GM Xavier Kahlvet's Strange Aeons 2e

Game Master KingTreyIII

Yeah, we're building them up more than usual (!!)

Thanks for the monthly reminders! I appreciate them and they've prompted me to use them more than once so far.

Is this line of questioning a dead end or are we missing something obvious. This guy saw us before the bad-times, but can't give us another name to go talk to.

Is this line of questioning a dead end or are we missing something obvious. This guy saw us before the bad-times, but can't give us another name to go talk to.

You're missing something obvious.

Jevar Shadowmantle wrote:

Is this line of questioning a dead end or are we missing something obvious. This guy saw us before the bad-times, but can't give us another name to go talk to.

You're missing something obvious.

Sorry, I'm pretty sure I still am. Checking out the place is the best I have.

@Jevar: the obvious thing you were missing was asking about when he last saw you.

Oh, I guess. What if the dock story hadn't been the last thing he'd seen Jevar do though? That doesn't seem obvious. I might have had to ask for "the last X things."

Hero Points have reset.

Apologies, folks; Yesterday hit me like a truck all day, so I was unable to post.

Additionally, I'm going to be out of town with minimal internet for the weekend, so don't expect me to post during that time.

np. Hope today was better!

Have a great weekend! :D

Re Weapon: My bad, for some reason I thought the transferal didn't go through due to Jevar focusing on his madness.

Double d'oh! Didn't even roll my demoralize -_- Sorry GM, thanks for picking up the slack!

Hello all. This is an FYI that I will be in the wilderness and away from computers (and so unable to post) starting this Thursday morning (7/9) and returning Sunday evening (7/12), in US/Pacific time. Feel free to bot me as needed during that time.

I'd like to give a formal apology for last week. I honestly just needed a mental health week. I felt off for most of the week. It's cleared now, thankfully, but that's why my posting was inconsistent last week.

Hard to be nice to people when s~$% like this happens. Deep breaths, not everyone thinks so clearly in a fight. Even though they should.

Since you've mentioned not thinking clearly in a fight: did you forget about your barbarian abilities, Urzok?

Ah! I did! Thank you GM :) When we started the fight, I thought I was still using Red Destiny so I was like "ok, next fight!" EDIT: Rage adds +2 to melee weapons and unarmed attacks. But only gives half the bonus to unarmed attacks because they are agile? Hrm?

Boodiddly: Makes perfect sense to me, thank you! Telekinetic projectiles are the real MVP this fight I think!

Calling an end to the "adventuring" portion of the day seems wise! Jevar probably wants some privacy when he goes through his things anyways.

GM, re your tangent, I like that power attack is no longer the automatic choice. I appreciate that a lot from a character building/mechanics point of view.

If it isn't spoilery, could you tell me what the weakness value for this thing was and if that value is around par for this level (sort of like how in PF1, DR typically came in values of 5)? In the future, how could we have learned about that more quickly? I know Boodiddly was doing the best with what he was given (the frustration was purely Urzok's not mine!), so no hate, just wondering how we could be more efficient as a group.

Calling an end to the "adventuring" portion of the day seems wise! Jevar probably wants some privacy when he goes through his things anyways.

GM, re your tangent, I like that power attack is no longer the automatic choice. I appreciate that a lot from a character building/mechanics point of view.

If it isn't spoilery, could you tell me what the weakness value for this thing was and if that value is around par for this level (sort of like how in PF1, DR typically came in values of 5)? In the future, how could we have learned about that more quickly? I know Boodiddly was doing the best with what he was given (the frustration was purely Urzok's not mine!), so no hate, just wondering how we could be more efficient as a group.

Its weakness value was 5. Resistances/weaknesses typically come in multiples of 5, but I have seen a few that were 7 or 8 or some weird number like that. Sometimes it’s more or less than that, though (a level -1 zombie has weakness 10 to slashing and positive, which is MASSIVE for that level, but they have ridiculous HP for their level).

Learning about weaknesses is keyed around Recall Knowledge more than anything. If you happen upon a weakness by accident, (like using that cold iron longsword against something that you didn't realize was a fey), then I’ll try to flavor it around “the mere touch of the weapon burns their skin” or something like that. Basically, unless Urzok wanted to start going the Recall Knowledge route (a weird choice combined with the barbarian archetype), then there really isn’t much that Urzok specifically can do to figure out weaknesses other than mixing it up and seeing what happens (which has its own issues of action economy in trying to get out other weapons). Though, there are a few “safe assumptions” related to weaknesses that one can make: swarms are weak to AoE/splash, celestials/fiends are weak to evil/good respectively, fey are weak to cold iron, werecreatures are weak to silver, etc. There’s debate on the forums about whether these “safe assumptions” would be considered meta-gaming, but I really don’t give two craps about that.

Quick note, while the Strike is described as a “fist,” it is also the statistic for other parts of the body, like a kick or a headbutt, so Urzok didn’t necessarily need to drop his longsword to do bludgeoning damage. Also, Urzok’s last attack was actually nonlethal, so the creature didn’t actually die from it, but considering Shakur would still be in a state of suffocation from that (and Boodiddly still had an entire lethal attack left), I’m just going to handwave that.

Ok, thanks! That helps me wrap my mind around the weakness/resistance stuff.

For striking, I assumed that for him to be able to use his handwraps, he'd have to punch. Is that not the case? Flavorwise, I'd much rather have him headbutt things :)

Ok, thanks! That helps me wrap my mind around the weakness/resistance stuff.

For striking, I assumed that for him to be able to use his handwraps, he'd have to punch. Is that not the case? Flavorwise, I'd much rather have him headbutt things :)

Nope! The way the handwraps are worded such that as long as you’re wearing them, you apply the bonus to all unarmed attacks. E.G. the animal instinct of Barbarian can give a bite attack; even though the handwraps are on their hands, the bonus still applies to the bite. It’s similar to the amulet of mighty fists—by your logic you’d only be able to apply the amulet’s bonus when you do a chest bump, which is just...not true.

Although a character built around aggressive chest bumping sounds like a great one shot build ;)

Excuse me while I pound my head against a wall because THE APG CAME OUT WITH THE AMNESIAC BACKGROUND!!!! Well, we're too far into this campaign to make that absolute ridiculous retcon.

(For those curious, it's a rare background that grants no bonus Lore or skill or skill feat, but grants three free ability boosts: two of the player's choice and one of the GM's)

Is Winter in a position to be negotiated with? Urzok would want to try to convince her for healing (mental and physical), at least while we are back in there.

Is Winter in a position to be negotiated with? Urzok would want to try to convince her for healing (mental and physical), at least while we are back in there.

Probably not at this specific moment in time (she is afraid of speaking out of turn in the presence of Ms. Wrentz), but otherwise yeah.

Iirc, those human-faced rats (ratlings?) were in the library that seems to have the information she is looking for. We left on sub-par terms with them, right (I vaguely recall fighting them, but ultimately letting someone go free)? Is there anything we could bring as a peaceoffering to smooth things over for us?

Or we could use that last encounter as an intimidation factor towards them. We won pretty handily iirc.

Hero Points reset in one week.

Urzok is ready to rest for the day!

My bad, I assumed that even though Winter didn't have to be there, that she was still doing things there based on how much she cared about the patients. He would have been much more direct about his actual desire, but, regardless, he is trying to be nicer to people so he isn't going to try to intimidate someone like her into returning.

Now that we aren't trying to escape the Asylum, would we be able to also keep an eye out for any noteworthy/valuable books? Even just a handful of additional coins would be worth it since we're here anyways!

I also propose one last sweep of the Asylum once we're ready to leave. See if there are any tidbits we missed/left.

Good call on both counts.

Should probably note right now that each skill has to research has its own DC, which was how Urzok was able to crit succeed on a 27 and Shakur crit failed on a 10.

Brain fart on my part: I completely forgot to actually update the map to show all of Briarstone Asylum. Rectified that mistake; the map is actually updated now.

[dice=Thrushmoor Lore (trained), Isle]1d20 + 10 Unless we're under some time pressure, a hero point doesn't seem worth it so early.

There is an indirect time crunch: the longer you take researching here is more time for the whatever-it-is-kidnapping-people to continue to kidnap people.

Fair enough. My initial thought was that one miss won't break us, but now I start to see that the misses are piling up. So maybe Jevar will reroll this one...

As a heads up to all: I'm going to be spotty with posting for the next few weeks. In addition to sending my primary computer to the shop for some routine maintenance, I'll be moving in less than two weeks. I'll let you all know when things go back to normal.

Hope the move goes smoothly!

What does routine maintenance look like? How often do you get it done? I'm just curious because it isn't something I've ever done before!

I've got a pretty pricey gaming computer, full on VR and everything. I believe they just dust out the hard to reach places, give everything a quick cleaning, double check all the connections are snug, and fix a few minor things like the one USB port that doesn't work for some reason. It's nothing major, but I got a lifetime warranty on the PC, and they only honor it if I bring the computer in every few years.

Ah ok, I get it. Especially so when you've spent some serious cash on it, just like keeping up with a car! Every now and then on Reddit I'll see a picture of someone's computer and it is CLOGGED with dust. It hurts my soul, but I'm sure that's the same person who has to get a new one relatively often... *takes notes for when I get my own PC*

Hello!

I'll be away from computers without the ability to post:

* from Friday 8/14
* returning Sunday evening (US/Pacific time) 8/16

Feel free to bot me during that time. I will likely catch up on returning Sunday evening.

Before moving on, should we resolve whatever it is we are going to do with the darkness thing we found doing our final sweep of the asylum?

Before moving on, should we resolve whatever it is we are going to do with the darkness thing we found doing our final sweep of the asylum?

This seems like a convenient time as any for me to discuss this:

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to discourage you from doing what your characters would do—this is still, front and center, a Pathfinder game, one where you are the heroes, growing stronger in the face of danger and confronting the evils of the world—but know that while going too far down the rabbit hole may bring answers, those answers will have costs. Sometimes it is best to stay blissfully ignorant.

Going down a dark staircase with no knowledge of what's down there seems risky. At one point Jevar was hoping that the research about Briarstone would turn up info on that well of darkness (but alas, no).

I've returned to work today! The first week back is always a doozy, apologies in advance if my posting is sub-par or I miss a day!

Am I missing something here?

Boodiddly paid Toli his initial price to take us to the cave (we'd all need to cough up the handful of silver too, I know), but then Toli doubles the cost and is now only willing to take us part of the way?

Urzok doesn't want to put the fear of Urzok into him, since he's trying to be less of an animal, but now that he knows his reputation around town, he's about to lean in if this guy is going to be unreasonable like that. I'm asking because I don't want to escalate a situation out of me misunderstanding as a player.

Am I missing something here?

Boodiddly paid Toli his initial price to take us to the cave (we'd all need to cough up the handful of silver too, I know), but then Toli doubles the cost and is now only willing to take us part of the way?

Urzok doesn't want to put the fear of Urzok into him, since he's trying to be less of an animal, but now that he knows his reputation around town, he's about to lean in if this guy is going to be unreasonable like that. I'm asking because I don't want to escalate a situation out of me misunderstanding as a player.

He was never going to take you directly to the cave, because he thinks the witch operates out of there. The price doubling was for him to also wait for you to finish up and take you back to town. Essentially, 5 sp one way, 5 sp the other.

Urzok wrote:

Am I missing something here?

Boodiddly paid Toli his initial price to take us to the cave (we'd all need to cough up the handful of silver too, I know), but then Toli doubles the cost and is now only willing to take us part of the way?

Urzok doesn't want to put the fear of Urzok into him, since he's trying to be less of an animal, but now that he knows his reputation around town, he's about to lean in if this guy is going to be unreasonable like that. I'm asking because I don't want to escalate a situation out of me misunderstanding as a player.

He was never going to take you directly to the cave, because he thinks the witch operates out of there. The price doubling was for him to also wait for you to finish up and take you back to town. Essentially, 5 sp one way, 5 sp the other.

To clarify the price hike a bit more: in Tori’s mind, the 5 sp per person was for pointing out the cave and taking you within walking distance. He doubled the price because now you want him to take you to the cave, fish somewhere that he definitely wasn’t planning on fishing that day, and take you guys back after waiting for you to do whatever-it-is you need to do inside.

Apologies; I guess I didn’t convey that too well at the time.

Oh, ok! No worries, I'm glad I asked!

I forget which mode it is, but, if I iirc, the option Urzok wants is defending. If things turn out to be safe, he'll switch to searching, but survival is more important to him while pushing through a new place!

For the record:

Exploration mode.

Defending means you start combat (should one start) with your Shield Raised.

Avoid Notice means that you are actively Sneaking in, rolling Stealth for initiative (should combat break out)

Thanks GM! What’s the overarching term for those modes?

Thanks GM! What’s the overarching term for those modes?

Encounter Mode (being "in initiative")

Downtime Mode (where you get to use downtime and is typically over the course of days to weeks)

Exploration Mode (when you're not in either of the previous two. Is the mode we're most typically in because we don't need to be super precise with time, but not as imprecise as just going through the days with a single roll.)

No, I definitely need that light, but I wanted it on Urzok up front. Meanwhile any magical signatures will appear to me more immediately as we go along. Arcane sense

For the record, that just lets you cast detect magic as an innate spell (formerly known as SLAs), so you would still have to choose between Repeating a Spell or Avoiding Notice as your exploration activity (because it's kinda hard to be sneaky when your doing verbal components every so often). Since you mentioned Avoiding Notice first, I'll presume that that's what you're doing going into the cave.