time, increasing the save DC and caster level of a PC's spell by 1.
Timely Inspiration: A Pathfinder agent provides the effects of a bard's inspire courage bardic performance for 3 rounds giving a Competence bonus of +2.
