GM ShadowLord's Tyrant's Grasp

Game Master The Rising Phoenix

I run a clouded vision one in a living campaign. I just have to remember that she can't see more than 30 feet away.

Damian has almost all of his spells and Channels available, right? And Coral has a 1d6 Lay on Hands from The Word trait. Maybe Vlad still has his too?

So we might not be quite as desperately low on resources as I feared.

No spells, we didn't rest after levelling up. Not sure about the channels, what's the verdict there GM?

If you want to start combat and not be flatfooted, I suggest you don't do it in this room. While I'm aware it's in my powers to change rules, I'm going going to rewrite to the initiative system nor am interested in making an exception here. If you want to go first in pathfinder, you either take the character abilities which enable you to do that or enact some form of tactics to get the desired outcome you want.

Thanks. Good to know that tactics are an option.

Since it sounds like we are going to rest, I wanted to bring up the topic of healing. We will all get 4 hp back from a night’s sleep, which is not enough to get everyone back to full, particularly Vlad. As I mentioned before, Marya can cure deadly wounds once per person per day, which can get more HP back without spending channels/cure spells/etc....She has a +11 so she can take 10 and hit the DC 20 easily to give 2 HP back (one per level). Alternatively, she can take a chance on rolling and possibly get a 25 or more, which would let her add her wisdom to the amount healed (bringing it to 5), but there’s also a 40% chance she rolls less than a 20 and thus heals nothing.

TL:DR would injured people rather Marya heal 2 guaranteed or risk failure for possible heal 5?

PS: Deny the Reaper means Marya can cure deadly wounds without a healer’s kit at no penalty, so she doesnt have to use up limited resources for healing, so I think it’s worth taking advantage of every bit of healing we can

Coral has a Lay on Hands she can use. She would be unsure about healing Vlad because he seems to enjoy getting cut up... would he be angry if she healed him?

He kind of freaks her out.

Heh--don't let Vlad freak you out! He's harmlessly fanatic!

Pragmatically, I don't think I will be able to reject healing as we go forward. Perhaps I accept healing so I can receive more punishment.

As for healing, I also have lay on hands (already used) and another self-heal 1/day for 1 hp/HD (not used yet).

Another thing to keep in mind--I die at -20 hp, so if I'm not healed to max, I'll probably be fine.

Well, I think it would be disrespectful to the effort you have put into making such a disturbing PC to not be a little freaked out.

Not a criticism at all. I just prefer that if there is that darkness and strangeness in a game, then an "everyman" character like Coral would react to it (hopefully not over-react).

Anyway, Coral has offered healing in-character to the party as a whole so if Vlad wants it he can ask, but otherwise she will not impose.

There’s no such thing as a harmless fanatic! And Marya will get anxious if people aren’t topped-off as much as possible. She considers everyone her responsibility.

I would recommend Vlad getting a wand of or finding some way to cast Scarify at some point. It’s practically made for him. Marya is strapped for spells already, so I don’t think it’d be a good idea for her to prep it. I also am not sure if she’d want to enable like that yet haha

I'm fine with everyone being dis-settled by Vlad, and I like the idea with Scarify.

I am trying to think about this on a practical level--I don't mind sporting some wounds, and it's going to take a little more to kill me, but if I end up running around at low HP all the time I'll die for the RP chance.

I'll go ahead and accept healing, but like the ideas for changing things up in the future.

Traveling for work in the next couple of days, so posting may be spotty.

Two questions:

As long as Rajuna is within 30 ft and I don’t specify otherwise, assume Marya uses Seize the Initiative on him every combat to let him roll initiative twice and take the better. Sneak attack means he gets the most benefit of people being flat footed

@Marya, can Coral benefit from this now? Like I said, I am not a fan of how much PF screws you for not going first, but it is what it is and I may as well make use of it.

And,
@Feena, do you think that in time you could pick up Open/Close or Mage Hand (or both)?
Open/Close is very useful for not finding yourself immediately within arm's reach of a prepared foe when you open a door. Establishing a standard practice of opening doors from 30' away or more (sight lines permitting).
Mage Hand is useful for all sorts of things.
Coral could pick up one with Extra Rogue Talent (Minor Magic) but that would cost her a feat and be limited to 3/day.

That was my plan! The buff is yours.

Mage hand is always fun imo just because of all the uses for it. My sorcerer uses it to slap people :3

We also could just grab a wand of either/both for cheap later on. Could even UMD them.

@Feena, just FYI, Shake It Off is not a second save, but rather a static bonus to all saves. +1 per adjacent ally with the feat, up to +4. Coral has a feat that increases the bonus she gives or receives by 1. Not sure how that feat interacts with the +4 cap.

If we are not using a map for any given event, you can probably assume that Feena is adjacent to Coral for a +2 to all saves. Coral is going to get very good at defending adjacent allies next level and Feena is the squishiest.

Yeah, realized that later on. Wouldn't have made a difference either way for me so no biggie.

Did we have anything left from the first day that we have not yet identified?

Hey guys!

I'm flying to San Diego for the next few days and will be mostly out of pocket. I'll be back Monday evening, but I may not get a post in until Tuesday.

Thanks for pointing out the Variant Channeling issue, Coral! I wasn't aware that it worked like that, so I have removed it and I am now sticking with plain old channel. Which would also remove the +1, and with the reroll everyone has healed 5 HP. A second channel for 1d6 ⇒ 6 and the damage from the trap has been negated.

So, I know Vlad is looking at the Pain Taster PrC.
There was also this which I came across: Scar Seeker. It does advance spellcasting so would be more useful if Vlad were to dip Cleric or something else Wis-based (Warpriest, Spiritualist, Empyreal sorcerer). Probably not the direction he is going to go... but he could have a kindred spirit as a cohort or something.

And the rest of us could be more horrified.

So, I know Vlad is looking at the Pain Taster PrC.

There was also this which I came across: Scar Seeker. It does advance spellcasting so would be more useful if Vlad were to dip Cleric or something else Wis-based (Warpriest, Spiritualist, Empyreal sorcerer). Probably not the direction he is going to go... but he could have a kindred spirit as a cohort or something.

And the rest of us could be more horrified.

Hmm--very interesting. I'm not sure I've seen that before. I could definitely see a level of Warpriest or Spiritualist. I've thought about adding a level like that just for the flavor of still being a "divine" character.

I'll have to give it some thought. Thanks for the link!

I was looking at gods on AoN for a character i’m developing and came across a psychopomp usher with an MO similar to Vlad

Interesting. I don’t want to give away any secrets of character development, but we shall see how well I stay the current course of righteousness!

Just to make sure we've got every HP for Vlad that we can - has he used his Arisen story feat today?

Just to make sure we've got every HP for Vlad that we can - has he used his Arisen story feat today?

He has not, though it's a standard action to get back 2 hp. Not sure that's my best action right now.

I'm going to go back and audit my hp total. I have forgotten to apply fey foundling when I've been healed, and I want to make sure I have everything right since I'm potentially a round from death.

Thx for the heal, Damian.

Oh, standard action, never mind.

If you do get grappled again, I would suggest a 1-handed attack to try to kill the thing, rather than trying to escape the grapple. Coral can Aid Another on your attack roll.

Also make sure you have your AC and CMD right. I think your CMD is 19 with Shield of Faith?

Okay, I've gone through the last 5 pages of the message board to audit my hit points. I had been forgetting to use Fey Foundling.

With Damian's heal last round, I should be at 2/25 hp without rage, or 6/29 with rage (I have 3 round left for the day).

My AC is actually 2 lower from raging, but 2 higher from shield of faith, so it should still be 18.

GM, how would you like me to track my raging AC and hp? Is there something I can do to make that easier for you?

Handling buffs, status effects and HP are not the easiest thing in Paizo’s PBP forum. There are numerous ways to handle this, but my recommended way would be something we can all universally adopt and so it stays consistent. Here are a few, each has its own pros and cons.

Everyone could add a status line/block to their posts tracking effects.
We could use Roll20
I could add a link to a google sheet for tracking at the top of the page

I'm happy to do whatever makes it easy for you.

Right now, I've been tracking my own hp (I had just forgotten to add fey foundling, so I went back and adjusted it) in my own status bar.

I could add something like this if it would be helpful:

HP 2/25 [6/29 rage] | AC 18 [16 rage]

I think it would be better to keep the info here or on a google sheet. Keep all the stats in more or less the same location.

I like keeping them together, I'm all about making it simpler for everyone. If someone wants to setup a google sheet for you to use for current HPs and active effects, I'll link it up top.

One tricky thing is that modifiers can change in the middle of the round with positioning, considering the teamwork feats.

For example, Coral gives (and gets) an extra bonus for Shake it Off, so Vlad would have a +2 to all saves if adjacent to just Coral, or a +3 if adjacent to Coral and Feena. What Vlad sees when he makes a save might not be the same as the actual situation when the save was required. (Like if the enemy casts a spell, then Coral moves, then Vlad gets around to rolling his save - he'll have to know where Coral was at the time the spell happened.)

This can be dealt with and I think we will get better at it with practice.

Coral is planning to be a great asset to those adjacent to her - next level she'll get Combat Reflexes and Bodyguard.

Vlad - I know you are not in Discord (SHAME. FIX THIS) so you didn't see, but we are picking up a sixth. He'll be joining you shortly!

Good morning all, here I am! I will have a few builds and backgrounds available for you tonight or tomorrow - not just for bard but bard adjacent.

The players guide says that things that allow people to survive are preferred - so I’m looking at things to improve party survivability, in addition to providing the bard spell list and knowledge skills (which you seem to be lacking).

If anyone’s heart is set on inspire courage, I can try to keep that, so let me know! Thanks for having me!

Vlad - I know you are not in Discord (SHAME. FIX THIS) so you didn't see, but we are picking up a sixth. He'll be joining you shortly!

Very fun! Welcome to Litejedi!

As for discord--I'm not really a social media user. I'm happy to join you on Discord, but may not check in on Discord. XD

Stop making excuses and clink on the link and get your butt in the damn channel already slacker!!! :)

Discord

Stop making excuses and clink on the link and get your butt in the damn channel already slacker!!! :)

Discord

Ha--alright, alright!

I'm unexpectedly away for a couple of days. I'll join you when I get back. :)

*grumble*

Hey all, here's two different builds that I was considering:

Alternatively, I can also do a dirge bard instead of the silver balladeer, but it requires a more complex build, and would focus more on casting necromancy stuff.

Note the shared "Lesser Psychopomp Totem" that I would share with the skald build, which gives a boost to everyone's AC and saves vs. undead, death effects, poison, and diseases. This seems to be from the module too, which seems interesting and thematically appropriate. Later totems increase this bonus, and would provide other benefits.

The background is pretty complex, but I'm working with SL on it now. Please let me know what you think!

Either one of those looks good to me! Psychopomp totem looks legit but I also love the silver balladeer bringing countersong and a song that breaks curses. Since you like skalds, you should do the skald if that’s what you want!

Either one looks good.

Also note that you get a teamwork feat. Some PCs have chosen Ferocious Loyalty. Other have chosen Shake it Off. Coral has the latter, and has a feat that increases the bonus she gives and receives from it by an additional +1.

Will do, I’ll probably choose shake it off.

Alas and alack, it appears that Skald is out - can’t inspire Damian to be angry at the world when the poor guy is deaf, so balladeer (or some variation therof) is left as the only option (inspire courage via the merengue?). Still working on a background with SL.

Damian wouldn't get angry anyway, so don't let his deafness stop you.

I play a skald in a dex-heavy party and no one accepted the rage effects in the beginning. Now I have different effects that mesh better with the party. :)

I'd absolutely say to play what you want. Both look solid, but if one is calling for you, play that.

Stop making excuses and clink on the link and get your butt in the damn channel already slacker!!! :)

Discord

Could you shoot me a new invite please? It says expired.

Sorry. :/

Here you go, good for one day!

Good evening, checking in with a draft profile!

Welcome aboard! We'll get you inserted soon.

The rest of you will be leveling up to three when this encounter is completed, so please go ahead and update!

Wooo! Leveling is fun!

I was desperately trying to find an avatar that matches, but there’s not many people who look duskwalker-esque. Let me know if y’all see any good ones.