Monsters save the world (Inactive)

Game Master caster4life

GM mentioned that we would level up after this fight. Therefore, to get this ready.

Lvl 1 Roughrider Fighter!
HP: +10
BaB: +1
Skills: Intimidate, Ride (+4)
Background Skills: Craft (Weapon’s) Craft (Armor)
Languages: Common, Orc, Giant
Feats: Furious Focus, Intimidating Prowess (Strength and Cha to Intimidate)
Proficiencies: Yes.

Next level Gorthug will take a modified Graveknight Template. Giving him a spectral worg to ride. As for his armor, hopefully by then he will either have found a suitable suit of armor or will have made his own.

I've also prepped my levelup. Going Lvl 1 mesmerist and trading my toughness feat for nature soul so that I can get me a bear. GM - if you'd like a writeup like Gorthug did I'd be happy to, just let me know. Otherwise I'll just update her profile on official levelup.

Side note - haven't picked next "level"'s template yet but rest assured it will be either sleep or fear themed (maybe nature since she's with The Green Mother now) and it will be sure to boost her CHA for better spell/SLA DCs

Good grief! I forgot I should be fast healing that damage I took. Has it been at least two rounds since I was hit? I think so...that would put me back at full.

Snowball will just grab the advanced template this time, next level she'll lose the template and finally increase an age category xD

Yeah go ahead and level up. This fight is certainly over.

Please give me the highlights of your CR up in discussion as it's hard enough for me to have any idea what this party can and can't do. XD

With his mind back, Gorthug now has an amazing +18 Intimidate! Also forgot he has 1 more skill point to play with. So he will have Survival. As it seems like the sort of skill he would have when alive.

Question about levelups and templates:
Templates that scale with HD...should we add the new items as we level up?
As an example, some give additional SLAs depending on your HD level, and also some of them go from +1 to +2 CR at a certain HD level as well.

Mine don't go up in CR yet, but do add SLAs now that I've added a hit die.

and Mr. Orc man - Scary Cindy is right behind you at +17 Intimidate :)

Spooky party.

What a nightmare to encounter us. Two characters who a very different kinds of scary.

Very different kinds of scary indeed!

Cindy: Yes things scale as written. So if a template increases in CR, it becomes more costly. It also becomes more beneficial, tho not always at the same time as you point out. Makes character building a bit of work indeed!

I'm looking at envious creature as a future template. (Envious Creature) It looks very Cindy if I change it fluff wise to be that she has those affects on people she feels should be part of her family instead of people she "desires"

Makes her even creepier and gives me the CHA boost I need. Probably mix it next level up with a -1 template, or just wait 2 levels for it.

Because of a certain fight in another game, I'm wondering if I should have picked redcap as the fey creature of choice!

They certainly don't have the low offense/high defense problem of many monsters.

Okay so my bump this time is getting the 2nd level of oracle. I'll probably get that sorted out tomorrow.

redcaps are really cool and fun.

well this is super boring, but I knew it would happen. Bob is going to lose the young template this level, which has some pluses and minuses as I lose my dimunitive size

GM: It might be helpful to put up a doc that you sticky on top that talks about the level up rules. It would save you from having to answer the same questions every time. For example, do I gain HP? Pretty sure I don't gain skills.

If I remember correctly he allowed us background skills based on our HD but normal skills only go up with class levels (and if they are listed in a template/monster improvement.) We also do gain HP, I believe it's add one HD of whatever HD your monster race has.
(Please correct me if I'm wrong, GM, but that's what I have jotted down in my char notes for Cindy)

It looks like I have a more serious job ahead of me than I thought.

Becoming a not young gelatinous orb is pretty bad. The diminutive size really was a boost because of the dexterity help.

New plan-- instead I will be turning into the classic gelatinous cube, a young one. That will make me medium sized, but getting the classic engulf ability. That means-- please confirm GM-- that since I am basically choosing a completely new base monster, I should start with that and those stats, and then apply my templates and class level.

OOH that's a good question. I eventually plan to have Cindy reach puberty and become a soulbound mannequin instead of a soulbound doll so I'll have the same questions at that point.
I've even had her take an appropriate crafting skill so that she can build herself a new body later on XD

You guys make me so happy that I'm just a mutant dragon with a built in age progression that I can follow xD

Yeah, that young template is a tricky one. It was also a downgrade for me when I got rid of the young template at CR 3, as the smaller size (Tiny) meant I was way more accurate with my crossbow (due to both higher Dex and the size bonus), had way better AC, and even physical skills were better because of tiny creatures getting to use Dex instead of Str for climb and swim.

I managed to get my level-up completed tonight! No new spells known except my mystery spell, which is detect undead. But I now cast 4 spells per day instead of 3. I think my biggest gain is that I can maintain life link on 2 people at once now. It will be a bummer when that drops back down a few level-ups from now when I make the transition from nixie to nymph.

The basics of my level up are Mesmerist Trick (shadow splinter), Mesmerist spells (Beguiling Gift and Expeditious Retreat so far, but I'm considering changing one of them), and additional SLAs due to higher HD (oppressive boredom, sound burst, scare, see invisibility).

Additionally I gonna get a bear due to the swap of toughness for nature soul and taking animal ally as my Lvl 1 feat.

The rest is pretty standard (better saves, skill increases, only 2 HP due to losing toughness)

I'm updating the profile page and will have it posted later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Campaign info tab should have a lot of the answers but I can re-org into a sticky document up top when I get the chance.

Yes you completely replace with the new base monster when you transition from one form to the next sensible one.

Cindy is going to discover her new abilities through experimentation; I don't want to just hand-wave that "she's a mesmerist now YAY!"

...also although officially she has a grizzly bear animal companion now, I'm going to leave it to the GM as to when and where it might first appear. I'll be happy to RP her interacting with it when it shows up and then take over, but I don't want to just have it appear next to her, that would be silly. All I really need when you think it's an appropriate time for it to show up is a growl in the distance, an intruder to our camp at night, an injured bear lying in the snow, or something similar as a cue and I'll run with it.

The best ways to get new abilities, through RP!

Need to finalize my decision, but the likely one for me right now is to stop drinking. (Getting rid of Drunk effectively is the same as adding advanced)

We've all got your back, Tina, and we're all very proud of you.

Can we add negative templates later? For next level up seriously considering a +2 CR, so are we allowed to do something like a -1 and a +2 on a level up, or were the negative templates only allowed at start?

You can add negative templates later. It's important flexibility for making all the maneuvering between CR work.

Now you guys know you're likely to face a horde of barbarians soon. That will really help all the prepared casters... Oh... wait... To be fair, it's MUCH easier to boost cha with templates or creatures than int or wis.

Hey guys? You killing this thing or letting it go?
I would make a nice happy friend post for Cindy, but then if you decide to kill it she'll be really sad so I'm waiting to see what the group does.

Gorthug thinks it is your slave, so it is yours to do with as you see fit.

It will probably be less panicked by Cindy in a little bit and start "misbehaving." She might panic it into submission again, repeating the cycle until it makes a save. Then it just keeps misbehaving. Given this party has an infinite pool of slow healing, I don't know what to say about that...

On the other hand, the panicked condition will never make it cooperative... Unless we homebrew something where the elemental becomes Cindy's "animal companion." But then I'd have to scrap my bear plans...

NOOOOO!!!!
Cindy needs a bear!!!!
She's been talking about bears since the very first time she left the cave!

We could handwave it being so scared it just gets unsummoned.

Yeah I haven't been engaging with it at all. That's the problem with a captive that doesn't speak the language of nearly all of the party. Let's just let it go and keep going.

Oh noes Bob! It's the bigger stronger brother of your old nemesis the door!

Hahaha. Yeah that's not why I planned it thus but I realized that when I was writing the description and couldn't help chuckling to myself a bit.

I don’t think we need to rush into the castle. Let’s all back up and let them open the door themselves, or I can pound it from a distance to eventually bring it down.

No need for someone to risk their life to lift the bar. I think the exception might be if Tina has the ability to teleport Gorthug in because he could lift the bar on the first try.

I agree it doesn't make sense to try to be opening it WHILE they are rushing towards us. You can all assume that Cindy passed down the message of the incoming barbarians, as her reason for heading up there was to keep watch.

Does the group agree? Back away for now and see what the guards do?

I believe Tina has already dimensionally-hopped Gorthug today so she can't do so again.

Given an average damage, it would take me 14 rounds to bring it down by myself. The barbarians will likely climb into the catwalks and do ranged damage on us. I don’t know the optimal solution. I do think it is too dangerous for snowball to stay over on that side by yourself.

You don't know how hard it is to hurt Snowball hahahah xD
But she'll probably start bombarding them from the air if she can't open it next round xD
Or maybe she'll just give up? I guess it depends on if the barbarians reach her xD
The southern one only has to move 80' to reach Snowball.
hmm

@GM: Is the ground icy, snowy, or otherwise difficult terrain inside the courtyard?

Non-obligatory mention of the fact that my template includes perfect flight so I don't have to roll like Snowball does :P

Actually, it's only worth +8 in pathfinder, and if there's strong wind you might take a big enough penalty to have a net fly bonus below +19 and actually need to roll

:P

I was definitely attacking the non sleeping barbarian

Forgot about Slam attack. Added it in: that barbarian is going to have a bad day.

casting the entire fracas into Darkness

20 ft radius, Sorry, Goldslip

Bah! I can see just fine in darkness. Only out to 30 feet, like always. =)

Oh right. In that case, darkness doesn't affect our party at all.

Now I'm curious if anyone has See in Darkness, blindsight, or similar xD

For a second there I thought bob was blind, but no, he does have blindsight 60 though

There is a very good chance that Gorthug is going to die here. And I’m ok with that. He got his mind back and has an afterlife he is looking forward to. Now, I don’t want him to die, but at the same the worst thing is pulling punches.

*Starts looking at CR4 monsters*

Haha. Gorthug likes to do this where he assumes I'll kill him and starts planning his replacement in discussion. This is definitely a very tough encounter but there are good ways to avoid death here.

So on Bobs turn he tried to engulf again. The barb
can’t do an AoO if blind but he could reflex save to avoid me. Otherwise pinned again. The paralysis comes second.

What can i say? I’m happiest when living dangerously. :D

That and reminding that I never have hard feelings on how the dice land.