The Tower of Ages

Game Master Giant Halfling

The twins have the “armor master” mythic path ability which removes the max Dex, ACP, and ASF % from light armor. It’s one of the options available to the champion path (and guardian too, iirc).

Yep, and they also the armor adept feat for nimble increasing the max ac. That isn't needed anymore though.

Ah, neat.

Should have some time to work on Gavin tonight. Sorry for the slow pace!

I am most likely going to be taking Legendary Item at this juncture, with the Undetectable and Intelligent abilities, with the Intelligence going towards Spellcasting twice. I'll need to familiarize myself with the rules for intelligent items to figure out how it all works and would definitely like to work with the Arbiter to make sure that I'm getting it right.

It looks like I can take a series of Level 1-2 spells from any one spell list, so I'll need to spend some time looking to choose the right list. When our Tier eventually goes up again, would I be able to swap out any spells to gain access to higher spell levels, or would I have to take the ability again? If the latter, then I might hold off on taking Spellcasting for the sword, because the list of useful Level 1-2 spells is not nearly as high as the list of useful Level 3+ spells.

For instance, he was recently complaining about not being able to use the Sending spell. With a Legendary Item, he will (eventually) be able to do so, but not until at least Tier 3 (and that's only if he chooses the Medium or Mesmerist list, which he probably will not).

As an Arcane Duelist, it just makes sense for Gaius to continue to bond further with his awesome blade.

I’m at work so this won’t be as in depth an answer as is probably necessary but I don’t want you to get too far into building an item before I crush your dreams. The intelligent item ability costs an item ability every time you take it, and the first time it only grants the base intelligence/senses, not any special abilities. So, if you take undetectable and intelligent item, you’d have undetectable and an intelligent item with 10 in every mental stat and the base senses, but no spells at all. If you dropped undetectable and took intelligent twice then your item could have either all 12s for mental stats or 14, 12, 10, and you’d have 5 spell level to choose from (but limited to 1st and 2nd level spells). At tier 3, if you took intelligent item a 3rd time we could look at changing out some of your original selections for higher level spells but I probably wouldn’t want to just let you change them wholesale (maybe something like each time you took the ability you could trade out one existing spell to add those points to your new 5)?

Ah, then I misread some of the syntax in that ability.

Like I said, that's why I wanted to double check with you first before I get to building.

I won't have a chance to really do the building until this weekend, most likely, so it was just an initial "hey, here's my plan, halp".

I still like the intelligent item legendary ability, but to make it really effective you do have to invest several of your item abilities into it, so it is something you kind of have to weigh. And, its actually one that in some ways is better if you wait until later to take it (or to take it the second time, because you can choose higher level spells if you take spellcasting instead of being stuck with a bunch of low level ones). And, as for upgrading spells, I'd be more lax about moving up to stronger versions of the same spell than about completely dropping a spell to take something different. Like if you started out with cure moderate wounds or summon monster 2 and wanted to upgrade to cure serious or summon monster 3 at 3rd tier, I'd have no objection to that.

@Everyone- I know I distracted you with a shiny new mythic tier but I do still want to keep gameplay moving some. So, this is your last call for anything you might want to do before meeting Mordagrim at the cave. If I don't hear any other plans by tomorrow morning I'll post going to the cave and then give you a chance for goodbyes and/or any final question before stepping back into the Tower.

FOOD STUFF! Buy as many vegs as possible (not that we have any money)

picked up:
+2 wisdom
amazing initiative
+4 hit points
path ability- overflowing grace

Working on mythic advancement.

Taking Extra Mythic Feat.

Mythic Improved Critical :)

+2 Strength

Sorry, long day at work and I have an early morning meeting tomorrow. I’ll try to get a post up tonight (from my phone while laying in bed) but it may be tomorrow after my meeting.

Edit: please remember to post your mythic changes once you’ve updated (if you haven’t already)

I was hoping to have Gaius' stories up today but I've run out of time. I have a huge meeting tomorrow afternoon/evening, so there's a very real possibility that I won't get them up until Thursday. Apologies for the delay!

Good luck at your meeting, sir!

I was hoping to have Gaius' stories up today but I've run out of time. I have a huge meeting tomorrow afternoon/evening, so there's a very real possibility that I won't get them up until Thursday. Apologies for the delay!

I'll try to slip in a gameplay post before then.

We’re I a smarter (and more disciplined) man, I would have typed them up ahead of time and just had to copy and paste them but, alas, I am what I am.

The number of scenes that I think "Oh, I should write that" and then don't is way too high. Take your time. We'll enjoy what we get when we get them.

Sorry, no post today. My kids found out that someone they went to school with just died of leukemia so it’s been kind of an off day. I should have something up tomorrow morning or early afternoon.

Damn. Damn. I'm getting emotional over here.

I'll put together a response to those stories later when I have a chance. But damn.

I should have a post up tomorrow afternoon.

I'm leaving tomorrow for a week long vacation and I just realized that I won't have any kind of computer with me (aside from my phone). I'll have more free time than usual, so keeping up with posts shouldn't be a problem, but I won't have access to all of my notes, so there's a possibility that we might get hung up on something if I can't remember/find an answer I need.

Hopefully there won't be any issues at all, but I just thought I'd warn you all in case anything came up.

No worries, bud. Enjoy the heck out of your vacation! :)

I am drawing a complete blank on conversation topics with the npcs.

So, I know that the Witness is hoping to get some downtime (for spell research), and some of you have crafting feats that you might want to use, but some of you would rather be using your time building relationships with different people/groups or finding leads on new adventures or other information… I think what I’m going to do, if everyone’s onboard, is put together some downtime rules that would allow you to do some of those things without RPing it out. I’m a little bit concerned about that approach because it’s likely to result in you as players feeling less connected to the NPCs than your characters should be, but it would also allow you to accomplish more of the things you want to more quickly (especially since RPing a single conversation can take a week or more but we could do like a week of downtime in a day or two).

My thought was, when you decide to take some downtime I’d give you a list of options (some that require different skill checks and some that don’t) along with the potential benefits of each (like improving your standing with someone, earning days of Redwatch rent, or learning something new), and anyone who’s not already using their time for research/crafting/whatever could choose 1 activity per day. Some of them would probably be repeatable and/or doable by more than one person while others might only be able to be completed once, or even only attempted once.

Is that something you all would be interested in trying out?

Yes! Sounds great. If it is allowable to create stories, I am doubly in.

That sounds really interesting!

Sure! I wouldn't mind giving it a shot. Does sound intriguing.

I like the sound of this!

As much as I love chatting with NPCs, it's true that it can take an exceptionally long time. In-person around a table, the sort of banter that you can get up to can be a blast and might only take a few minutes. But in PbP, it's harder to really get all the joy out of a conversation that isn't trying to advance the plot or accomplish something. I don't want to curtail the possibility of conversations, but sometimes narratively advancing something can be even more satisfying.

I seem to have messed up my shoulder pretty badly. I’ll try not to let it slow me down with posting at all but I might be doing everything one-handed for a while (so I can’t make any promises).Sorry.

Sorry I haven’t posted the tour yet. I can’t find the map of this floor I was going to link and drawing a new copy one-handed is proving difficult. I’ll post it tomorrow with or without the map.

Apologies, was I’ll for a few days there, catching up now.

Tomorrow I’ll post through to the (in game) morning, so if there’s anything else anyone wants to do tonight please post so soon. I was going to do it before bed right now but it’s getting late and I want to upload an updated map of the residential section for you all.

I'll do a Honeyed Tongue before Hero's Feast and an Acute Senses on the Witness before speaking to the elves. Also, before Hero's Feast, if possible, I will cast 5 more enhance water spells at the temple to extend mailbox payments.

Seth will spend time playing his violin, nothing else plannec

I have replaced the map that "residential" in my banner links to with an updated map of the residential level that includes Byron's new structure, the plot you've secured, and some notes on what you've learned about who lives where.

A little bit of bookkeeping...

Witness: I gave Gavin your ivory (in game), so please make sure you record that, and deduct its cost. Also, don't forget to deduct the cost of crafting the sending scroll. And, did you ever decide exactly how much of the horacalcum you kept? I don't need you to try to set an exact weight, just let me know a gold piece value (for reference, the 6,000 gold worth that you found was just enough for a single weapon).

Everyone: Don't forget that you left all that large-sized armor with the Mercantile Exchange to sell on consignment.

Does anyone else have any other irons in the fire that I may have forgotten about? I'm trying to stay on top of everything but there's a lot going on and I don't want to forget anything after being outside the Tower for so long.

refresh my mind on the ivory?

When you stopped at the Tower Bank to pick up your metal flower they gave you some ivory that the Witness had ordered also.

Sorry for the quiet weekend, this is a busy time of year. Next weekend isn't likely to be much better but after that I should be back to a normal schedule.

I know this is a super busy time of year for most/all of us, but its mostly been just Gavin and I lately (and its been about 2 weeks since the Witness or Gaius posted), so I just wanted to check in and make sure everyone's around and alright? Fortunately, this is pretty good place for Gavin to be taking the lead but it would be nice to hear some other voices (or thoughts) if possible.

Happy Holidays!

You're not kidding about that, Arbiter. Crazy busy. :P

Lyra is there, but as a guard, not much for her to say at the moment. And the family has covid so I've been the Well person waiting on everybody at the same time I'm trying to work. So yep, busy. Lyra will back whatever Gavin is doing cause she trusts him, otherwise, grumpy and stoic.

Thanks for checking in you two! I don't think have any contact info for Gaius but I do for the Witness. I'll reach out to him on the 26th if we still haven't heard from him, and hopefully Gaius will have let us know he's around/alright by then.

Happy (belated) Holidays all!

I hope all is well with you and yours. Gavin and the Witness have both had their RLs impacted significantly by the big storm that hit the US over the weekend, and there’s a good chance we won’t hear from either of them until at least Friday. In the meantime, please feel free to jump in with questions/rp in gameplay (or just check in here and let us know that you’re safe and sound).

Good morning sir, we have SNOW (which in the south rarely happens). I will figure out something to post.

Sorry for going MIA there, got a bit overwhelmed by RL stuff well before the storm. Hope I’m back to posting on the regular, at least for the near future.

15 months! :) That is awesome.

But for poor Lyra it was less than a week I'd imagine, so SHE'S the one who gets to look forgetful.

I haven't heard back from Gaius/Polyfrequencies at all after PMing him. I went through all his aliases and his last posts were on 12/17 (when he mentioned, in a game he was GMing, that he was dealing with writer's block and some IRL stuff).

Because of the closed nature of the Tower, Gaius will still be around if/when his player returns, but that leaves us with a decision to make for right now... do you all want to bring Gaius along on this next mission as an APC (and hope that the player returns soon), or should we have him undertake something else in the Tower while you head out (understanding that he could arrive on the mission late if the player returns while you're out)?