Ruins of Azlant

Game Master Aldizog

It might be better for you to take the spear Malakar. Fenna already has a masterwork weapon she she only gains +1 damage. She's never going to be a significant damage dealer so a +1 to it isn't really here nor there.

Fenna will need a magic weapon eventually once DR starts coming up, but that's probably a while yet, so it can wait. She's already getting the Amulet of Natural Armor, which helps her more anyway.

It's up to you and whether you prefer the spear or want to mainly use the scimitar since you have the +1 buckler.

I use a spear in water as slashing gets halfed under water but the Scimitar in land to benefit from the buckler. I have the ability to grow shark teeth and use them instead of a spear just takes a round to set up. And come 6th level I won't need weapons at all as I will be turning into Sharks in water and Dinosaurs on land.

Also he would have to make it a Spear or Shortspear for me to use it as druid doesn't get any reach weapons for some reason.

Well alright, I won't refuse to take the spear. Thanks Malakar.

Hey Folks,

Thanks for all of your input regarding the AP's I asked about a few weeks ago.

I have settled on the Giant Slayer AP, since I think this will best suit the current players in my TTG. I am starting to comb through it now and hope to be ready after the holidays, although we probably will not start until well into spring when the current campaign is over.

I figure If I have all of the work done, might as well see if anyone here would be interested in joining another AP as a PBP here on Paizo. I would give you folks first dibs before opening it up to others. My hope is to make it a bit grittier. I would be using the same character generation rules as this game. Again, this would not officially start until January.

If you are interested, think about what you would like to play.

Cheers!

I'd be down for a PbP Giantslayer if you are willing to run.

I have a wizard concept that I have submitted a couple of times to Giantslayer games but not gotten accepted yet. Would be happy to get a chance to play him. A Sword Binder wizard who hurls a greatsword.

But running multiple games can be taxing and I wouldn't want you to get overwhelmed.

I'd be down for a PbP Giantslayer if you are willing to run.

I have a wizard concept that I have submitted a couple of times to Giantslayer games but not gotten accepted yet. Would be happy to get a chance to play him. A Sword Binder wizard who hurls a greatsword.

But running multiple games can be taxing and I wouldn't want you to get overwhelmed.

Brogann is going to be a very fun character to play! I really like him and his history with Trunau and some of the main npc's.

I understand your warning about multiple games. I recognize my mistakes and failings while trying to run Wrath. I was not prepared for that AP in many ways. Also, shortly after the game started, I got that promotion which changed my schedule a bit and threw me off.

Now, I have settled into my new job, and I am allowing prep time for Giant Slayer whereas I kind of leaped into Wrath with much less prep work and no understanding of Mythic Powers which made the process overwhelming.

I am still a month out before I would make any official announcement, but I wanted to give all of you dibs if you were interested which would give you time to work something up.

Brogann has already psyched me up about running this.

Definitely interested, but don't yet have a character ready to go. I'll take a look at the AP players guide, and look for some inspiration.

Would be interested too, even if I don't have a character concept in mind yet

no rush on characters. Just wanted those interested to start considering characters choices.

I (Sho's player) do have this character already build for Giantslayer

I (Sho's player) do have this character already build for Giantslayer

Looks like a gritty, giantslayer to me.

Looks like we have a pure fighter, and a wizard that throws swords.

I think I own Arcane Anthology. I should probably read it. :)

I will probably look to start with a group of six; therefore, overlap is fine by me.

Create whatever you want. One thing I have learned is that Pathfinder has so many fun options.

I didn't talk Giantslayer up much when I posted about it, but yeah I could go for something on the gritty side. I'm interested.

I have a few ideas bouncing around for a character. There's my hard luck Ulfen Bloodrager that has gotten into a few previous games that have sputtered out quickly. I keep changing the background to reflect her current whereabouts to match the game I'm applying for. She's currently set for the Jade Regent game that started and stopped within a couple of weeks a few months back.

Otherwise I'd probably go with a divine caster.

A Trunau local who's an archer cleric or inquisitor of Erastil seems like a solid option.

A Shaman might be fun if I can get my head wrapped around the class.

If Oracle:
I took a quick look through the Belkzen, Hold of the Orc Hordes book and noticed a very interesting place called Sech Nevali. It's an ancient Thassilonian site where a group of academics and so forth have a research outpost that was set up a few decades ago. Something has happened there and nobody knows what, except for my Oracle. She was born there and was sent away by her father to escape the thing that happened.

Like all the others at the research outpost she's a Peacock Spirit worshipper. Unlike most all the others, she was born into the 'religion' rather than converting and believes she is a priestess, although that is impossible of course. It is something else about being born there that has connected her to some Thassilonian weirdness. She's in Trunau presently because it was fairly close to Sech Nevali, at least compared to other places. Either an Ancient Lorekeeper or Spirit Guide archetype.

Despite my rogue here, I overwhelmingly tend to play wizards (or something else with spells/other prepared abilities e.g. alchemist). That said, it's probably another good chance to get out of my comfort zone.

That's a pretty cool oracle idea Fenna, I've always loved how with that class you can not necessarily know the origins of your abilities, or draw them from something more complex that direct, simple worship.

I'm going to keep reading related materials before I settle.

@Fenna - Sigrun is awesomely fleshed out and a Bloodrager would fit in nicely. Your Oracle idea could also open up some interesting side-quests or at least add some interesting encounters in or around Trunau.

You have my brain twitching.

Thanks y'all, I'm glad you liked Sigrun. She's an unusual character for me because most of the time my character fluff is class agnostic. Sigrun really must be a Bloodrager for the idea to work though.

If I used her I'd probably need to make some changes. She's built as a mage hunter right now, but that may not be the best choice for this particular AP. I'd likely switch her bloodline from arcane to destined, or maybe shadow.

Yeah, I really like the concept behind Oracles too. Clerics are the sounder class mechanically, but man they're kind of boring. There are a couple of archetypes that can help, but not by a lot. Also 2 skill points per level is really hard to swallow.

It's hard to build an Oracle because there are so many different cool ways of building around a character concept it's painful to narrow down options to a final decision.

Oh, and if anyone is thinking about what kind of character to make, I'd like to point out that Giantslayer is dwarf nirvana. And don't think you're limited to fighters, clerics, and such with a dwarf. Check out the Dwarven Scholar Bard archetype. It's very cool!

(another of Sho's characters)

Have you ever tried a dwarf wizard? I have, in PFS, and he's pretty good.

Universalist's "Hand of apprentice" carries more impact with a warhammer or battleaxe...

I was in a very short-lived Giantslayer game that was all dwarves. Never even made it to the first combat. I had a cleric of Torag who would have gone into Exalted.

And I had submitted a dwarven Arcane Duelist bard to another Giantslayer game. The -2 Cha isn't all that big a problem for a bard.

The Skyseeker prestige class, while not strictly limited to dwarves, is heavily tied to them and is a great fit for the AP. Ran7 or Ran1/Clr4 as the entry.

At the moment I am not interested in another game but there is some time between than and now. Although I have a few druid and ranger concepts that build toward mammoth rider that would be fun in a game vs giants.

(another of Sho's characters)

Have you ever tried a dwarf wizard? I have, in PFS, and he's pretty good.

Universalist's "Hand of apprentice" carries more impact with a warhammer or battleaxe...

I feel that there should be at least one dwarf in the party for this AP. I kid, but the AP almost screams 'make a dwarf'.

There could be some interesting RP between a stubborn dwarf wizard and a bloodraging Ulfen with a bad experience concerning magic in her past.

At the moment I am not interested in another game but there is some time between than and now. Although I have a few druid and ranger concepts that build toward mammoth rider that would be fun in a game vs giants.

The door is always open my friend ...

As with Malkar currently, I probably shouldn't add anything to my plate. But if that changes I'll let you know.

Just reading all of the characters you all created for this AP is getting me pretty psyched to run it.

I am reading the first book slow and taking notes, but, from what I have read so far, I think I am really going to enjoy running this game.

As with Malkar currently, I probably shouldn't add anything to my plate. But if that changes I'll let you know.

As mentioned, the door is always open if you change your mind.

Here is a post from Sean K. Reynolds about Take 10.

Some of the rules for Take 20 do get mixed up with Take 10. Take 10 requires no additional time, and you can use Take 10 even if there is a consequence for a failed check.
But some players don't like Take 10, nor some GMs.
Personally I think it is a good option and encourage it whichever side of the screen I am on.

This makes sense. Thank you for the clarification. For Sho, with her skilled training (the +6), the DC 15 should be automatic.

Thank you for sharing this.

On another note: I may not get a post in on Tuesday night. The wife wants to take advantage of some early Black Friday sales on furniture. We have an appointment on Tuesday at 4. Hopefully it will not take too long, but who can tell.

I have nothing against taking 10, it just doesn't tend to come to mind when I'm posting. I should try harder to remember to use it.

I know I asked this before, but I am still trying to understand the Witch class.

In my recent post regarding Kowal, I used the term Patron. Did I use this correctly? From what I understand, the deck is his familiar, but his Patron (unknown?) is the source of his magic. The Patron theme is selected at second level. Does Kowal have a chosen Patron theme. I searched through his sheet but could not find one. I could just be missing it since I still am unfamiliar with the class.

Thanks for any assistance.

I've played a witch once and that's more or less correct. When I did it I chose my patron when I did character creation. i just checked and yes, the patron is chosen before 2nd level, even though a patron spell isn't received until 2nd level:

Patron Spells: At 1st level, when a witch gains her familiar, she must also select a patron. This patron is a vague and mysterious force, granting the witch power for reasons that she might not entirely understand. While these forces need not be named, they typically hold influence over one of the following forces. At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, a witch’s patron adds new spells to a witch’s list of spells known. These spells are also automatically added to the list of spells stored by the familiar. The spells gained depend upon the patron chosen. Each patron is listed by its theme. Its actual name is up to the GM and the witch to decide.

A witch's familiar is more or less the same a a wizard's familiar and spellbook combined. Unless it's a deck of cards, in which case it's not very much like a wizard's familiar. But it doesn't die, a big problem for witches.

true that Fenna and no Cartomancer doesn't trade away the patron, it looks like I forgot to write it down when I transferred him from mythwevers. His patron is trickery.

Got around to scanning my Fiancée's sketch of Malakar from his in person game Reprisal.

From left to right is Malakar, Old Greg (Malakar's unfortunate 2nd face on the back of his neck that he gained from a bad roll vs. radiation, Mirin my fiancée's merfolk Kineticist in her human form and Merfolk forms and finally in the bottom right is her Blue Ring Octopus familiar Squirt.

Sketch

Aw, Malakar is actually baby-faced and friendly looking. Who would have guessed based on your avatar?

I told her to draw him more ugly or angry and she said she doesn't draw ugly things :P

Also I have no idea what is making my Avatar on the post be a Smurf instead of the normal one.

What the heck now that one is too !

Edit: Looked it up apparently it is a forum easter egg if you put the above named things or some other key words in your post it changes for that post. I don't know what word from my original post trighered it tho.

What the Smurf!

I updated Slide 2 for this encounter. Please place your tokens where you want to be.

It has been a long day and I am running out of gas. Tomorrow, I am not sure if I will get a post in, but I will pick up Wednesday, if not before then.

I'll do a short post next to set the scene.

Brannart, I took the liberty to move your icon closer to the monster. Feel free to move it where you want it.

For those celebrating:

Happy Thanksgiving

For everybody else:

Happy Thursday

Stay safe and enjoy the day.

Cheers!

Happy thanksgiving!

@GM - thanks, that looks good.

@All - Happy Thanksgiving if you are celebrating! Stay safe.

Happy thanksgiving.

You folks are Ankheg fighting machines!

Sorry had the past two days off and let my depression monster keep me in bed most of the two days. Will catch up and post in a bit.

Malakar, I truly hope that you are feeling better.

Thankfully the kind of depression I have is the one that just leaves me unmotivated or sleepy.

It didn't help that both of my in person games have been indefinitely delayed due to Covid surges in NJ. So mostly I am bored and unmotivated and the one thing I look forward to doing is on hold.

Take care Malakar!

I'm sorry Malakar, hopefully, the COVID tide is steamed soon so you can get back to it. And for any number of other reasons as well.

Malakar is up. Hope you are feeling all right.

I'll post tomorrow. A bit mushy-brain syndrome tonight.

Crashed hard after dinner last night. Long week. Things are ramping up with the holidays. I intend to catch up tonight.

Don't overburden yourself. I assume once we get past this combat we will have some open exploration or RP time? Might be good to get to something lighter than combat to relax.

As a GM I actually find combat easier to run than open-ended exploration... the PCs have a good idea of what they want to accomplish in a fight and don't go in completely unexpected directions. But that could just be me.

In any event GM, take your time, we will be here.