Tyrant's Grasp III: Last Watch

Game Master CrusaderWolf

Thank you all for the feedback! If this were a F2F table I'd be fine with saying we could adjudicate on the fly for how various abilities or builds work out but with PBP it would probably bog things down for too long. Given Gummy's concerns I'll run this game with the standard action economy.

I will still use Elephant in the Room's streamlined feat tax rules; if you take a class that already provides you Combat Reflexes/Weapon Finesse/etc for free you can instead get a free Weapon Focus feat with your preferred weapon group.

It looks like the current concepts on the table are:
Cellion: Skirmisher rogue (or Dancer once I've had a chance to look at it)
Losonti: Mysterious-Stranger gunslinger + Divine-Hunter paladin
Tusk: Death Druid
Gummy: Knight of Arnisant Cavalier
Damon: halfling swashbucklers(?) Damon what class did you settle on?

Healing up hp should be no problem between a druid and a paladin, depending on mercies chosen removing status conditions can work out pretty well too. Thus far there's a complete lack arcane magic, which is fine if the rogue will have a high UMD but it's something to be aware of. If Damon is a swashy that'll be 3/5 melee characters as well.

I was waiting on the ruling for Swashbuckler Finesse, and it looks good to me, so I will go with it. If we are too melee heavy, though, I could pivot to a sorcerer build...

No arcane caster? No problem! We can always travel like Gandalf, or the hard-core druid way.

Garret Fallows is here, my Swashbuckler build. I might play around for a bit and see what I can do with a similar backstory/race/etc. but built for a sorcerer if you guys like...

Could you make it a shareable link Damon? When I click it says I don't have view permissions.

I think I fixed it.

Gotcha about the action economy. I think it would have been interesting to try it out, but ultimately PF2E does that system far more justice than we would have encountered here with 1E.

I'm not too worried if we're missing an arcane caster. I don't think I've come across an AP that was impossible if you didn't have one. Usually you feel the lack of divine magic more acutely anyway (around the time the first person gets permanently blinded!).

GM, what are some appropriate Lore options for this AP (per the background skills)?

I think it'd be interesting to go without an arcane caster. UMD is probably worth the investment for someone with charisma though for those moments where we really want it, but it could make for a fun challenge. I agree with Cellion in that lack of divine is usually the bigger worry between arcane and divine. I suppose teleport is the one thing that is really hard to replicate, but we can cross that bridge when we get there :)

My idea for the sorcerer was the Phoenix bloodline, which makes sense thematically for this campaign I would think...but I can abort that effort and stay with the swashbuckler.

Reading through the class abilities and feats, it looks like Two Weapon Grace won't stack with Precise Strike, so my plan for the two weapon fighting swashbuckler doesn't look as good anymore. I was considering Bladed Brush, but I don't want to fall into copying an excellent build in a different campaign...I'll have to give it a bit more thought...

GM, what are some appropriate Lore options for this AP (per the background skills)?

I think it'd be interesting to go without an arcane caster. UMD is probably worth the investment for someone with charisma though for those moments where we really want it, but it could make for a fun challenge. I agree with Cellion in that lack of divine is usually the bigger worry between arcane and divine. I suppose teleport is the one thing that is really hard to replicate, but we can cross that bridge when we get there :)

That’s what I meant with the links above - we will at least have access to giant eagles and transport via plants for standard travel. More seriously, I think we can get by with UMD - or a 1-level dip in sorcerer, wizard, or bard, if someone wants to take a shortcut. But it's going to require an investment when we start to need to use scrolls of plane shift.

But if anyone is counting on the paladin and druid to remove blindness, I think we had better stock up on scrolls and potions. Remove blindness/deafness isn’t on the druid list at all, and paladins don’t get 3rd level spells until what, level 10? And I think the remove blindness mercy has a minimum level of at least that.

So question for the group: if we're only going to have one primary spellcaster, are we better off with a full 9-level prepared caster death druid or a 6-level spontaneous caster spiritualist? The spiritualist may have a better spell list for these purposes (including teleport, although he won’t get it until 13th level), but those spells would come online slowly, and spontaneous casters are less flexible than prepared.

For comparison purposes, here are very rough versions of Sanduro and Zsofia at level 12 as a death druid and as a spiritualist, with comparable equipment assuming standard WBL and available long-term buff spells active (and appropriate circumstances assumed for favored enemy & terrain):

@Gummy: any Lore that could plausibly be tied to the Shining Crusade and it's major players would come up a lot; examples could be Tar-Baphon, Vigil, Arazni/Aroden, General Arnisant, the Whispering Way, etc. Given your opponents, having good Arcana, Religion, & Nature knowledge skills would be helpful too.

@Tusk: I think you'll be better off with a full-caster Druid than with a Spiritualist, tbh. I don't want to spoil anything but the campaign does make a fairly significant allowance for how many necromantic effects you'll be saving against.

Otherwise I agree with the assessment that not having an arcane caster is much less of a drawback than not having a divine caster. I'll be flexible with potions and scrolls you discover (I'd have to make adjustments for the 5th character anyway) but not having a sorcerer isn't a big deal. My only concern (and it's small!) is that three melee characters might run into an issue of stealing one another's thunder, especially in any narrow hallways where there's not a lot of mobility. This isn't intended to nudge anyone in a particular direction, just to be clear and aboveboard before we get started.

@Tusk: I think you'll be better off with a full-caster Druid than with a Spiritualist, tbh. I don't want to spoil anything but the campaign does make a fairly significant allowance for how many necromantic effects you'll be saving against.

That was my thinking as well, but I thought I’d put it out there for consideration. Once I activated the various long-term buffs available to each, the contrast was even greater.

Here is Garret reimagined as a Sorcerer. With a crowded front line, Garret will be fine throwing spells from the back rank...

Here is Garret reimagined as a Sorcerer. With a crowded front line, Garret will be fine throwing spells from the back rank...

5 Str! O _ O

Damon Grimm wrote:

Here is Garret reimagined as a Sorcerer. With a crowded front line, Garret will be fine throwing spells from the back rank...

5 Str! O _ O

Yeah, I thought it might make some interesting RP to have such a low stat. If it is too low, I can modify the ability scores...of course, if he needs to use strength, his is already in big trouble.

Just stay away from shadows!

Otherwise it looks good, Damon!

Finished up some statblocks for my homegame, I will try to have the Campaign House Rules doc up before I go to bed.

All right, here's the level 1 stat block for my gunslinger paladin! I'm still working on the backstory, but having a mechanical basis for it always helps me out.

Alright the House Rules form is up, would one of you like to take point on creating a loot doc? I'll post it up there as well, of course, but I generally prefer for my players to keep track of it once it's been awarded.

Well, it's too late to edit the post, but that stat block shouldn't have Infernal as a known language. Missed that when I wrote it up.

I don't feel proprietary about it, but here's a loot sheet based on another PbP Adventure Path that CrusaderWolf and I are playing in.

Alright the House Rules form is up, would one of you like to take point on creating a loot doc? I'll post it up there as well, of course, but I generally prefer for my players to keep track of it once it's been awarded.

Interesting set of house rules, GM. I like the mechanic for minions and may borrow it for my own home games.

Question about the heirloom weapon trait: Sanduro needs to buy the longbow, but it's 75gp and average starting gold for a druid is 70gp (2d6 x 10). Could I convince you to allow us 75-80% of max instead (90-96gp for a druid)?

D'oh, that's right Tusk, my bad. You mentioned work arounds for teleport before I thought of the problem! To that end (where we will need to be looking at consumables to solve certain things), what does everyone think about splitting cash an additional way to save up for when we need something? IME, gold is spent once it is split. This way, we'd just have X amount being saved for when we need a specific scroll (for example), or that we could pull from for anticipatory purchases (like remove blindness/deafness).

Just a thought. There are many ways to approach the issue!

Tusk is a big fan of the "party medkit" in our game together, and IMO it's a good idea that doesn't leave anyone with the short end of the stick.

IMPORTANT: Your starting gear will not be crucial so don't sweat it too much. You'll have everything for the introductory scene(s) but the AP has an enormously plot-crucial event that will end up with you separated from your gear for a little while (20% of the first book or so). I'll make sure you're not defenseless but the first part will involve a little bit of scavenging.

House rules seem good to me! In my home games, I've used #3 before without any problems. For #10, does that rule mean that a failed raise dead permanently locks that character out from being raised/resurrected? Or does it just mean that the gold was wasted on that attempt and you can try again?

So the current plan for the party is:

Cellion: Dex Melee Martial
Losonti: Dex Ranged Martial / 4-level Divine Caster
Tusk: 9-level Primal Druidic Caster + Tanky Melee Companion
Gummy: Str Melee Martial
Damon: 9-level Arcane Caster

Somehow we've ended up with a pretty darn balanced and probably quite powerful party!

As for splitting off a portion of the party's wealth for group consumables, that sounds like a good plan to me. Deciding how much should be kept in reserve is a little tricky. I'm not sure if we'd need a full additional party member's worth of wealth dedicated to consumables. In another game I'm playing in PbP, we just deduct evenly from the individual party members whenever an item is needed, and haven't spent much gold that way.

Any plans for feat tax reductions on scaling magical feats? Spell Focus and Spell Penetration seem like good candidates.

For Spell Focus, power attack scaling seems too fast ( every 4 levels ) but Vital Strike scaling seems reasonable (every 6 levels), or +1DC +1 extra per 6 levels (so +1 @ 1-5, +2 @ 6-11, +3 @ 12-17, etc).

Since Spell Penetration is double (+2/+4), maybe do it +1 every 3 levels or +2 every 6 levels?

Thanks for the clarification on gear, GM. Having to scavenge at the start doesn't worry me; Sanduro is well-suited to scrounging. I am posting him below with 90gp of gear - longbow, 20 arrows, leather armor, and 4gp of miscellaneous common adventuring gear - but I'm happy to strip him down to his free set of clothes, the bow, and a handful of arrows.

On the medkit - in the games I've been in, we have varied from an equal share like an extra PC, to a half share, to just whatever's needed. IMO, in early levels, there isn't so much gold to spread around that a full share would be the right call, but a half share might be a good default assumption with any funds not given back to the PCs. But mainly the idea is to just keep adding something each time we sell loot before we spend it all on individual gear.

Anyway, here are Sanduro and Zsofia at level 1. Comments are welcome.

Here is a version of Sanduro's backstory, before he found his way to Roslar's Coffer.

Regardless of which class I end up with, I definitely like duskwalker as a race for this campaign. Just seems like perfect thematically, and their race-specific feats are all cool for an anti-undead character.

So duskwalkers are "born" spontaneously in a holy place associated with death. Looking at the Player's Guide, the church of Sarenrae was lost to the red reaver about 13 years ago, so potentially a duskwalker could have been born there before that time. There's also Roslar's Tomb. Is that particular tomb associated with any deity, and would it be considered "sanctified" for duskwalker purposes?

Tusk, the only thing that sticks out to me is that both characters are quite squishy. What do you think about toughness and/or redistributing any points into con?

Here is the profile!

Quick notes:
This was an alias used for a rebuilt PFS character (hence the Silver Crusade icon and a post history). Used to be a battle cleric of Iomdeae.

Kinght of Ozem is probably not going to happen. I just realized that they don't advance the mount class feature and the Horse Master feat requires a class feature traded away by the archetype I'm using. TL;DR No Outflank in the build.

GM, would you mind marking both my place holder alias and Gummy Bear as inactive in the campaign please? Should allow me to keep tracking the campaign through just this alias now.

GM, do you want a separate alias for my horse? Alternatively, we can just push this off until it matters.

General Question:
Are you allowed to put a favored class bonus towards a feature you don't have yet? I always assumed yes, but I think more often than not, I've always put the FCB into level 1 class features or just the HP/skill point, so I've never actually stopped to question it. I'd like to put it towards the banner bonus, but delaying it for some skill points wouldn't be the end of the world either :)

@Cellion: Duskwalker is a solid, thematic choice! I would suggest the Bastion of Light over Roslar's Tomb. The town is named for Roslar but he isn't buried there, the tomb is sealed but empty and the Bastion of Light is a much more colorful locale. Side note: The PFS scenario Reaver's Roar (which takes place at the same location) is delightful and I hope to play it or run it someday!

Regarding the resurrection house rule, I had intended it to be final--that character can no longer resist the pull of the River of Souls and be resurrected. I think it helps make death more consequential even for the incredibly rich and powerful of Golarion, and I don't think it's too harsh. I've never had or even heard of a character needing multiple resurrections, and at the very high levels you can get a second save-free return to life. If the table finds it overly limiting we can dial that back to "the attempt failed but you can try it again."

@Gummy: You don't have to take the prestige class to be a Knight of Ozem, if that's something you want for your character, so don't sweat it too much. And yes your FCB can go to abilities you technically don't have yet, like banner.

I assume the Bastion of Light is that church of Sarenrae, based on your context?

@Gummy: CrusaderWolf's ruled for this game, but for the sake of other games you may be in, you can't put FCBs towards class features you don't have yet. It got clarified in Occult Adventures.

Alias created!

Also, Garret, if you want to be my best friend ever, pick up Named Bullet as a spell known when you have room for it.

Tusk, the only thing that sticks out to me is that both characters are quite squishy. What do you think about toughness and/or redistributing any points into con?

That's a fair point, GB. Not much I can do about it on the point-buy for Sanduro - Duskwalker has a -2 Con penalty so I've already burned 2 points getting him up to 10 Con, and I am reluctant to drop any of his other stats. I don't have the ability to rearrange the scores for Zsofia - the phantom has set ability scores at the start and a specific progression, with an additional point at specific levels as with an animal companion.

I'll consider toughness for Zsofia's initial feat, though. Not Sanduro - druids get few enough feats as it is, I'd rather not spend one on toughness for a ranged character. But it's worth considering for Zsofia - it will slow down her combat reflexes/bodyguard/in harm's way feat chain, but she'll be more effective as a bodyguard if she doesn't get sent back to the ethereal plane with the encounter of the day. I had been relying on her DR 5/slashing, but in an undead-heavy campaign even low-level encounters could easily include a claw attack. At level 3, Sanduro will start casting barkskin on her, and I will plan to pick up scrolls or a wand of mage armor and ask Garret to cast it on her to boost her AC, but those are both a ways off.

Profiles are set for both Sanduro and Zsofia. I did go with Gummy Bear’s suggestion and replace combat reflexes with toughness for Zsofia’s level 1 feat. If the party has to scavenge for gear early on, she may have to go for a while without much protection or healing.

Another GM question - could you point out some prominent families in Roslar's Coffer that a Duskwalker character could potentially have been adopted into? I was thinking about last names and realized that any foundling would probably take the last name of their adopted family. I could invent a family whole cloth, but using an existing one could be even more juicy.

@Gummy: sorry I missed the question about your mount at first. They don't need their own statblock, but please include their basic stats in the header for your PC's profile. Have their full stats in the alias too please!

@Cellion: the Driscoll half-sisters (a half-elf named Alisa and a half-orc named Darcy) have run the rebuilt tavern "The Sagely Goat" with their dad. Their family is already pretty unusual, taking in a duskwalker wouldn't be at all out of character for them. Darcy also tends to the graves around Roslar's tomb on a volunteer basis.
Alternatively, they might have been taken in by Valorae Ghostheart, a retired cavalier who operates a ranch on the outskirts of the town.
Also in the ex-military vein is Octavius Black, the local priest of Gorum who acts as an unofficial sergeant-at-arms for the town militia and regularly butts heads with Captain Rosalind Sunstone, who commands the local fort on the western (i.e. Belkzen) side of town. The fort is officially dubbed Cofferkeep but most people think that's a silly name so it just gets referred to as "the fort."

Or maybe you're connected to one of the other PCs? It's not a big town (~600 souls including some nearby farmsteads), so its virtually guaranteed that your characters would know one another on some level.

I can see Garret belonging to the militia of some sort--less likely Gorum--so perhaps Captain Sunstone would be a good fit? Garret follows Sarenrae, if that helps, so 'Sunstone' seems to be a good fit just on principle...

@GM - Just emailed you my questionnaire.

I tried redotting, but the campaign won’t show back up on my campaign tab -_- sorry GM, you fulfilled my request, but the request apparently wasn’t a very good one! I see Wallace back in the characters tab, but in doesn’t have me as an active player again.

Let me re-add you to the campaign then Wallace/Gummy!

Also thank you to everyone who has sent me their questionnaire answers! I'm adding them all to my campaign notes folder and will get back to you soon to help iron out NPC connections! Also slowly working through the Dancer class as I find time and trying to get the Roll20 maps started up. Things are slowly coming together!

Captain Sunstone would be a very good connection for a militia-inclined member, she was posted to Cofferkeep relatively recently but her family can supposedly trace its genealogy back to the knights who manned the long-lost Sunwall, the first line of defense of Vigil after the Shining Crusade--and the first of many defensive lines lost to the orcs of Belkzen.

Also, to avoid potential spoilers and the like I've created a Settlement Statblock that you can derive from. It only includes major figures so people like the Driscoll half-sisters aren't included, and I haven't rolled for what magic items are available yet because that seems like something we could do later.

Two other things:

1. Perception will be a class skill for everyone, it seems unfair for the most-rolled skill in the game to be locked away for half the classes.

2. I've added an invite link to the Roll20 game we'll be using for maps! It is currently blank but I'll be adding a map and settlement statblock for Roslar's Coffer first, with more maps to come over the next few weeks.

Two other things:

1. Perception will be a class skill for everyone, it seems unfair for the most-rolled skill in the game to be locked away for half the classes.

2. I've added an invite link to the Roll20 game we'll be using for maps! It is currently blank but I'll be adding a map and settlement statblock for Roslar's Coffer first, with more maps to come over the next few weeks.

Garret's bloodline skill is Perception--can he get something else as a class skill instead if Perception is going to everyone? Thinking Knowledge/Planes or Knowledge/Religion if we are going to be fighting a bunch of undead.

That seems reasonable, Garret, I don't want to penalize you by trivializing your bloodline skill. For a phoenix/peri bloodline I'd say Knowledge [Planes] is more appropriate.

And I just realized I never answered your question about scaling magical feats. I'm leaning towards no on that one, since magical abilities just aren't gated behind feats the same way martial techniques seem to be (imagine if each school of magic was its own feat chain, like Tripping or Disarming!) but I'll ponder it further.

That seems reasonable, Garret, I don't want to penalize you by trivializing your bloodline skill. For a phoenix/peri bloodline I'd say Knowledge [Planes] is more appropriate.

And I just realized I never answered your question about scaling magical feats. I'm leaning towards no on that one, since magical abilities just aren't gated behind feats the same way martial techniques seem to be (imagine if each school of magic was its own feat chain, like Tripping or Disarming!) but I'll ponder it further.

Fair on both counts. I'll add Knowledge Planes as a class skill instead.

Thanks for all those options regarding family links in town CW. I quite like the idea of getting adopted into the Driscoll family, but I'm still thinking of exactly what kind of personality this character is going to have (and that might affect which family link is more appropriate).

Perception for everyone sounds good. Looking forward to your verdict on Dancer so I can start fleshing out the character mechanically.

Today or tomorrow I'll to update the House Rules sheet to its final version, then start integrating everyone's character questionnaire answers into the campaign. Expect PMs from me in the next week or two!

Horse statblock and tagline are up! GM, I'm still marked as an inactive player. Lmk if it won't let you change my status and I'll poke around to see how it can be fixed!

OK, I'm currently in the midst of fleshing out the last details for Ketra. Since Ketra is a native of Roslar's Coffer, I'm wondering if I can cross backstories with someone else who lives there.

Ketra's part of the Driscoll family and currently works at the Sagely Goat as a waitress. She's very social and likely knows everyone in town by name at least. She's also known for disappearing from town for weeks at a time. Sometimes when she's not working at the Sagely Goat, she volunteers her time with the town guard, joining patrols as a scout and lookout.

OK, I'm currently in the midst of fleshing out the last details for Ketra. Since Ketra is a native of Roslar's Coffer, I'm wondering if I can cross backstories with someone else who lives there.

Ketra's part of the Driscoll family and currently works at the Sagely Goat as a waitress. She's very social and likely knows everyone in town by name at least. She's also known for disappearing from town for weeks at a time. Sometimes when she's not working at the Sagely Goat, she volunteers her time with the town guard, joining patrols as a scout and lookout.

Garret works as a militia adjunct with Captain Sunstone, so it would be reasonable that he would have crossed paths with you during patrols, especially if you like to be social.

Ketra Driscoll wrote:

OK, I'm currently in the midst of fleshing out the last details for Ketra. Since Ketra is a native of Roslar's Coffer, I'm wondering if I can cross backstories with someone else who lives there.

Ketra's part of the Driscoll family and currently works at the Sagely Goat as a waitress. She's very social and likely knows everyone in town by name at least. She's also known for disappearing from town for weeks at a time. Sometimes when she's not working at the Sagely Goat, she volunteers her time with the town guard, joining patrols as a scout and lookout.

Garret works as a militia adjunct with Captain Sunstone, so it would be reasonable that he would have crossed paths with you during patrols, especially if you like to be social.

Sanduro has been in Roslar's Coffer for a few months and does odd jobs for Maren Driscoll at the Sagely Goat.