a) You need to see the caster casting a spell in order to use Spellcraft to identify it; otherwise it’s a Knowledge (arcana), b) whether you can dispel a control weather is a bit iffy; the closest thing to an official ruling on this is this post from James Jacobs, but I take that with a grain of salt because he’s the creative director, not a member of the Dev team. If anything, I would argue that if you dispel a control weather then it would prevent the caster from exerting control over the weather in the area; any weather effects that have already manifested would continue.
CRASH!
Distant trees to the east the bottom of the map crash to the ground. More and more continue to do so as it becomes increasingly clear that something is quickly approaching the ruins—something big!
Features of this Map:
Mostly copy-pasted from the scenario.
Terrain The patches of green vegetation shown on the map are tight clusters of plants. Treat these patches as difficult terrain to creatures of size Large or smaller. The jungle canopy, 30 feet off the ground, is thick enough that creatures on the ground have total concealment from those above. Only the top of the 40’-tall pyramid juts above this canopy. The stairs and the sides of the pyramid are exceedingly steep. Creatures climbing the stairs move at one-quarter their normal speed. They can increase this to half speed with a successful DC 25 Acrobatics check. A creature at the top of the pyramid can roll down the side as a part of their movement, taking 4d6 points of bludgeoning damage and then landing prone at the pyramid’s base.
Wind Below the canopy, the winds are severe. All creatures receive a –4 penalty on ranged attack rolls, Perception checks, and Fly checks. Small creatures are checked, and Tiny creatures are blown away (see Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 439 for more details on wind effects). Above the canopy, creatures are subjected to windstorm-level winds, making normal ranged attacks impossible and giving a –8 penalty on Perception checks that rely on sound and on Fly checks. Medium creatures are checked, and Small creatures are blown away.
You all have three rounds’ worth of actions to take before the whatever-it-is makes it onto the map. What do you do?
Grognar will cast heroism. As they are planing to talk he will also cast divine power in case things go off the rails. The then move to the centre of the map to give 'whatever-it-is' some space not knowing exactly where it is coming from.
Anariel flies up to Thereus and casts a spell saying, This might help keep you alive dearie. Reaching out she brushes his shoulder and grants him greater invisibility.
Realising that she can now no longer see Thereus she follows up with an extended echolocation on herself and then conjures some mirror images.
Thanks, GM; if I use the same d20 roll my knowledge: arcana would have been 22. ”Seems like we probably want to stay low, but it’s good to have options. Anyone else care to walk on air?” Xanaphia will cast communal airwalk (extended via rod) on herself and anyone else who’d like it. (If no one else wants it I’ll cast a regular air walk) duration:18 + 1d4 - 1 ⇒ 18 + (2) - 1 = 19x20 mins, divided by # of recipients “I’m going to go invisible now but I’ll stay fairly close to everyone.”
Xanaphia then retrieves a scroll of invisibility from her bandolier and activates it on herself. She also activates her wand of heightened awareness.
The crashing trees continue, making it clear of something’s approach.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
The crashing starts moving; no longer is it coming from the east but also from the south. Whatever-it-is is a group of big things, and they split up to come from multiple directions.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Bursting through the jungle foliage from the east are two humongous dinosaurs that look like they would eat the mighty T-Rex for breakfast!
”You come to Rurat’s domain?! Die intruders!!!”
From the south emerges a much smaller (but still massive) dinosaur, except this one stands on two legs. It wears the hide of some massive creature on its chest, wields a spear ending in a sharpened metal point, and holds a shield that appears to have been created from the skull of a triceratops! Character Profiles Updated
Knowledge (nature) 27:
The massive dinosaurs are giganotosauruses, apex predators that rip their prey to shreds. These ones seem to have been specially trained for combat. They’re just glorified beatsticks with some extra HD; nothing too interesting about them.
Rurat looks at the intruders with skepticism; he squints his eyes as he tries to get a good look at the “kobolds.” Move action to make an active Perception check against a visible member of the party, thus interacting with veil.
Rurat Will vs Veil:1d20 + 21 ⇒ (19) + 21 = 40I don’t think even Anariel can get her DCs that high!
Rurat’s green, scaley face contorts in pure, unadulterated rage as he steps forward!
”You dare try to trick me?! DIE!!!”
Rurat’s final word echoes over the wind as it reverberates through the Pathfinders’ bodies! 60’ cone for his Roar ability; only Xanaphia is outside of the range (and he wouldn’t know to try and maneuver her into it since he can’t see her).
Grognar and Anariel are staggered for 4 rounds; Thereus is stunned for 4 rounds.
HARD MODE: Humongosaurus Rex
Round 1
================
Rurat
Grognar {staggered: round 0 of 4}
Xanaphia
Anariel {staggered: round 0 of 4}
Red
Blue
Thereus {stunned: round 0 of 4}
???
================
40 is a bit high, even for me, although I was using Seeming rather than Veil but that shouldn't make any difference.
Anariel mutters and shakes her head. Oh botheration, do try not to kill him
With that she waves her hand and casts a spell.
Defensively casting greater possession targetting red dino. DC32 will save or she disappears and takes control of the dinosaurs body. Depending on the outcome of the spell I may have a swift action to take.
Grognar casts Euphoric Tranquility. Clicks his boots (free). Then moves with blinding speed (swift action sudden charge).
He will provoke an AOO.
[Free Touch Attack]1d20 +22+7
Current AC is 32
Apologies, but how was Grognar able to do all of that when he was staggered? (Just curious about the ability that let you move as a swift action).
Assuming that Grognar was still able to:
Rurat AoO to Trip:1d20 + 36 ⇒ (20) + 36 = 56
As Grognar moves up, Rurat swipes at the half-orc’s legs and sends him tumbling to the ground!
HARD MODE: Humongosaurus Rex
Round 1
================
Rurat
Grognar {prone; staggered: round 0 of 4}
Xanaphia
Anariel {staggered: round 0 of 4}
Red
Blue
Thereus {stunned: round 0 of 4}
???
================
Its a standard to cast, he can move as a swift action with a battle mystery revelation (Surprising Charge lets you move as an immediate action) and the touch attack is a free action on the turn you cast a touch spell.
Xanaphia starts casting Summon Monster IX (planning on using my Robe of Gates to maximize it—not sure if I’m supposed to declare that now or when the spell finishes though).
Rurat bellows out, and as he does, a horde of ghostly triceratops burst through the jungle from all directions and trample through the Pathfinders! Explicitly says that creatures with reptilian blood are immune, so I’m going to rule that since Anariel is possessing the dinosaur she’s technically immune.
HARD MODE: Humongosaurus Rex
Round 2
================
Rurat
Grognar (-101) {prone; staggered: round 1 of 4}
Xanaphia
Anariel {staggered: round 1 of 4}
Red
Blue
Thereus (-54) {stunned: round 1 of 4}
Event
================
Forgot that Thereus was invisible; I’ll just have Blue double-move then (can occupy the same space as Thereus because it’s four size categories larger). As for Rurat, his things have been AoEs, so he didn’t need to know that Thereus was there.
HARD MODE: Humongosaurus Rex
Round 2
================
Rurat
Grognar (-101) {prone; staggered: round 1 of 4}
Xanaphia
Anariel {staggered: round 1 of 4}
Red
Blue
Thereus {stunned: round 1 of 4}
Event
================
Grognar caster Frightful Aspect enlarging closer to the enemy. Then he cast quicken shield of faith.
"Great hits. But we are here to talk and fight the red mantis."
Stat line has the current info. 18 temp hp gone. Grognar takes 42 damage and his familiar scurrying around in his full plate takes 41.
Also for any failed roll if the same roll is made within 1 round Grognar gets a +5 to that roll. Encouraging unshakable zeal. There are caveats I will address them if they come up. Most are it does not stack with heroism.
This angelic being has smooth skin, a muscular body, and large golden wings, and wields a large mace.
--------------------
VIII Monadic deva CR 12
XP 19,200
Male monadic deva (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 27)
NG Medium outsider (angel, aquatic, extraplanar, good)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect evil, low-light vision; Perception +29
Aura protective aura
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 31, touch 18, flat-footed 27 (+4 deflection, +4 Dex, +13 natural; +4 deflection vs. evil)
hp 175 (14d10+98)
Fort +21, Ref +17, Will +14; +4 resistance vs. evil, +4 vs. poison
DR 10/evil; Immune acid, cold, death effects, electricity, energy drain, fire, petrification; SR 23
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 40 ft., fly 90 ft. (good), swim 40 ft.
Melee +3 morningstar +22/+17/+12 (1d8+25 plus solid blow)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +14)
. . Constant—detect evil
. . At will—aid, charm monster (elementals only) (DC 18), discern lies (DC 18), dispel evil, dispel magic, holy smite (DC 18), invisibility (self only), plane shift (DC 21), remove curse, remove disease, remove fear
. . 3/day—cure serious wounds, holy word (DC 21), mirror image
. . 1/day—heal, hold monster (DC 19), holy aura
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 25, Dex 19, Con 22, Int 19, Wis 18, Cha 19
Base Atk +14; CMB +19; CMD 39
Feats Alertness, Cleave, Diehard, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Power Attack, Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +4 (+8 to jump), Diplomacy +21, Fly +25, Intimidate +21, Knowledge (planes) +21, Knowledge (religion) +21, Perception +29, Sense Motive +25, Stealth +21, Survival +21, Swim +29; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception
Languages Celestial, Draconic, Infernal; truespeech
SQ amphibious
Other Gear +3 morningstar
--------------------
Ecology
--------------------
Environment any good-aligned plane
Organization solitary, pair, or squad (3-6)
Treasure double (+3 morningstar, other treasure)
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Amphibious (Ex) You can survive indefinitely on land.
Cleave If you hit a foe, attack an adjacent target at the same attack bonus but take -2 AC.
Damage Reduction (10/evil) You have Damage Reduction against all except Evil attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Diehard You are stable and can choose how to act when at negative Hp.
Fly (90 feet, Good) You can fly!
Immunity to Acid You are immune to acid damage.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Death Effects You are immune to death effects.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Energy Drain Immune to energy drain
Immunity to Fire You are immune to fire damage.
Immunity to Petrification You are immune to Petrification.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Poison Resistance +4 (Ex) You have the listed resistance to poison.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Protective Aura (+4, 20 ft.) (Su) Defense against evil creatures and lesser globe of invulnerability.
Solid Blow (Su) When strike foe twice in same rd with mace, deal extra 1d8+10 dam.
Spell Resistance (23) You have Spell Resistance.
Swim (40 feet) You have a Swim speed.
Truespeech (Su) Speak with any creature that has a language.
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at https://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
Dino Anariel gives a bellowing roar and as she does so four whirling balls of blue light erupt from her mouth and streak directly towards Rurat.
Defensively casting still, silent, intensified, empowered battering blast using a level 8 spell slot and using an arcane pool point to increase my caster level to 21. Casting the spell will not provoke but making all four ranged attacks will do so. They however will not disrupt the spell.
That looks like 1, 3 and 4 hit for 76 force damage assumng a 13 hits touch. I doubt a 9 confirms. For the bullrush we take the best d20 roll that hits (18) and then I add +35 (caster level +Int mod) adding +10 to the result for each extra blast that hits for a result of 73. If he is bullrushed he also needs to make a DC32 reflex save or be knocked prone. I am trying to push him back and to the left which is technically off the map. The goal is to get him out of full attack on Grognar range.
Blue AoO vs Blue Angel:1d20 + 30 - 5 ⇒ (12) + 30 - 5 = 37 Damage:6d6 + 21 + 10 ⇒ (6, 3, 5, 6, 2, 6) + 21 + 10 = 59 Gonna say that it does not do a Grab attempt so as to not lower its AC against the other angels. It may be an animal, but it’s wise enough to know that that’s a bad idea when it's surrounded.
Everyone except Grognar, Anariel, and the enemies take 15 damage, fall prone, and if they were flying, fall from the sky and land prone. Also, apparently the damage is untyped, so DR doesn’t apply. Welcome to Hard Mode.
The battered Rurat stands provokes from Anariel and steps closer to the possessed dinosaur. The saurian raises his spear aloft toward the darkened sky.
”I call upon the power of my tribe to annihilate these intruders!”
A massive bolt of lightning strikes from above, attracted to Rurat’s spear! Rurat, his spear sparking with electricity, strikes his spear to the ground beneath him, sending the electricity sparking outward from him in a 30’ radius!
And as far as I can tell possession doesn’t let the caster keep bonuses from permanent magic items like cloaks, so Anariel’s Fort Bonus is just her base bonus (+6) plus the dinosaur’s Con. modifier (+6).
For the Initiative card below I’m going to put the damage to Grognar’s familiar and to him separate to keep things consistent (before applying damage for this round Grognar was at -42 and his familiar at -41, like he said in his previous post). Also, the damage here has already had DR deducted from it (but happily check my math to make sure I did everything correctly). Also not applying damage to Anariel because technically it’s the dinosaur body that’s taking it.
HARD MODE: Humongosaurus Rex
Round 4
Field Effects: Holy Aura (Xanaphia and Angels only)
================
Rurat (-76)
Grognar (-95) {prone; staggered: round 2 of 4; stunned: round 0 of 1}
Grognar’s Familiar (-93)
Xanaphia (-15) {prone}
Black Angel (-66) {prone}
Blue Angel (-64) {prone}
Red Angel (-15) {prone}
White Angel (-15) {prone}
Anariel {staggered: round 2 of 4}
Red (-81)
Blue
Thereus (-15) {prone; stunned: round 2 of 4}
Event
================
GM any chance a 26 passes? Forgot to update fort for frightful aspect. If it is a hands-off the cheese peace thing I'm fine with that as well. GM can a miracle be used to cast quicken spells within the level limit. It was okayed for a GM to use by the pbp venture captains in my past rise of the Runelords game (technically it was the use of wish, not miracle) but I will abide by your ruling whatever it is.
A 26 actually does pass. The problem with using miracle for a quickened spell is that miracle is still technically a standard action to cast, so I'm going to go with technically yes you can, but it'd be a "quickened spell" that you'd be casting with a standard action, so it would defeat the purpose.
HARD MODE: Humongosaurus Rex
Round 4
Field Effects: Holy Aura (Xanaphia and Angels only)
================
Rurat (-76)
Grognar (-68) {prone; staggered: round 2 of 4}
Grognar’s Familiar (-67)
Xanaphia (-15) {prone}
Black Angel (-66) {prone}
Blue Angel (-64) {prone}
Red Angel (-15) {prone}
White Angel (-15) {prone}
Anariel {staggered: round 2 of 4}
Red (-81)
Blue
Thereus (-15) {prone; stunned: round 2 of 4}
Event
================
Xanaphia, still invisible, “stands up” in the air (however that works), moves closer to her angels, and activates Aura of Heroism (Heroism in a 30’ radius).
The angels all full attack from prone. (Heroism cancels the attacking-from-prone penalty; can’t reach Blue though)
I believe you are incorrect on the item issue although they are not well worded spells and it is open to interpretation. As far as I can tell I keep all of my own statistics except that I use the creatures physical stats. My equipment has not gone anywhere, I am still wearing it, I am simply melded into the body of the creature. If I had used regular posseession and left my body behind I would entirely agree with you but the two of us are merged.
Looking to buy them some time Dino Anariel takes a deep breath and exhales a cloud of freezing cold over Rurat. The stream of freezing cold mist swirls around Rurat and then solidifies into a massive block of ice, trying to entrap him.
Anariel defensively casts still, silent Icy Prison on Rurat. It has no material component. He needs to make a DC34 reflex save or be imprisoned in the ice. Anariel spends an arcane pool point to increase her caster level to 21 for this spell. The ice is 21 inches thick and has 63hp. The target is helpless while affected but can breathe. The ice blocks line of effect. The spell is not very well worded. A DC36 strength check can break out of it, I have always read it that the target can make that check as well as anyone else despite being helpless. That I think certainly seems to be the intent. If he saves he is instead entangled for 21 minutes. He takes 21 cold damage per round while either entrapped or entangled.
SR if needed, greater spell pen:1d20 + 21 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 21 + 4 = 30
Rurat becomes surrounded by an inescapable prison of ice!
And with that the rest of the combat becomes trivial as Rurat cannot feasibly escape.
Hard Mode Adjustment:
Rurat gains the ancestral rage ability, which functions as follows. Each round on initiative count 0, Rurat can call upon the spirits of his ancestors to summon a ghostly horde of rampaging triceratops to sweep across the battlefield. All creatures on the map must succeed at an Average combat maneuver DC 32 for this table or take 1d8+12 damage and be knocked prone. Flying creatures are not exempt from this attack and can be knocked from the sky by the ghostly triceratops. The spirits harmlessly pass through any creatures with reptilian blood. This is a supernatural ability. Add another giganotosaurus rampager to the encounter. Apply the advanced simple template to Rurat; his gives him a +2 bonus on all rolls (including damage rolls), +4 to AC and CMD, 48 additional hit points, and a +2 bonus to all of his DCs. Rurat can use all of his 1/day abilities 3/day instead.
The second thing of note is several tracks made by small-sized humanoids going all over the place within the ruins. A small game trail containing these tracks lead away from the ruins no Survival check to follow them. A clear lead, the Pathfinders follow the tracks.
*
An eerie mist settles heavy on the ground, as the lush jungle gives way to a desolate killing field. Enormous bones from countless creatures litter the barren field. A sulfuric stench rises from pits of a bubbly, black substance. On the far side of the clearing looms a stone structure—a bleak, gray shadow in a tomb of emerald trees. Map UpdatedBased on the wording of the flavor and the lack of Rurat’s control weather storm being mentioned in this fight (which explicitly was in a 2-mile radius around Rurat’s ruins), I’m going to say minute/level buffs are gone.
The Pathfinders, unable to see any immediate threat, make their way through the wasteland. Just as they are moving, though, two sets of spacial rends tear open on either side of them and out of each comes the massive, bone-white claw of a preying mantis that strikes against two of the Pathfinders! Character Profiles Updated
A slight explanation:
So, technically these things had a surprise round (that no one in the party could feasibly have been a part of), but they spent their surprise round basically just waiting for an opportune time to strike, then the PCs provoked an AoO from each of them. Weird, I know.
Also (and don’t metagame too much on this) these things are actually on the Ethereal Plane and have constant true seeing; the problem was the weird interaction between using true seeing to see onto a different plane and mind blank (which Anariel cast on everyone). It would be unfair (and unfun for both the players and the GM) to just skip this encounter solely because of an unexpected thing; I was talking about this with Anariel and I basically came to the conclusion that looking onto a different plane is a specific exception to the immunity to divination effects that mind blank gives, but only to actually see onto the other plane, not to see anything that couldn’t already be seen if it were on the other plane (if, say, Xanaphia was invisible on the Material and the mantis was on the Ethereal, then it couldn’t perceive her because mind blank prevents true seeing from seeing through the invisibility). This is a very specific exception that I’m probably only going to make for this specific encounter to avoid outright skipping an encounter because neither side knew the other existed. One-time ruling; don’t expect me to stand by it for anything other than this encounter.
The claws grab hold of the two Pathfinders, but a talisman around Xanaphia’s neck soon shatters as she slips free and the claw retreats back into the spacial rend that closes after it. The other claw, however, maintains its grip on Grognar!
Features of this Combat:
Tar Pits The black splotches on the map are bubbling tar pits. Don’t go into them.
Claws While a claw (and only a claw) of a mantis is on the Material Plane grappling a creature, it is considered a separate entity from the mantis proper (similar to the rules between a hydra’s head and body), and can only really be affected by stuff that deals hit point damage.
The mantises’ tokens are only on the board so that I don’t go insane trying to keep track of them; you guys can’t actually see them (but you can see Red’s claw, which I’ve signified by making the image on the Red mantis translucent except for its claws, which are opaque). Don’t metagame too much about them.
HARD MODE: White as a Ghost, Red as Blood
Round 1
===================
Thereus
Anariel
Grognar (-34) {grappled}
White
Xanaphia (-31)
Red {sickened; grappled}
===================
Anariel negligently waves her hand and taps Thereus on the shoulder. He promptly vanishes from sight. She then flies forward, invisibly, and whispers into Grognars ear, dont resist
Casting quickened greater invisibility on Thereus then moving up to Grognar and defensively casting greater teleport to get him out of the grapple. Putting us away from red claw
As they reappear she whispers to him again, Sweetie, if you can I suggest getting some freedom of movement for yourself. If you can't I can always wish it up for you.
@Thereus: The moment Anariel teleported Grognar the claw retreated back into the spacial rend and disappeared, meaning that Thereus didn't have a target to attack.
An unseen volley of arrows then strikes against the mantis from Thereus, bringing it down to the ground! Using the rolls you had in the previous post.
Knowledge (nature or religion) 30:
These massive beasts are known as ghost mantises, massive dread mantises that mature at a rapid speed—some say because of the blessing of Achaekek. These beasts are capable of shifting from the Material and Ethereal Planes as a move action (as per ethereal jaunt).
If you Exceed the DC by 5+, open the spoiler below
Spoiler:
The ghost mantises can cause a spacial rend to occur between the planes, allowing it to make attacks of opportunity against creatures on the Material Plane. If a claw attack hits and successfully grabs a creature, the creature is grappled as normal, but only the enormous claw of the ghost mantis actually enters the Material Plane. This claw has the same AC as the ghost mantis and is susceptible to damage as normal. Dealing enough damage to the claw causes it to drop its prey scenario’s vague on if this also damages the mantis proper, but based on the wording, I’m going to say it works similarly to a hydra: you can attack a head or the body separately (meaning that the claw has its own “pool” of hit points; if this pool reaches 0 then it drops the grappled creature). If the ghost mantis begins its turn with a creature grappled, it can shift to the Material Plane as a free action instead of a move action.
If you Exceed the DC by 10+, open the spoiler below
Spoiler:
The ghost mantises’ mandibles can rip armor off of a creature like shucking an oyster. If the ghost mantis hits with two claws and successfully grabs a foe, it can make an immediate bite attack against that foe as a secondary attack. In addition to dealing damage, the mantis can tear away the victim’s armor as a free action by making a combat maneuver check. If the mantis is successful, the target’s armor is ripped from its body. If the target fails a Reflex save, the armor subjected to this attack loses half its hit points and gains the broken condition. Based on my reading it’s a successful CMB check then a failed reflex save for the armor to become broken, not a successful CMB to remove the armor THEN a reflex to avoid it becoming broken (but I was a bit tempted to rule it like that, I will say).
If you Exceed the DC by 15+, open the spoiler below
Spoiler:
The mantises are immune to fire.
EDIT: Wow, the 4-player adjustment for this fight really neuters it...
HARD MODE: White as a Ghost, Red as Blood
Round 1
===================
Anariel
Grognar (-34)
Thereus
Xanaphia (-31)
Red {sickened}
===================
A random ongoing spell effect on Grognar with the highest caster level gets dispelled (as if you were targeted by a successful dispel magic).
HARD MODE: White as a Ghost, Red as Blood
Round 2
===================
Anariel
Grognar (-34)
White (-218)
Thereus
Xanaphia (-31)
Red {sickened}
===================
Anariel, still invisible, flies forward, skimming over the region of boiling hot tar. As she settles into position she quickly mutters a spell and a beam of searing acid leaps from her hand, striking through the two strange mantis creatures.
Moving to get both mantis within a 60' line. Defensivley casting Intensified, empowered dragons breath and using metamagic adept and spell perfection to avoid increasing the casting time.
