GM Losonti's Wrath of the Righteous (Inactive)

Game Master Losonti

Benedic charges into the room only seconds behind the splintering wood. He moves quickly to a position directly in the center of the cultists, drawing the holy sword as he goes.

He looks back to the door and waits for a signal from his companions before striking at the most vulnerable cultist.

Accept Rage
Caliban follows Benedic into the chamber, picking a cultist on the far wall and levelling a diagonal cut upward at the man. Seemingly heedless of the other cultists, Caliban moves forward, confident his friends will clean up the mess behind him....

Attack, heroism, power attack, Rage: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 8 + 1 = 11
Damage, heroism, power attack: 1d8 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 13 + 1 = 18
Surge, to hit: 1d6 ⇒ 2

As the door explodes Selann reconsiders his options. Glad that he doesn't use a shield he drops the crossbow and runs into the room drawing his dagger. Amazed at his speed he ducks past the stunned cultists until he is behind his target. He draws on his new power and jabs the cultist, Cultist? The one past the others. twice.

Prescience: 1d20 ⇒ 14 Free action

Attack against flat footed enemy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17 Prescience makes that a 14 +10 -> 24 to hit.
damage: 1d3 + 4d6 ⇒ (2) + (1, 4, 6, 2) = 15

Trickster Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18 Swift action
damage: 1d3 + 4d6 ⇒ (1) + (1, 4, 6, 6) = 18

Typical Massielo init roll.

Greta frowns and shakes her head as everyone ignores her request and charges into the room ahead of her. She steps through the door and swings her hammer twice at the cultist positioned to flank Caliban (green).

longhammer (bs/rage/bless/as): 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 15 + 1 = 25
for: 2d6 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (3, 6) + 13 + 1 = 23

longhammer 2 (bs/rage/bless/as): 1d20 + 10 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 10 + 1 = 21
for: 2d6 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (2, 3) + 13 + 1 = 19

lol, I waited for you.

When the effort of her swing causes her to look over her shoulder for a moment, Greta notices Junior waiting behind her. She smiles at the half-orc and gives him an appreciative nod as she readies her hammer for another swing.

Tristan stands ready outside the Alter Chamber with Junior and Masseilo. The Inquisitor seemingly passing the time away by counting as each party member rushes into the room. He looks at Greta with a shrugs and a smile.
I was waiting only because my player hasn't had the time to make me do anything.

He winks at them.

Tristan then smacks Junior and Masseilo on their respective arses, before entering after Greta into the room.
Having looked at each cultist in the eye as he struts into the room, the Inquisitor begins berating them collectively!

Blistering Invective Ref DC 15 or catch fire
fire damage if intimidated: 1d10 ⇒ 3

Intimidate (Cha): 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (8) + 15 = 23

Intimidate skill

AC 24 from Lastwall Phalanx

Massielo channels a spell to inspire everyone.

Moment of Greatness!

Fast forwarding a bit, since these guys aren't likely to be anything more than a speedbump.

The last remaining holdouts in the Gray Garrison fight bravely, but are no match for the crusaders who have already defeated their mightiest champions. After a short, brutal fight, you stand victorious in Iomedae's desecrated temple.

Blood and filth smear floor of this long room. Six white stone statues of famous heroes line the hall—each clawed, bloodstained, partially smashed, or otherwise defaced. At the far end of the hall, a raised dais holds an upturned alabaster altar. Sitting atop the upside-down altar is a hideous mass of severed limbs that have been stitched together into a vile monstrous insectoid shape. Before the dais, seven ratty bedrolls have been laid out on the floor.

In the chamber to the east

A long table and six chairs have been pushed against the western wall. On the opposite wall, a tapestry depicting a map of Mendev hangs from a silver rod—the tapestry has been slashed several times and splashed with filth. A bedroll sits on the floor, and on the nearby table is an array of alchemical devices and a long wooden sword case wrapped with cords, as if ready for travel. You see a note tucked into the cords.

Benedic gasps in horror at the sheer scale of desecration that has taken place here. "By the light," he breathes. "It is as if an unholy artist wished to defile this place." He shakes his head and kneels to cast a spell, removing some of the spiritual stink from it.

He casts sacred space, which is kind of like consecrate. Neither spell actually re-consecrates a temple, though. :) However, it seems appropriate, and I had originally prepared it thinking that since we were going to a temple to Iomedae it might come in handy.

"That feels as if it has improved matters somewhat," he says a bit pompously, and begins the arduous process of cleaning the room, scraping off the filth and graffiti and pulling down the limbs to separate them into their individual corpses. "We should try to identify who these came from, so that they can receive a proper buried in sacred ground."

The elf wipes the ichor from his blade, resheathing it after the companions finished overwhleming the demonic defenders of the fallen temple. He looks at Benedic and the other faithful of the inheritor with sadness in his eyes, but seeing their determination to set things aright. He notices the locked door, assuming Selann will be able to unlock it with time, or Greta will have to explain to the door why it should open.

Crossing to the other room he examines the sword box and untucks the note, reading for the others aloud. looks like someone had a present here, wonder who it is to... he opens the box withdrawing the item within.

Junior’s face twists in disgust, ”Ugh. But why? Why would they want to sleep like this? You know what I don’t want to know. Maybe because some demon thought it was funny.”

Junior helps Benedic sort the bodies doing his best to match limbs. When they come to the horrific flesh sculpture he asks, ”So… How do you wanna…? I guess we cut the stitching...”

After the thorough cleaning Junior’s bar of soap is just a nub, ”You served the crusade well old friend.”

I got loot listed on the party page but not prices for everything. I'll get to that this afternoon.

True to her word, now that the fighting is done Greta rolls up her sleeves and helps her Iomedaean friends cleanse their chapel and the various defiled altars throughout the building. She listens with great interest when Caliban begins reading the note on the sword case.

Tristan nods in appreciation to the prowess of this group. The Inquisitor continues to roam the empty rooms and halls to search for anything that they may have missed.
Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 26

Tristan then assists in any cleaning efforts, prior to preparing to depart.

Seeing the locked door Selann takes time and care to open it without damaging it. Take 20? 33 to open the lock

Irabeth, who had been assisting you with the temple cleanup, turns back to Caliban just as he is removing the note and unwrapping the cords around the blade. Her eyes widen, and she's speechless for several seconds once Caliban has finished reading.

"This blade belonged to my father. I didn't think I'd see it again..."

Across the temple, Selann struggles with the door for several minutes, but eventually is victorious. Unlocked, the door slides sideways into the wall, revealing a small chamber beyond that is free of dust. A holy symbol of Iomedae hangs unmolested on the wall above a weapon rack filled with swords, crossbows, and spears. Three wooden dummies wear pristine suits of armor. A shelf holds several leather quivers, each stamped with a golden sun. Two silver shields hang from pegs on the wall.

The elf reads the card out loud for all to hear, slowing awkwardly as he realizes what it says and turning to Irabeth with the blade in hand, Sir Knight, I believe this is yours, and none of us would want to stand in the way of your reunioniting with it. If you care to elaborate please do, but it is your business, not ours. I will ask, do you know the men named in this letter? For I draw a blank on them. That does seem to be our business, their familiarity and it’s presence here.

Junior listens to his coin with the horse head on one side, "Wasn't that Staunton guy a spy you rooted out of the crusaders? He's still alive right? Looks like we killed someone who was looking to score some brownie points with him. Glad we got to him before he make off with your dad's sword."

Tristan frowns at the reading of the note. He does gladly exchange his magical heavy mace for the magical longsword. He wields it for a moment, testing its weight, before sheathing it.

Seems to be no end to these traitorous trash.

With wordless gratitude, Irabeth takes hold of the blade and draws it from its scabbard, examining it. After some time, Junior's question snaps her out of her reverie and she turns to him, nodding as she returns the blade to its sheath.

"Yes, he had everyone fooled into thinking he was a fine, upstanding crusader, fighting the good fight. There were many people just as furious with me for exposing him as there were angry at him for lying to us." She shakes her head, then holds her blade out. "Keeping this doesn't feel right; I sold it for something far more valuable to me than any coin or treasure. And I suspect you'll put it to far better use than I could."

Irabeth's sword is a +1 evil outsider bane longsword.

Junior looks down at his coin frowning and says, "C'mon Fred we can't take advantage like that."

He consoles Irabeth, "Yeeah but, the guy you sold it to was another cultist. He even borrowed money from good old Horgus to do it too, and then stiffed him. It wasn't bought in good faith. I mean if you want to be all propa about it, give the sword to Horgus, since it was bought with his money that he's still out."

"From what I gather you were on good terms with your dad. I'm only a little jealous. What would he want you to do?"

Massielo helps with the cleansing of the temple. Afterwards, he dons the magical breastplate and takes a longspear from the stash. He looks at Irabeth with comforting eyes, but doesn't say anything.

Greta frowns at Junior's remarks: partly because she loathes the idea of giving such an incredibly useful weapon to someone so poorly suited to use it, and partly because she feels like the skald is being more noble about the situation than she is.

"I'm not sure those funds are the first thing on ole Horgus' mind right now..." she offers a bit half-heartedly. "If Commander Tirabade does not wish to wield it, perhaps we would be wise to do as she says and use it against the demons ourselves? Once the city is safe, and Horgus with it, we could always give him the sword later, or pay him the money he's out?"

As she finishes speaking she looks to Tristan, curious if the servant of the Inheritor will say anything about the chance to wield a blade with such power and history.

Tristan looks forlornly at Irabeth as she expounds upon her fondness for her found blade. The Inquisitor walks over to her. He bows.
I would be honored to have your leave to carry and hold high your blade, while we continue to combat the evil that has invaded us!

He takes his newly acquired longsword, tosses it to Junior
Heads up!

Tristan then holds out his hands for Irabeth's sword.

Junior chuckles, "As you wish. And after it's tasted it's share of demon blood we'll return it to you Irabeth." He whisperes to the half-ork paladin, "He's going to be on to a new sword inside this month."

Irabeth considers Junior's question for a moment before answering. "My father would want his blade to be used to protect the innocent and to destroy evil. After what happened upstairs, I have no illusions about which of us is more likely to strike the decisive blow in this war."

Tristan bounces from foot to foot in anticipation....

Junior says once they're done cleaning and reconsecrating, "We should head back and report our great success? "

Later Junior is seen casting a number of moneymancy spells, converting the spoils if war into hard coin. Which he then distributes to his friends.

Even later he's seen working his portable anvil. Making progress on my own projects for now. Taking 10 on craft check but using surge. 1d6 ⇒ 2

Greta dries her hands on her pants and picks her hammer back up while looking appreciatively at the newly cleansed chapel. "Junior's right," she remarks, "we need to go tell others what happened here and see if we can connect with other survivors... find out who else survived and how many... see if... see what really happened to Terendelev, and if there's any way we can find someone to heal her... or... raise her..."

She stares off silently for a moment before refocusing on her friends and adding, "there's got to be all kinds of ways we can still help, lets go see what they are." Then she leads the way out the front door.

I'm not sure if or when we're going to jump to like some kind of wrap up post for this book (which I think we just finished?) but since all our leveling/mythic stuff seems squared away I thought I'd join Junior in trying to get us moving again. I'm guessing we'll have a little bit of downtime at some point to, hopefully, sell stuff and do some shopping, but I figured we should press on until then?

"Yes!", Massielo says with an inspiring tone. "This is our first great success. We should spread the word and get hope to the hearts of the crusaders."

Tristan graciously accepts the blade, holding out for a moment before sheathing it. He bows to Irabeth.
Does it have a name?

The Inquisitor then readies to return to the Heart to report and discover the next tactical move....

Irabeth gives Tristan a wry smile. "Not yet."

Your return journey to Defender's Heart is a strange one. It's made in the open, for one, rather than darting from cover to cover. For another, here and there you see the corpses of demons, few of which seem to have been slain in combat. Many seem to have simply died mid-stride, or been swatted out of the sky.

The biggest change, however, is the people you see on the street. For the first time in days, the survivors of Kenabres are able to walk the streets openly, and without fear of being set upon by the demonic invaders. Many of the faces despair at the sight of their city, but you also see hope.

The celebration thrown in your honor at Defender's Heart is, in a word, legendary. Each of you is endlessly plied with questions about what happened at the Garrison, but it's hard to get a word in against all the other soldiers offering toasts. Any time you look away from your mug, it is either filled back up or replaced with a new one (in the chaos, it's hard to tell). Eventually, you trudge your way to your quarters and fall asleep.

It's rather surprising, then, when each of you finds yourselves standing in the common room of Defender's Heart with no memory of how you got there. The room is empty of all people save yourselves. Yourselves, plus a beautiful and scarred woman dressed in plate armor. She gives you a small, sad smile.

"You have, all of you, demonstrated valor, faithfulness, and, even more importantly, compassion. Far beyond what any could have asked of you. I am truly sorry, then, that I cannot aid you in what is to come. But that does not prevent me from offering you a token of my gratitude."

She gestures for you to kneel, before stepping forward and kissing each of you on the forehead.

"You have already given so much, but more is required. Know that I am watching over you."

Then, you wake from your dream and find yourself in your quarters once again.

Each of you gains the following!
1) A +2 bonus to any one skill of your choice.
2) Your max HP increases by 5.
3) Any feat! You must meet the prerequisites, as normal.
4) A +2 increase to an ability score of your choice.

Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14 (+1 if this involves Iomedae)

Tristan bows low to Irabeth.
M'Lady, I shall endeavor to be worthy of your blade!

Defender's Heart

Tristan makes his reports to the proper channels. The next day, he takes a hot bath; tired from all the meetings.

Falling asleep, the Inquisitor dreams a little dream of Her.....

He wakens with a smile!
She likes me! She really, really likes me!

Massielo enjoys the attention at Defender's heart with some moderation. He doesn't want to feel that he could be corrupted by thoughts of glory or laziness. He falls quickly asleep and doesn't really understand what happened in his dream.

He tries thinking about it more.

Knowledge religion: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Dame Greta arrives at the celebration in the fancy red and gold dress she got from the shopkeeper they saved, turning more than a few heads. She smiles from ear to ear throughout the entire evening at the thought that now she was truly accepted as a crusader. She doesn't shy away from the questions but happily talks the ear off all who ask, telling and retelling the tale with plenty of commentary.

***early the next morning***
Greta sits up on her cot with a look of awe. When she notices that others are awake as well she quietly shares, "I just had an incredible dream, and you were all there... wait, why are you all awake? Did you have it too? It wasn't a dream, really, was it? It was some kind of vision... Who was she, and what did she mean?"

Caliban shakes off his elven sleep-like trance, rising quickly to his feet. His dark elven eyes dart back and forth, taking in the reactions of his still-waking companions, and confirming for himself what he already suspected. I believe it was a dream, but not just a dream then. We were in the hall? There was a woman? Powerful and rare magics known collectively as Oneiromancy, or the magic of dreams; it is not commonly practiced, except by powerful beings. But who was that woman, she feels familiar, but outside of my knowledge.

Religion: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Junior wakes up yelling in uncharacteristic anger, "Can't help? or won't help?! How many have died from your inaction?! Your worshipers are better than you, you know!"

Selann wakes, confused. He didn't worship Iomedae but the description of the Goddess was known by anyone living in the area. He hears Junior's angry words and faces the man. "Inaction? If the gods and demons took active rolls in the lives of the men and women on this world.... The world would be scoured of all life by the released powers. It seems that whatever is coming will fall firmly in our hands. Hopefully our hands will have the power to 'catch' it!"

Benedic enjoys the celebration for the most part, though he is a bit distracted as something is nagging at him. He isn't sure what it is at first, but feels like there is some unfinished business for him to do in Kenabres, and it prevents him from demonstrating his appreciation of the city's display of gratitude as much as he has been brought up to do. Truth be told, he has never been very happy about participating in the public displays of fealty expected of the noble family, and though he knows how to be charming and gracious he prefers to support the people of Mendev in private, from within the temple to Iomedae like his father. Fortunately, he thinks, no one here seems to know about his family lineage, and he is spared being the focus of everyone's attention. He's oddly happy to share the limelight, and he realizes this is something of a new experience.

He finally retires with the rest of his lauded friends at the end of the evening, all of them camping together for convenience as well as familiarity. He has a hard time falling asleep, though, his mind still going over everything that has happened. When he finally nods off, he experiences a vision, and this also troubles him. Was it a true vision, or something from his own imagination, he thinks. Some qualities of the woman remind him of Iomedae, but others (like her scars) are unfamiliar. Perhaps this is an aspect of the goddess that has been damaged by the Worldwound?

He listens to the others discuss their dream with the growing realization that it must have been genuine, or at least supernaturally inspired rather than something from his own mind, since everyone else experienced it also. "A blessing," he murmurs, "A blessing from the Inheritor? It could have been Her, I think. I do feel we have earned Her favor somehow, and it seems Her notice has two edges, like a sword. Did we all hear and see the same thing? She praised our valor, our faithfulness, and our compassion, and said that She is watching over us. She kissed each of us on the forehead!" He recalls this last action with awe and wonder in his breathless voice.

"What do you think the Worldwound is? Deskari and Baphoment, who might as well be deities, trying to scour our world of life. Why don't we have an army of angels or devils at our backs?"

Junior regains his composure a little, "Whatever I'll take her power. But it will take more than this. Faith hasn't won this war, if it did it would have been won years ago."

Greta lays back and stares at the ceiling as the others discuss the vision's nature and meaning. Still slightly drunk on adulation (and wine), when Junior protests she teases, "what do we need an army of angels for? We have Benedict the Radiant, and Caliban Blackblade, and Selann the Slippery, and what were they calling Massielo--the healing light--and Dame Greta Demonsbane, plus Junior and Tristan, the handsomest couple in all of Kenabres!"

Junior holds up his hands in surrender and gives Greta a warm smile, "Flattery will get you everywhere. I'm sorry for my outburst everyone. I just hate it when people die needlessly."

It is no worry Junior, there are reasons for these things, which I do not comprehend either, but we need to find out what we must do next. Let us talk to Irabeth, and see what she thinks? the elf posits to the crowd.

Greta giggles a little bit and points out, "maybe we should wait until a little later in the morning? I know Anevia's still recovering from her broken leg but I'm guessing they might have wanted to celebrate the commander's safe return last night."

Tristan chews hungrily on a turkey leg (because that is what one does at a festival). The youthful Inquisitor seems to be relaxed as anyone has seen him, since meeting him. He even seems to be sipping a flagon of ale!
Tristan saunters about the Tavern, shaking hands with girls, kissing girls, dancing with girls, drinking tequila shots while licking salt off of a girl and then meeting for that sweet, sweet, sour lemon wedge.

He looks at Junior and Greta.
What now?

Selann sits quietly for a bit after Junior's words. He waits until he can get the man's attention and responds. "We all hate it when there are needless deaths, regardless of who or what causes them. You asked what I think the Worldwound is.... I think, that the Worldwound was a mistake. I think that someone, with too much magical power, made a really bad mistake and opened a gate. I wonder.... I really can't imagine where the power came from. But maybe that's what we have to figure out. And maybe we have to figure out how to pull the plug on the gate. Then, maybe it'll close. In the mean time, we need to use the powers that we've been granted to face the evil in any way that we can!"

Massielo had never thought too much about the Worldwound and says "The important thing is that it's open and can cause us much trouble. The dream we had implies that this ordeal isn't over. We need to be ready."

Benedic smiles absently, his looks troubled. "I have some business in Kenabres that I feel I must address before we become too involved in our next task. I have a friend, or-- well, kind of a colleague-- here in the city, and it occurs to me that she was not present at the celebration last night. I admit, I feel somewhat responsible for her, especially if something ill were to have befallen her. Her parents run, or perhaps ran, an inn called The Painted Sign, and she was an acolyte at the church of Iomedae. Her name is Beatrics. Never mind, ah, suffice it to say that I need to make sure that she is safe. I will return as soon as I can, I promise."

(If we move on to a new scene I can write about Benedic's brief search here retroactively, or he could be interrupted before he can leave depending on what works best for narrative purposes.) :)

Welcome! Up at the top of the page you'll see (at the time of this writing) two links. One is an exact copy of your loot list from the previous incarnation, while the other is for the maps and handouts. I made some changes there, but did my best to place your tokens in the same spots. Because the first three areas are on the same page, each one is slightly smaller but it should result in a less pixelated image.

You can zoom in on the slide for easier control of your token by press Ctrl + Alt + =.
You can zoom out with Ctrl + Alt + -.

I've got two requests, neither of which have to be done right away. First off are taglines. I would appreciate it if everyone could have their taglines formatted like Massielo's. The alternating colors aren't necessary, but having all the essential stuff in a consistent format will help me out.

Second, for our prepared casters, if you can have a spoiler at the top of your profile that has the spells you've prepared for the day, that would also be appreciated. As you cast spells, just strike them out. Mention any slots you've left empty as well.

Oh, also! I made tokens for everyone, either using your forums avatar or the reference image in your character's profile. If you want to use a different image for your token, just post a link to the image in question and I will get you taken care of.

Huzzah!

This is Greta, I’m posting from this alias because until there’s a gameplay thread to dot into this will make it easier for my to check for updates. I’m headed to bed but I’ll try to adjust my banner tomorrow.

Greta, the gameplay thread is up, let me know if it's not appearing for you.

Greta, do you know how to use Blogtrottr or another RSS feed service to send you an email when one of these threads are updated? I didn't know about it when I first started here years ago, and once I found out I felt like no one could possibly play in a game without it, so much so that it's almost insulting to suggest someone doesn't know. So not meaning to be insulting if you already know.

If you don't, or anyone else here doesn't, what you do is go to blogtrottr.com and create an account, then click on [Subscribe to a new feed]. In the URL field, copy the link from each of the two little orange buttons at the top right of this forum and submit. They only update every hour but still it's a lifesafer.

I actually missed this post!
This is awesome!
Thank you GM Losonti!

Hi GM, Massielo has an image that better represents his mystical nature and skin color. GM Mioki was using this as a token in the maps, and I really liked it and would appreciate if you would also. Anyway, this is it.

Nice job on the Maps too!

Tag line copied. Is there an easier way to get to the "end" of the line when editing it? My tech skills are a bit lacking, so the answer is most likely YES!

@Benedic- Thanks for the suggestion, I was not aware of it. I check my gameplay tab from my phone whenever I have enough time for a post, so the emails wouldn't help me at all (except for threads that don't show up in that tab, but those are always very temporary).

@GM (and maybe everyone else too)- I hate to be a pain, but as we're standardizing our banners is there any chance we could flip Masielo's last two sections? I know that might seem like a silly request but I'm so used to having active effects last that if it's not I know I'm going to miss things.

@Benedic, THANKS! I'd heard that was possible but didn't know how. I just have a list of shortcuts in a folder on my Favorites bar. When I click on the folder it gives me an option to "open all in tabs"....

@Tristan- instead of putting the whole thing in one line in your profile split it between gender, race, and class (in that order iirc); that way you have less to get through in each line.

@GM (and maybe everyone else too)- I hate to be a pain, but as we're standardizing our banners is there any chance we could flip Masielo's last two sections? I know that might seem like a silly request but I'm so used to having active effects last that if it's not I know I'm going to miss things.

You're not being a pain! That's totally fine. That's usually where I look for active conditions as well.

@Massielo: I had noticed that, so I actually already made a token for you using that image. :)

@Tristan: If you click on the line in question and press the "End" key on your keyboard, that will jump you to the end of the line.

@Massielo: I had noticed that, so I actually already made a token for you using that image. :)

Nice, thanks!

@ GM Losonti Tristan has the Tactics Subdomain (War). He will always grant the reroll on Initiative to Junior; unless, otherwise stated.

Not that I believe we will need it soon...

@Tristan, I logged the holy water on your loot sheet since you were interested in them the most.

@GM Losonti, it looks like I don't have the ability to change protected fields on the sheet. If something breaks and you don't know how to fix it let me know. I didn't make the loot tracker originally but know the person who did.

I also removed the bat statue from the party loot since it also appeared on Selann's sheet. If an item is on multiple pages it will be counted twice for value, inflating our WBL calculations.

I don't think we're going to hide loot from each other in this game so if someone finds loot I don't think it needs to be put behind a spoiler. That is unless there's a plot related reason, say its a cursed item and a character is compelled to act a certain way. Otherwise I'm fine with being the party quartermaster if everyone wants. I'll work on getting the correct party images in there soon as some appear broken now.

Thanks, Junior, appreciate it.

Glad to see you all off to an awesome new beginning. GM Losonti thank you for picking this up. Now go slay demons!

Glad to see you all off to an awesome new beginning. GM Losonti thank you for picking this up. Now go slay demons!

By the way, thank you for everything Mioki! I sure enjoyed playing with you and hope you and your family are well!

Yes, Mioki, thank you! I hope this helps take some of the burden you're feeling, and I appreciate you doing the hard work of getting this off the ground!

Thanks to both GMs!

Sorry I forgot to post that I would be on the road and unable to post after the one Tuesday morning.... Just got to the hotel. Now to see what I missed!

Going to give Caliban a bit more time to post, otherwise I'll put him in delay for a round so we can keep going.

My apologies, I somehow missed the link for this! I'm back :D

Thanks Losonti for reaching out, and taking up the mantle of crusade.

Missed out on some good RP starters there, but that's okay.

No problem at all! There'll be plenty more to come.

I won't be able to make a combat post for a couple of hours. Greta and Benedic do you want me to lay down some beats for this fight?

Having been told to use good/holy weapons if possible, I'm going to use my actual bloodrage (since it makes my weapons count as such). So, from my perspective, using ragesong now would be a waste, but I can't speak for anyone else.

I don't want to dictate how you participate, Junior! Benedic, if he survives the round, will probably try to channel positive energy to harm and potentially daze the enemies, so likewise inspired rage will not affect him much, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use it.

I don't mind friendly suggestions on how to act. I was leaning towards no anyway.

I have a couple apologies to make, the first of which is that I misread the DR for these creatures. Their DR is overcome by magic or silver, not just good-aligned weapons. I always try to be very careful with these things, but I still messed up.

The second is that I was too focused on keeping things moving, which meant I passed over Junior's turn without his consent. I am genuinely sorry for that. Going forward I'm going to stick to a 24-hour rule before I bot anyone, unless the player otherwise gives notice.

Benedic, if I understand the rules on variant channeling correctly, your channeling roll is only halved when it's used to heal. Channeling positive energy to harm undead should have its full effect.

If you ever have to bypass/bot me to keep the game going, Please do! You absolutely have permission! Try not to kill me unless you make it a good death, then it's OK.... :)

Benedic, if I understand the rules on variant channeling correctly, your channeling roll is only halved when it's used to heal. Channeling positive energy to harm undead should have its full effect.

The way I read it, variant channeling gives up half of the normal effect for a different effect— in this case, dazing the enemy. Normally, the enemy makes a save and either takes full or half damage. With variant channeling, the save determines whether or not the enemy is dazed, and it just always takes half damage. :)

A variant channeling either modifies positive channeled energy when used to heal or modifies negative energy when used to harm.

As written, the dazing effect would only apply if you were channeling negative energy to harm.

That said, we're not bound in blood to what Paizo writes. One house rule I've always liked is to eliminate the distinction between channeling to harm or to heal: channeling positive energy would heal all living creatures in the area and hurt all undead (which coincidentally is what 2e wound up doing with the AoE versions of harm and heal ). Negative energy would work the same way in reverse.

Generally this makes channeling a lot more powerful, which I'm a fan of since it tends to get passed over as "suboptimal." If you're good with that, then that particular sentence in the variant channeling rules is rendered irrelevant, and you may proceed with mass dazing of the undead (and evil outsiders, since I imagine you'll be picking up Alignment Channel at some point). :)

The second is that I was too focused on keeping things moving, which meant I passed over Junior's turn without his consent. I am genuinely sorry for that. Going forward I'm going to stick to a 24-hour rule before I bot anyone, unless the player otherwise gives notice.

No worries. There is going to be an adjustment period getting used to everyone's play styles.

Lewt is logged. We have 5 potions of cure light wounds now. Anyone who can't cast the spell should probably take one. If no one wants the warhammer I'll use it but it doesn't affect me a lot.

Quote:

A variant channeling either modifies positive channeled energy when used to heal or modifies negative energy when used to harm.

As written, the dazing effect would only apply if you were channeling negative energy to harm.

Oh! That stinks. I'm sorry, I somehow missed that part on all the times I have read it over the last like TEN YEARS. Wishful thinking I guess. :( All of the positive effects are incredibly weak and boring if they're all you get!

That said, we're not bound in blood to what Paizo writes. One house rule I've always liked is to eliminate the distinction between channeling to harm or to heal: channeling positive energy would heal all living creatures in the area and hurt all undead (which coincidentally is what 2e wound up doing with the AoE versions of harm and heal ). Negative energy would work the same way in reverse.

Generally this makes channeling a lot more powerful, which I'm a fan of since it tends to get passed over as "suboptimal." If you're good with that, then that particular sentence in the variant channeling rules is rendered irrelevant, and you may proceed with mass dazing of the undead (and evil outsiders, since I imagine you'll be picking up Alignment Channel at some point). :)

Oh, my, yes yes yes please! That sounds absolutely wonderful! I've been designing Benedic with offensive channeling in mind, and your change will make a big difference in his ability to tank while doing it. And help others! It won't be much, because it's halved, but it will also improve everyone's Diplomacy while we're fighting, which is so useless that it makes me grin broadly. :D I guess it's great for dealing with Horgus. :D

Oh, yes, my Cleric archetype gets Alignment Channel at level 4 I think.

That warhammer belongs in a museum! ;)

Great! In that case, anyone who is down some HP should heal 1 to their total, thanks to your channel.

@Benedic We were using that line all night, playing our weekly PFS game last night...lol!

Sweet sweet hp!

I'm not opposed to the change to channel energy (iirc, I think it did work that way in a previous editioin) but, just to make sure its been considered, as a life oracle Massielo can also channel, and his aren't halved at all. That doesn't mean you can't make the change, obviously, but it does mean it might have a bigger impact than if it was just Benedic that was effected.

Wow! I never read the Variant Channeling!
Although, to be fair, my only PF1 Cleric was a Negative Channeling Core PFS character; so I couldn't.
When he reached 8th, his Death Domain ability allowed for him to Tank! It was fun! But not overpowered; but extremely effective.
I say that to say, that even with Phylactery of Negative Channeling, it was only 8d6 at 11th.

Not game changing, but always useful! I am ok with it; although, it is really the riders that matter.
We had a Wizard with Dazing, Persistent Aqueous Orb gimmick; was not much fun for the rest of the table. After that season, we went Core PFS...lol.

GM Losonti would you mind collecting your house rules and rulings on the campaign page? I will absolutely forget otherwise.

I've always liked channeling. There was a 3.5 feat that let clerics do something like that and at low levels it made clerics "the life of the party"! :) But, just like PF channeling, it didn't age well. At higher levels it helped with the healing, but just wasn't enough.

Actually, I played a Dhampir cleric that channeled negative to harm in combat, and heal himself. Had to select Cure spells though, and get a wand fairly quick so I could actually be the party healer.

GM Losonti would you mind collecting your house rules and rulings on the campaign page? I will absolutely forget otherwise.

Absolutely, give me a bit and I'll add a link to a document to the top of the page.

Selann: that sort of thing is where I first encountered this concept, playing in an undead heavy campaign we kept fighting clerics who would channel negative energy to hurt us and heal their friends.

Thank you for raising that issue, Greta. This does make Massielo's channeling more powerful, but will also affect any enemies you may encounter who channel. Hopefully should make things a bit more interesting for you all.

House rules link added to the top of the page. If there's any suggestions for new ones you'd like added (or if one we have just isn't working out), you can either post them in here or PM me and I will consider them. :)

Interesting. Channeling is a big part of my character too, and I guess that makes him more powerful. Now Extra Channel gets a much higher value too! And I may pick up Alignment Channel, because that will become enormous. I'll just have to compete with Benedic, then.

I was thinking about the change to channeling today, specifically how it might affect my plans for the future. One thing that occurred to me was that it will be tricky using channels on mixed groups of enemies, such as a human cleric and a group of undead. Presumably a cleric can always leave himself out of the effects of a channel if he wants? Otherwise his burst of negative energy would heal his minions but hurt himself. Likewise a cleric opposing him who channels positive energy would harm the undead but heal the cleric.

I was thinking that this makes the Selective Channeling feat much more important to have if we intend to use channeling in combat, to ensure that we don't accidentally heal our opponents as well as our friends. I hadn't planned on taking that feat, figuring that I didn't need it if I was only channeling to harm. But I've reconsidered and reorganized my plans to take it into account. :)

Does alignment channel only effect outsiders with specific alignment subtypes? Because, otherwise, my favorite part of the change would be down the road when someone uses alignment channel to damage evil outsiders and it healed me (I’m an outsider but my own subtype is [native], I don’t have an alignment one at all).

Benefit: Instead of its normal effect, you can choose to have your ability to channel energy heal or harm outsiders of the chosen alignment subtype. You must make this choice each time you channel energy. If you choose to heal or harm creatures of the chosen alignment subtype, your channel energy has no effect on other creatures. The amount of damage healed or dealt and the DC to halve the damage is otherwise unchanged.

:(

@Greta, your character is still healed by positive energy, right? I think it should affect her just the same way as if we channeled positive energy to harm undead. There is a burst of positive energy which damages evil outsiders and undead, and heals most other creatures.