I should probably just stick to say, Greater Invisibility at times like this...
There are feats and things that you can use to reduce the sniping penalty, if you want it to be a truly viable combat strategy.
Getting Signature Skill for Stealth reduces it, as does the Expert Sniper feat. I'm sure there are other things that can give big bonii to Stealth as well.
- - -
@Adol - I try not to be fussy about the exact formatting, but yes, that kind of thing would be appreciated. Not every time, I just have to be totally sure exactly what you're doing by reading your post.
Another thing you guys can do - you can describe your target narratively in IC text ("Uliaza looks down below herself, points at one of the undead foes standing near a pillar on the north side of the room and fires rays of fire") and then using the color or number scheme in OOC text ().
If you guys like, I can link some posts from other campaigns in which I think the formatting is totally spot-on. I know a few of you are new to PBP, and getting it to look right and read smoothly is a major step in quality.
I know, but it'll be like, two levels before I get to take another feat. So in the mean time, I'll be better of spamming Greater Invisibility for most fights.
@Divinity sure, I'd like to see some examples. I've seen a few of low level combat but none that deal with complex high level ones. It looks much easier to write it well if all you have to do is walk somewhere and then attack once.
@ DM Divinity: Mage Strike does cost 3 to use as a Swift? Okay; I had spent a Mythic Surge on the diplomacy check when I inspired the citizens of Dalaston... So I should have 11 Mythic Power left.
Yeah, the houserules are, in fact, in effect.
OK, thanks for the notice. Updated.
@Adol:
HERE is one example. HERE is another example.
Generally, a few basic steps will make posts look good:
1.) Group all your rolls together, either at the top or bottom.
2.) Have a short ooc summary at the bottom that explains what you're doing.
3.) Write some decent explanation of your actions.
Yeah, the houserules are, in fact, in effect.
Ok; it's just that Mage Strike isn't on the list; but was similar enough that I was going to hazard a guess.
Oh - you're right. I think it was an oversight, because nobody takes Mage Strike. Whoops!
Apologies, I just realized I should have waited until Calxakti finished his turn before taking mine. I decided to post my turn now since I had some time to post and won't be available for the next 6-7 hours at least.
I tried to incorporate the desired format in the post. Maybe I should do the rolls under a spoiler tag So that it doesn't wall of math the screen?
One other question, I reread the ability for Id rager (Adol's retalitation buff inside rage), and unlike I've seen it used in common play, the retaliation buff only applies to the enemy who last attacked Adol. Considering this is going to be a fairly minor benefit for something that will take a lot of time to keep tracking and adjusting rolls for, I'd like to request to retrain his emotional focus for rage from dedication to anger either now or after this battle (for this battle, so far the play was legal since it was only used on blue who was indeed the last target to attack Adol). Anger's effect, instead of the retaliation buff, is simply that it increases the str bonus from rage by 2 but lowers Adol's dex by 2 (and thus ac and reflex by 1) during the rage. It would also change his bonus feat from skill focus diplomacy to skill focus: survival.
I Won't be available for at least the next four; myself. And then another four after that.
I think we can post as long as we have the You are up tag.
If you can explain to me why anger is a better emotional center for Adol than dedication is, then sure!
I want to be clear that I won't be allowing a ton of free retraining all the time. After this first combat, that'll be it.
Rirsa is right. As long as You are up!, then you can post. They will be resolved in order, so if you want to, for example, benefit from a buff, you should delay your turn.
@ DM Divinity: There's a couple of questions that I asked but you never got back to me on. I'll send you a PM about them when I get home from work.
If you can explain to me why anger is a better emotional center for Adol than dedication is, then sure!
I want to be clear that I won't be allowing a ton of free retraining all the time. After this first combat, that'll be it.
Rirsa is right. As long as You are up!, then you can post. They will be resolved in order, so if you want to, for example, benefit from a buff, you should delay your turn.
To be fair, dedication is more in character for someone like Adol, but anger probably makes more logical sense when making a rage effect than being very dedicated. And to clarify, I don't need this retrain for Adol to work. The only reason I am suggesting this is that it substracts from bookkeeping. Mechanically, now that I've thought about it more, it probably still works fine since every attack directed at him is automatically from the last attacker and it would benefit all his parries more than +2 str would. It becomes a bit more tricky if he ever parried for an ally adjacent to him, then it becomes relevant if the attack came from the last person who attacked Adol. Or if the enemy who provoked an AoO is the last person who attacked him. I'm not sure if you feel constantly keeping track of this is something that would annoy you in the long run. If not, I'm completely fine with keeping it as it is.
Thanks for clarifying on the rounds.
The entire flavor behind the Id Rager archetype is that rage is not the only emotion that focus and increased martial power can come from. It is more important to me that your concept is represented flavorfully than bookkeeping is easy.
Besides, you are the one who has to do all of the book-keeping for your own character.
I want to get a GM ruling on Chains of Light. I know as an undead Eldran is immune to paralysis, but can it still lock extradimensional travel? I can see either reading and would like your ruling. I figure Alithea would know with her spellcraft, as it's ambiguous in the description, but I imagine she would know.
Sure: it will block extra dimensional travel if you cast it at him and he fails his save, but he will not be paralyzed.
Attacking people ruins attempts at Diplomacy, though, so weigh that against whether you'd like to help Maika.
The entire flavor behind the Id Rager archetype is that rage is not the only emotion that focus and increased martial power can come from. It is more important to me that your concept is represented flavorfully than bookkeeping is easy.
Besides, you are the one who has to do all of the book-keeping for your own character.
I don't mind doing the bookkeeping, but I don't know how enemy turns will go and can't adjust for what happens during their turns. I can put something like: retalion active vs (enemy x) at the end of my posts, going into the enemy phase. That doesn't guarantee though that it will actually be that enemy that attacked Adol last if it becomes revelant for potential AoO's. For instance, let's say that another enemy ranged attacks Adol first and only afterwards the original retaliation target provokes. If I attack the original retaliation target now, I'd no longer have the buff against the enemy I was last able to track for you. In PBP, only you can track the active target during enemy turns as the GM. That is why I asked if it wasn't something you would start finding annoying over a longer period of time. If I could do it purely by myself, I would, but I don't see how that is possible in the constrictments of PBP.
I'm not pointing this out to powergame or be intentionally difficult or w/e, it's just that in retrospect, now that I've seen a bit of PBP and thought about this some more, I think a circumstantial ability like this might be something that works really well in tabletop but less so here. If you can live with the above then I'm fine keeping it as it is.
Listen, all I'm saying is that it's entirely up to you. I understand your arguments, but it's yourself that you need to make them to. As long as it makes sense within the narrative, then I don't particularly care which one you choose. Just tell me with certainty which one you want to keep.
I'll keep dedication then since it fits his character better. I'll track it up until the enemy turn and put it at the bottom of posts in blue.
@GM: Maika's using her readied spell to try and disrupt the foe's escape attempt. Pretty sure the Concentration DC is 10 + 25 (Damage) + 4 (Spell Level), totaling 39... assuming no unexpected modifiers, of course. XD You never know what might pop up at higher levels.
His Dimension Door in this case was an actual spell, and not an SLA? Just making sure, as it will affect Alithea's actions going forward.
Yes. Eldran is a real spellcaster. The bloodless are just undead with special powers.
I'm going to wait with Adol's turn and hope Maika's attempt at sabotaging that teleport succeeds. Let's hope it does!
Maika's disruption of the initial teleport did succeed. Of course, he could always have another trick, but I think you're good to post for now. XD
Great! Now...choices, choices. Unfortunatelty, I am bad at grappling. And honestly both IC and OOC I am too worried he would still find a way to escape if I didn't take the opportunity to finish him off. So... sorry everyone. If he 'dies' here, I guess we'll find out soon how much Adol screwed everyone over by killing this evil who no doubt held back some even greater evil we now probably won't know about. But those would be good story opportunities regardless, I suppose :)
Darn; I had an idea too...
Out of curiosity, what were you planning?
Edit: Um. Well. Looks like you'll get your chance, since he just revived himself? O.o
To explain:
An undead creature with regeneration cannot be brought below 0 hp and heals on their turn, every turn. That means that he does not ever lose a turn for being "destroyed", because every time his turn comes up, he heals whatever his regeneration value is and then can subsequently act.
How do you plan to keep him restrained while you cart him around town?
Adol's plan involves:
1.) Destroy all of the remaining bloodless
2.) Confront Count Serano with his weird undead advisor
3.) Evacuate the villagers
4.) Set some sort of ambush for the dragon, in case it comes back
Please discuss among yourselves whether you agree with all or part of these plans.
To answer some of this quickly before work, i think we're forced to take him with us unless we do something drastic like.actually planeshift him. It seems there is a better immediate use for him though. Adol will keep grappling him while we move, until we find something better to restrain him with. Seeing his powerful advisor in custody might help in getting the mayor to talk about what is going on here, at the least the history of this advisor is very unclear to me. Also, as the mayor he might have secret knowledge about this town that is normally kept from the villagers. According to the map of taldor, i believe there were a few villages somewhat nearby, with (something)'s crown to the south. I cannot check the exact map/distances at this momemt.
I can summon a fairly powerful outsider to help protect the villagers should we decide to do the evacuation.
Of course, all of this depends on very limited information. If the dragon hates the villagers instead of the village, this would put them in greater danger then leaving them here.
I hope it's okay if I simply say I'm doing translations for Carie; especially for other people's parts in conversations; I'm reasonably certain that walls of Esperanto would be annoying if they accompanied other texts and take a good deal of time to type on a phone; so I would only be able to type it out when I am home.
For what it's worth, if that regen is based on his undead body, I'm pretty sure polymorphing it will disable it and allow for permanent death.
Is there any way to know for sure other than trying this? For that matter, what does everyone want to with him now? Rirsa wants to let him walk with us unbound. Personally, id suggest taking him with us under restraint to see the mayor and then doing what we feel is best depending on what we learn there. In the current situation, the only solution i see is to either try maika's trick or planeshifting him somewhere so that he'd be placed in a situation of eternal destruction. We can't be keeping the villagers safe from both him and the dragon if that shows up. Id rather deal with one major threat at a time, and chances are really good hed slip.away in the chaos of a dragon attack.
I could however simply have adol stand back and just keep him under a warchful eye, if others still want to try diplomacy like Rirsa.
How about a compromise; we tie up his hands.
We should be able to compromise with him on that end; hopefully.
We agreed on a distraction so Ulliazza could slip in; correct? I'm in the middle of telling a story involving a Red Dragon I fought so I just want to confirm before I finish it.
We agreed on a distraction so Ulliazza could slip in the manor; correct? I'm in the middle of telling a story involving a Red Dragon I fought so I just want to confirm before I finish it.
I believe that is what she asked you for.
I need from Uliaza what she's looking for in the manor, though. You already know that the count isn't there (unless you didn't believe the guards on your first visit, of course).
I forgot Alithea has another daily resource. She can only use Consume Spells a number of times per day equal to her CHA mod, which is 2.
I'm trying to think of a way Adol might still be able to help the feebledminded villagers. Since Alithea identified the aflliction, and Adol has decent knowledge arcana and knows how his own abilities work, he probably knows IC if his enfeebled mercy would work in removing it.
"Enfeebled: The paladin dispels any magical effects that are reducing one of the target’s ability scores (paladin’s choice)."
It probably doesn't, but I guess it's worth a try asking. His other method would be summoning in a planar ally with access to heal.
Feeblemind can only be removed by heal, or effects stronger than it (we can resolve that conversation in character as well. Since the villagers are not in immediate danger Alithea is primarily pressed with getting them somewhere safe and resolving the situation before figuring out a way to help them.
That said, my background included spending years in the Serene Circle learning from the Old Man (Irori's Herald), as I figured Irori himself would not be bothered with a fledgling divinity. That said, I noticed HE has heal a few times per day. I'm not planning to use this relationship to benefit from the herald's ability, but I figured people getting hit by Feeblemind has to be pretty anathema to Irori's teachings of self-perfection. Do you think if I either brought him here, or took these poor villagers to the Serene Circle that he would tend to them? I'm trying to get an idea of how you figure that relationship would play out. Otherwise, we can find other means of solving the problem.
If they have the funds, I have basically unlimited Heals. o wo/ It'd take a bit of time to set up an account, transact a valuable, and cast the spell for each one, but that is an option.
I'm pretty sure commoners don't have 3300 gold a pop. Given that it's not urgent, Teleporting to Absalom on a day with downtime and acquiring scrolls of heal for 1650 is viable, or perhaps procuring services directly from a cleric of a friendly faith (for a donation to their church).
Ahem. I believe you mean to say 1400 GP each if you buy from me. ...Kobold Press material is allowed, and the 4th-level Stalwart spell from Deep Magic ends Feebleminded. XD
You should generally assume that you won't be able to get free services from anyone that's not a follower or a cohort. You're certainly always free to go request services from anyone you can think of, and powerful outsiders tied to your backstories are a great example. However, he would definitely request something in return.
Speaking of that, your leadership scores:
I see you all as possessing "special power", and everyone also possesses "base of operations". Other modifiers should be earned in-game.
That means:
Adol's leadership score is 25 for followers. (135 1st-level, 13 2nd-level, 7 3rd-level, 4 4th-level, 2 5th-level, 2 6th-level)
Alithea's leadership score is 19 for followers. (40 1st-level, 4 2nd-level, 2 3rd-level, 1 4th-level)
Rirsa's leadership score is 22 for followers. (75 1st-level, 7 2nd-level, 4 3rd-level, 2 4th-level, 2 5th-level, 1 6th-level)
Uliaza's leadership score is 24 for followers. (110 1st-level, 11 2nd-level, 6 3rd-level, 3 4th-level, 2 5th-level, 1 6th-level)
Maika and Calxakti don't have Leadership.
When your Leadership scores exceed 25 we should use this table from 3.5 that covers leadership scores up to 40 and adds up to 10th-level cohorts.
Hey divinity, thanks for the calculations. I agree that calling on allies to help out here makes for good story hooks.
For reference, can I ask you how you calculated everyone's leadership score? This is the first time I've done a leadership calculation. When I do so however, I seem to get a significantly higher number for Adol.
Base = level + cha mod, which is 22.
Mythic leadership adds the tier, +6.
I'm assuming a level 14 character is usually of great renown, unless they took a lot of special care to not be noticed as much for their exploits, which I can't say I have > +2.
Adol has a home base, Arl on Akiton. This should add +2?
At this point, I should be at 32.
Assuming we are using the leadership table for adjustments (I can't reach 25 unless there are adjustments from somewhere other than his mythic tier), these should be safe assumptions?
Then you get to more subjective modifyers.
You could make an argument for that Adol is fair and generous as a LG paladin, and that he has special power (he is mythic), for +1/+1. However, he also moves around a lot for -1 and his deific obedience encourages his followers to train until they're combat-ready and then actively seek out danger to fight it. Would this count as indirectly causing the death of a follower for (-1)? If this all cancels eachother out it would leave him at 32.
When I first read mythic leadership, I overlooked that my ten highest level followers below the cohort are also mythic tier 1. If his score is 32, he'd have 1 level 8 mythic tier 1, 2 level 7's, 3 level 6's and 4 level 5's with tier 1 somewhere in his cohort? That would be awesome, though it doesn't influence anything yet... I guess they'd make good lieutenants?
Meanwhile, I'm making it easy and just not using Leadership. 8D ...Probably for the best, really.
I understand that you can argue he has great renown, that he's fair and generous, that he moves around a lot, and that he's causing the death of followers. However, considering that we haven't actually played a lot, I need to see in-character actions that suggest this.
If you want to have great renown, you need to actively spread your fame.
If you want to be fair and generous, you have to be selfless in situations that demand sacrifice or personal gain.
If you want to cause the death of followers, you have to invite them to aid you into dangerous situations that they die in.
If you want to move around a lot, you have to be constantly dragging people around with you.
I did forget that Adol has Mythic Leadership (I think he's the only one), so as far as I can see his Leadership score should actually be 31.
@Maika: Is this the right spell? (link)
I don't see how that spell resolves Feeblemind. Even moreso in any permanent sense.
Ok, fair enough. Thanks for that explanation, I then understand the only adjustments that are currently used are having a base and special powers, which clears up how your calculation got to 25.
*Looks at d20pfsrd and PDF copies of Deep Magic*
O_o
*Looks at Hero Lab*
Okay, THAT'S weird. It's not in the PDF, but it is in the official Hero Lab files. (I did a search to see if any other spell would cure it, and that popped up...)
@GM: Quick question! Does the primary Church/Bank of Abadar in Axis have any plane shifting beacons to improve accuracy for visitors? As somebody who A) works there, and B) frequently travels the planes, I feel like Maika would know the best way to get there in a hurry. XD