Ruins of Azlant

Game Master Aldizog

Dismissing a spell is a standard action.

When prone, you can crawl 5' as a move action, but doing so provokes AOOs from foes who threaten either the square you start in or the square you enter (see here).

Prone also imposes a -4 on attack rolls, of which CMB checks are a subset, in addition to the -4 AC/CMD. Though Rayland would still have just barely broken out.

I should have caught Brannart's AoO when Rayland rolled out of the way. (I believe Brannart would have been the only PC eligible at the time) Not sure if Brannart wants another action. If not, Brannart can take a +2 Luck Bonus on the next roll of his choice to make up for the missed opportunity. (This Bonus can be added after the fact)

Brannart wouldn't have had an AOO (no weapon out), but 5' would not have gotten Rayland out of the Grease, I think.

I just posted as if everything went the way it did.

Brannart wouldn't have had an AOO (no weapon out), but 5' would not have gotten Rayland out of the Grease, I think.

I just posted as if everything went the way it did.

The map got moved all around since, but I believe Rayland was on the edge of the Grease spell. Either way, noted for next time. Thanks again.

I swear I typed a reply but I must not have hit submit.

Thanks for the concern for my better half. She is on the mend mostly some sniffles and coughs at the moment.

As for leveling. Malakar is straight druid. I am a bit torn on how much WIS I should invest. STR will be my best investment for damage and to hit once I can wild shape but I am also kind of the healer so keeping up on wis for better spell access is also important. my current 14 will take me up to 4th level spells. I don't know what level the AP ends. If it is like others it ends near 16-17 which would mean I need an 18 or 19 but can do that with items.

I also have a question I am not sure the rules answer on as both a GM and a player it never came up.

When I do get wild shape and I change into a shark can I still breathe air? I know I gain the ability to breathe water(although I can do that already).

If so I will be Air Walking and Wild Shaping into a very big shark to bite fools on land and air.

I am debating putting my level-up into Cha.

The Bravery class feature is dismissed by optimizers as worthless, but I intentionally picked a vanilla fighter to make use of it. With a 13 Cha, Brannart could take Improved Bravery (bonus applies to all mind-affecting effects) and Inspiring Bravery (bonus applies to all allies within 30').

At 6th level with both feats and a Sash of the War Champion, that would be a +3 for the whole party against mind-affecting things, all the time. And it's an untyped bonus.

I swear I typed a reply but I must not have hit submit.

Thanks for the concern for my better half. She is on the mend mostly some sniffles and coughs at the moment.

As for leveling. Malakar is straight druid. I am a bit torn on how much WIS I should invest. STR will be my best investment for damage and to hit once I can wild shape but I am also kind of the healer so keeping up on wis for better spell access is also important. my current 14 will take me up to 4th level spells. I don't know what level the AP ends. If it is like others it ends near 16-17 which would mean I need an 18 or 19 but can do that with items.

I also have a question I am not sure the rules answer on as both a GM and a player it never came up.

When I do get wild shape and I change into a shark can I still breathe air? I know I gain the ability to breathe water(although I can do that already).

If so I will be Air Walking and Wild Shaping into a very big shark to bite fools on land and air.

Here are my thoughts regarding WildShaping into a shark out of water (I am open to counterpoints):

Since this is a game of fantasy and magic and I want you to have fun with your character, Malakar will have a choice to Wildshape into a shark with lungs or a shark with gills when he uses this ability.

If he moves from one terrain to another the rules for underwater breathing would apply. (lungs vs underwater or gills vs land)

Another thought is movement on land:

I offer this: Wildshaping into Full Shark where movement on land would be hampered. Normal terrain would be considered difficult and some terrain might be impassable.

Or

Half-Shark (not Baby Shark - dododo dododododo)

Half-Shark has humanoid legs to move on land, but swim speed is Malakar's swim speed.

There are other thoughts I have about keeping the shark's skin moist. Maybe once an hour, the shark (in either form) needs to immerse himself in water or make a Constitution Check DC 10 (goes up by 1 each hour). Failure, Wildshape is lost.

Just some thoughts to play with. Let me know what you think. Likes, dislikes, dreams, goals, aspirations, 10-year plan, etc ...

I am debating putting my level-up into Cha.

The Bravery class feature is dismissed by optimizers as worthless, but I intentionally picked a vanilla fighter to make use of it. With a 13 Cha, Brannart could take Improved Bravery (bonus applies to all mind-affecting effects) and Inspiring Bravery (bonus applies to all allies within 30').

At 6th level with both feats and a Sash of the War Champion, that would be a +3 for the whole party against mind-affecting things, all the time. And it's an untyped bonus.

That could be huge for this AP. Just saying ...

The fact is we have no way of containing Eliza. She can't be stopped from casting by being tied up, gagged, or anything else short of permanent unconsciousness. She's simply too dangerous to try to keep as a prisoner.

That is huge meta btw. Malakar has not a clue what a Psychic is or how they work :P

That's why I've asked questions and made Sense Motive and Spellcraft checks.

I'm not asking for Malaker to know anything in particular. I'm asking that I get my results before things progress.

Being tied up still forces Concentration checks even for spells that do not have Somatic components.

And I would think being blindfolded would prevent her from being able to use targeted spells like Mind Thrust.

That may also be metagaming on my part. Brannart doesn't know anything about this.

Fenna may be right.

Also, it is worth noting that while Brannart at heart wants to help his fellow Andoran citizens and be merciful, he also knows that he is not by any means the smartest or wisest one here.

He will defer to the others and if they say the Eliza cannot be saved, he will go along with that.

WOW!

In my mind's eye, I am watching cinematic awesomeness! The audience just gasped in total shock and surprise.

Fenna went all BAD-ASS on Eliza.

The simultaneity of my post with Fenna's was serendipitous.

Ha!I didn't realize Brannart had a post out at the exact same time I did until now. It adds considerable awesomeness.

Fenna wasn't going to risk a debate or not acting first.

Yes the CG is an special exception. He also isn't trained as a druid classically. Him choosing nature over society gifed him his powers. He believes it was nature that gifted them but that is something I am open to GM messing with. And prior to acts in his backstory that I just referenced in post he may have been NG but his disrespect of law in such a way threw him solidly Chaotic but his intent kept him good at heart but after punishment realized the wrong and doesn't want to slip further.

Edit: In fact it may be a good twist that whatever Deity or force gave Malakar his power may have done so to help push him back to the path of balance. Except when dealing with purely evil creatures Malakar has shown a lot of restraint of the past few months while in this journey. Being back amongst society that he has been away from for a long time and putting up with parts of civilization that he doesn't agree with. Trying to realize that he servers nature not controls or speaks for it(at least right now :P )

While I think has a ways to go he is leaning back toward ng although if need be or circumstances make him give into his baser side he could certainly go CN but I like my characters to be one of the 3 G's or NN.

It's kind of interesting that we are almost all CG, except for Vexas who is CN.

While on the surface you might think we'd all get along, it could easily be a group that would each do their own thing and sometimes end up at cross purposes. CG types are often well-meaning individualists who do not like being told what to do.

Eliza doesn't like her trial verdict, or doesn't like her accommodations, or doesn't like being tied up, or her breakfast eggs are overcooked... :p

Level up information for Fenna.

Level 4 Bard!

+1 Strength
+1 BAB
+1 Reflex and Will saves

New spells (2nd level!) Heroism, Mirror Image

Skills: 9 points (6 class, 1 INT, 2 Background)

+1 to Climb, Escape Artist, K Arcana, K Nature, Spellcraft, Survival, UMD, Perform: Oratory, Linguistics (Azlanti)

I don't recall if we're getting Azlanti for free as a story thing from our construct pals, or if we're buying it. I'm assuming we're still buying the language in the regular way even if learning it was in the plot.

I'll wait for official word before adding the new level to my character sheet.

Ranger (Guide) L4:
+1 Bab
+1 Fort/Ref

Skills:(8)
Handle Animal+1
Heal+1
Perception+1
Know nature+1
Survival+1
Craft bow+1
Stealth+1
Swim+1

Background (2)
Craft_mapmaking+2

Ranger Focus 2/day (+2 to hit/dmg)

Terrain Bond (Ex): At 4th level, the guide forms a bond with the land itself, enabling him to direct others in such terrain. When in his favored terrain, the ranger grants all allies within line of sight and that can hear him a +2 bonus on initiative checks and Perception, Stealth, and Survival skill checks. Also, as long as they travel with him, the ranger's allies leave no trail and can't be tracked. The ranger can choose for the group to leave a trail, or even specific members of the group to leave a trail if he so desires. This ability replaces hunter's bond.

Spells
L1: 1 (Gravity bow)

Sho, don't forget level 4 includes a +1 increase to an ability score.

THanks!
+1 to Dex (now 17) of course

Background (2)
Craft_mapmaking+2

Were we using background skills in this game? I know we are in Giantslayers but not in this game. If so Malakar is missing 8 ranks in background skills :o

Also Gravity Bow(and Lead Blades) is such a nasty spell. I had a ranger in a game a few years ago who was 'cursed' to be large size and her normal combat routine was to cast enlarge(to become huge[i k ow normallyenlarge doesn'twork for projectiles but the gm allowed it because I was the only single target damage dealer that regularly could deal with high dr targets at high level]) and than gravity bow to shoot longbow shots with Gargantuan damage die 4d6+Str+2d6 Holy. We joked that she shot telephone poles at people.

'And the Oscar goes to . . . '

That was really awesome everyone!

Long day. Brain too mushy for a post, but I have been following along throughout the day and really enjoying the RP interactions.

Regarding languages - you can learn Azlanti now using normal rules or we can assume between 4th and 5th level, you spend enough down time with the Celedons and learn the language (among other things) from them. Then upon reaching 5th level you can take Azlanti as a Bonus language and possibly gain other knowledge.

@Malakar - Malakar can add in his Background Skills.

It's kind of interesting that we are almost all CG, except for Vexas who is CN.

While on the surface you might think we'd all get along, it could easily be a group that would each do their own thing and sometimes end up at cross purposes. CG types are often well-meaning individualists who do not like being told what to do.

As of now, Vexas is mainly looking out for himself but along for the ride due to curiosity.

I somehow missed the instruction to update to level 4, but as everyone is doing that I'll complete it shortly tonight.

Brannart's level-up:

Fighter 4
+1 Cha (to enable Improved Bravery and Inspiring Bravery in the future)
+12 HP (1d10+2)
+1 Fort
+1 BAB
FCB: +1 CMD vs Grapple, +1 vs Trip
Feat: Unhindering Shield
Free Fighter Feat Swap: Aquatic Combatant for Power Attack
Skills: +1 Swim, +1 Perception
Background Skills: +1 Profession (Fisherman), +1 Craft (Ships)

Bonus for Brannart: Fenna has now almost certainly forgotten she was mad at him after their spat over how to handle the rollerball construct thingy. :p

Just ride the waves Vexas, ride the waves.

Vexas Level 4: Rogue 2/Wizard 2

INT+1
New spells
Color Spray,
Interrogation

Skills
Knowledge (Arcana)+1
Perception+1
Spellcraft+1
Use Magical Device+1

HP+6
Will+1
BAB+1

This seemed relevant :)

Interrogation

Uh.. that's a pretty nasty spell.
You aren't planning to use that on Rayland, are you?

I'm not sure who I would want you to use an evil necromantic torture spell on... I generally hate prisoner issues in RPGs. Rayland was the respected leader of the Colony before falling under what seems to have been a Dominate Person spell. Now that he is freed, he could be a valued member of the community, but torturing him seems like it would turn him against us for real.

The idea of torturing prisoners for information really bothers me. Something like Zone of Truth or just a very high Sense Motive less so. Even Charm Person.

I'm sorry, it's your PC, do what you want. I just foresee conflict the first time Vexas decides to torture someone.

Whoa, that's a gnarly spell. Aside from the ethical considerations, which are huge, do you think you'd ever use it enough to make it worth choosing it?

Regarding languages - you can learn Azlanti now using normal rules or we can assume between 4th and 5th level, you spend enough down time with the Celedons and learn the language (among other things) from them. Then upon reaching 5th level you can take Azlanti as a Bonus language and possibly gain other knowledge.

Alright, I'll wait on Azlanti and learn it the story way. I'll put the skill point into Prof. Sailor instead.

He isn't the type to be enthusiastic about it, but more it seems like a means to an end given recent developments. E.g., would this be better than feeling like we have to outright kill a threat? Perhaps.

I don't see how the Interrogation spell would have stopped Eliza from being an uncontainable threat.

Yes, it would have been better for us to discuss the situation, but Sho's Heal check to stabilize failed, and the CLW from Malakar was a very dangerous option. The fact is we had no way of stopping her from casting and no way of knowing if she could have enslaved any of us.

Finding a way to stop psychics from casting might be good. Some spell or item.

Saying "Let's keep her alive so I can torture her for information" would never persuade Brannart. He would see that as worse than just letting her die.

The spell isn't actually effective, either. You get one question per 2 levels, and the target can just refuse to answer (taking some minor damage) or lie (with a moderate penalty). A good Diplomacy and Sense Motive are way more effective and also not Evil.

Prisoner issues are really fraught and can cause a lot of intraparty issues. I can see this being a thing down the road. I want to think carefully, take some time, and lay out what Brannart believes about prisoners. If I'm the outlier and am in the way, I can retire Brannart and bring in someone with a very different mindset.

Yes, Eliza was an almost unique case. If she hadn't been a potent psychic caster, it wouldn't have been an issue at all to take her prisoner like Rayland. We don't know that Rayland can be trusted any more than Eliza for sure, but he can be disarmed, confined, bound, etc. and those things keep him from being an ongoing and constant danger.

Go back and look at the damage Eliza was doing. Aside from us there are probably only two or three other colonists whom she couldn't kill outright with a single spell. To keep her captive at the colony would have required she remain constantly unconscious or under threat of a readied attack from someone 24/7. It simply wasn't a workable option.

I doubt we'll see another Eliza situation. for it to happen we'd need a former colonist who is an enemy and a psychic caster.

Interrogation doesn't prevent psychic casting, and Eliza would need to be conscious to be interrogated. She could just cast back in retaliation, hurting us more than we hurt her. The spell doesn't help in a hypothetical 2nd Eliza situation, and in all other situations there are better options than the spell.

Eliza doesn't present a new pattern for how to handle captives, she is the exception that won't fit a pattern.

Noted that Eliza was an extraordinary and probably unique case.

As both an Andoran and a Caydenite, Brannart has a very high regard for freedom.

At the same time, he's a soldier, and has no problem killing his foes.

So, while taking someone prisoner can be more merciful than killing them, he believes that a prisoner is not a slave, but rather a sacred obligation on the captor. Placing a defeated enemy under his protection is not something he does lightly.

You can try to persuade them to talk, sure. Maybe even trick them into talking. But if they refuse, you can't force them.

If the party would rather have someone more comfortable with taking prisoners for the sake of forcing them to talk, I could retire Brannart and bring in a different frontliner, either a Gorumite (who believes that the vanquished lose all rights by virtue of being defeated) or an Iomedan or Abadaran (who believes that some infringement on liberty is tolerable in the name of safety).

Fenna doesn't stray far at all from where Brannart is at. I think the biggest difference would be that she's a Milanite, which focuses on the same virtues and values as Caydenites do, but aimed somewhat more at the community rather than completely individual level.

I've very intentionally modeled her politics and values on the "Wobblies" of the early 20th century. Milanites are Caydenites who organize.

She's not going to be in conflict concerning prisoners at all, or at most only slightly and occasionally perhaps.

Re-reading Heal skill:

First Aid (DC 15): You usually use first aid to save a dying character. If a character has negative hit points and is losing hit points (at the rate of 1 per round, 1 per hour, or 1 per day), you can make him stable. A stable character regains no hit points but stops losing them. First aid also stops a character from losing hit points due to effects that cause bleed (see Conditions for rules on bleed damage).

I rolled a 15, and added 1, when I should have added 5 (trained in the skill) so it should have stopped our prisoner from dying- If Fenna wasn't playing with sharp objects too close from her throat anyway ;-)

Maybe our GM mixed Stabilization roll rules and Heal (First aid) rules, where you got a -1 penalty for each negative HP at your Constitution roll DC 10 to stop bleeding, while First aid is just plain DC 15, whether you have -1 or -9 HP.

Which, IMO, makes quite some sense: it is harder IRL (I guess, I have no medical training above watching Doctor House) to stop a massive hemorragy than a dozen small cuts.

BUT that means that Sho was really efficient at keeping our captive alive before Fenna killed her, and she knew, by her medical training, that the captive was unconscious and so not dangerous anymore, in her opinion

Malakar 4th
Druid 4
BAB +1
Fort +1
Ref +1

Razor Shark Animal Companion
BAB +1
Fort +1
Ref +1
+1 Skill Rank (Perception)
+ 1 Str(4th ability score increase)
+1 HD +14 HP
4th Changes
Size Small > Medium
Bite 1d4 > 1d6
Str +4
Dex -2
Con +2
Special Qualities Blindsense

@GM Feel free to do something special with Razor growing to full size or require some downtime for it to happen seeing as we have only been away one day or maybe he has just been growing the past 3 levels and he finally just hit that big growth spurt like a teenage boy.

lol, alrighty, replacing that spell.

Not just the thing for right now, but if Vexas is looking at Arcane Trickster down the line, this could be a nice spell: Umbral Weapon .

It would seem to stack with sneak attack damage.

Multi-use touch spells like Chill Touch are really nice with Sneak Attack. I have a Core Rogue who gets that through the Major Magic rogue talent.

Or Ray of Frost and Acid Splash if you don't want to mix it up in melee.

I've really been wanting to try out both the Eldritch Scoundrel and Phantom Thief archetypes for different reasons. They would play very differently.

I'm playing an Investigator (Psychic Detective) in War for the Crown and it's almost too good. So good I'm starting to look at Rogue with more interest.

@GM, are we done with Book 1 and you are taking a short break to get Book 2 set up? Hope all is well.

We've got quite the blizzard here in MA today.

@GM, are we done with Book 1 and you are taking a short break to get Book 2 set up? Hope all is well.

We've got quite the blizzard here in MA today.

Apologies once again for the absence. I knew the last two workweeks were going to be very busy for me. I am typically able to focus more on the weekend, but I was still playing catch-up last weekend. The mentioned blizzard is keeping me busy this weekend as it tore up the Jersey Shore before it hit the Boston area. I have been thinking about both you and Malakar as the snow dumped tons of snow on where you both live.

I still have some things to do, but I hope to get back into this tonight or tomorrow.

It will probably be a few more days until I can get back to this. I totally forgot about a board meeting I have this coming wednesday for the local non-profit I serve as Treasurer for. I still need to get the End-of-Year financials together. It just seems to never end.

'Like butter scraped over too much bread.' Bilbo Baggins

I know the feeling well. Take your time and don't stretch too thin!

Hey folks! I have wanted to play and run more than I have been able to recently as my in person game has been having lots of scheduling issues do to other players content exposure to covid and other personal issues.

Anywho I wanted to see if there was any interest of any of you guys playing if I ran a different AP.

I own a large ammout of the 1E Adventure Paths either in print or pdf and with a week of prep could be ready to start just about any of them. I also own ALL 2e Modules and AP's if you wanted to try something new.

But here us a list of a few in no particular order, hells rebels, Iron Gods, Kingmaker, Return of the Runelords, Rise of the Runelords, Shattered Star, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Tyrants Grasp, Second Darkness, Legacy of Fire, Council of Theives. There are more I am just not at home to look at my shelf

The expected post rate would be as lenient current but able to be faster if everyone is available especially if it ends up being a module I am more familiar with Such as Rise of the Runelords or Iron Gods.

The only things I would like to change about hiw this group works is instead of everyone just coming with a character I would like to have a "session zero" where the group builds together so that there is better group play and when Running pathfinder 1E with experienced players I tend for a 15 point buy instead of 20 to allow written content to have a bit more of a challenge and offer stat boosts as occasional rewards.

The invitation obviously extends to Mioki but also don't feel the necessity to join if it will burden your schedule.

Everyone let me know what you think either way.