Curse of the Crimson Throne (complete) (Inactive)

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

Questions about my snazzy new tattoos.

Blademaster's: 1) Is it any sort of action to return a weapon to tattoo form? 2) "Must it stay in your hand, i.e. can I throw a tattoo weapon," she asked, noting the proficiency in hunga munga she had listed...

Extensive Wardrobe: Does it actually become physical clothes? Sleeves of Many Garments (the most similar item that comes to mind) always seems to confuse things b/c the spell that's a prereq for its creation is illusion, so it seems to raise questions of whether the clothes it makes are "real."

EDIT TO ADD: Torsten, got any feedback on the thoughts about feats and rejiggering the order to make room for Harrowed?

Harrower questions:

Blessing of the Harrow: the bonus is always a +1, right? No matter how many cards come up of the suit that's used?

Harrow Casting: of the three cards drawn, which bonus gets applied? All of them? If they're of the same ability (i.e. all Strength), do they stack?

Practical question: how do we simulate drawing a card? Or worse, multiple cards? The way I see it, a single draw is easy: you have a list of the 54 cards, then use the dice tag to roll 1d54. Second draw, I know what I'd do, I'm just having a hell of a hard time putting it into words. This time, I'd roll 1d53, and all the cards in the list above the number of the first draw get their number dropped by one.

A 'simple' example: I have to draw three of the Strength cards, for some reason. The list looks like:

1. The Paladin
2. The Keep
3. The Big Sky
4. The Forge
5. The Bear
6. The Uprising
7. The Fiend
8. The Beating
9. The Cyclone

First Draw: 1d9 ⇒ 2
This one is easy, it's The Keep. Now, for the second draw, The Keep is scratched off the list, and everything numbered 3 and over gets its number dropped by one.

Second Draw: 1d8 ⇒ 3
Since the Keep is already out there, the third card left to draw is The Forge.

Third Draw: 1d7 ⇒ 3
With The Keep and The Forge gone, the third card in the list is now The Bear.

(thanks RNJesus for letting the rolls suit the example)

In general, rolls would look something like that, but we'll have to have a standardized list of all 54 cards, correct?

Quick post during my lunch break

Blademaster's: I'd say it's a swift action to switch between tattoo and regular mode. It can be thrown, but if it hits, your target will have access to the tattoo weapon....

Extensive Wardrobe: It's basically a step up from the hyper-realistic body painting people sometimes do IRL. As a result, unlike sleeves of many garments, you won't gain the special properties of whatever clothing you're 'wearing.'

Blessing of the Harrow: It's always a +1.

Harrow Casting: All the bonuses are applied, and they stack. Makes for a very interesting ability.

Practical Answer: The firewall at work's blocking the sites, but I know of a "Harrow card to playing card" conversion and a "true random playing card draw simulator." I'll add them to the site when I can, and then it's as simple as clicking a button and referencing a table. That adds a trust component, of course, but I've gamed with you for long enough to not worry about abuse. XD

Extensive Wardrobe was never intended to be about getting bonuses. Just about looking good while Ril stabs evil faces. :D

I'll look for those things about the Harrow deck. Thanks!

EDIT: my first effort at finding a Harrow -> Playing Card conversion shows the small flaw in that plan: 54 Harrow card vs 52 cards in a standard deck. The conversion chart I saw on Reddit, for instance, left off the N cards for Wis & Cha. I'd be just as happy doing it "the hard way" (which I don't even think is that hard) if there's not a better way.

It's not so much that I want to say work is boring, just that if we end up needing it, feel free to paste this into the Campaign Info tab (I've got it saved in a Google Doc):

Do you think any of the parts of the list need to be bolded? Looking at it, my first impulse is, if anything, the number, and the ability scores.

There's actually an official conversion. Now that I'm home, I've added the requisite links to the Harrower page on my site. XD

There's actually an official conversion. Now that I'm home, I've added the requisite links to the Harrower page on my site. XD

Awesome, thanks!

Still might put that conversion list somewhere in a more readable format; what's there on d20pfsrd is a little eye-bleedy. :)

Torsten, was doing a little thinking, wanted your input on something.

In general, once we both focus on the same target, they end up M-O-O-N, that spells dead. But, I can't help but think we might need options beyond sheer DPR output. In which case…

Blistering Blast, in addition to its wonderful alliteration, lowers damage dice back down to the d6 of your standard destructive blast, but it imposes a -2 penalty on a target's Fortitude saves. If I feint, then hit a target with Energy Strike, using BB and the Chest Strike exploit, the target has at least a -2 penalty to Fortitude, which could be -4 If Chest Strike manages to stick the sickened condition. That seems as good an opportunity for you to drop a Stunning Fist as we're going to get.

Does it smack of overkill? NGL, a little bit, yeah. But I just like being able to answer the question, what do we do if sheer DPR isn't the answer?

Let me know what you think.

That's not a bad idea at all. Stunning fist is a feat that I rarely use, even though it has lots of uses per day. Lowering the enemy's saves is a good idea for that. But is there anything that you can do which effects fort saves to make use of that?

Not yet, but I've been eyeing up both of those talents I mentioned above for exactly that purpose. If I do that, like I said, the target is at least at -2 and might be at -4 to their Fortitude save. In the latter case, it's really a minus 2 to damn near everything from sickened, then another minus 2 specifically to Fortitude.

I feel bad for any single target that we go up against us. While I'm sure that anything worth doing this against will have a really high fortitude save, should they be debuffed and stunned? While the stunning is only for 1 round, they drop anything held, so it means disarming them. Not great against things like dragons (which have insane fort saves anyways), but against single target humanoid melee damage dealers? It has the potential to completely shut them down in a fight.

Not great against things like dragons (which have insane fort saves anyways)...

As far back as 20y ago (side note: d**n I'm old!), my analysis of fighting a dragon in 3e boiled down to, "If any part of your plan involves, 'If the dragon fails the saving throw,' sorry, but your plan sucks." :)

I'll examine how soon I can get both of those things into my build, might be 10-or-11-ish.

Having done some rejiggering of my choices, I can put in Chest Strike by 10, and the combo with Blistering Blast will be in place at 12.

MESSAGE TO FUTURE ME: from 13+, remember to stop taking +1/6 magic talent as your FCB! :)

Why are you discussing fighting dragons? It's not like you'll have to battle one at some point. Unlike other editions, PF doesn't even have the word in its name, so clearly you don't need to worry about such things. *looks around nervously*

I'm not fighting no dragons! Not unless, what am I, level 8? I'll face a VY, tops.

#nopenopenope

I can update Gameplay as soon as I know your general plan. It looks like you're playing 'eye spy' once again? XD

Yeah. Cressida said the bridge was magically barricaded in some manner; I want to see what that's about. So, stop at Dawnflower House on the way home, warn them that things might be about to get very bad, then get home, and start up a Wandering Eye ritual. Should I go ahead and mark off 50gp for costs?

Go ahead and mark off the 50gp. I'll get a post up in a little bit.

While prepping my level 9 stats, a question occurred to me.

My Elemental Blast bloodline ability, does it get the +1 to each die that I get from my Bloodline Arcana and Blood Havoc abilities?

EDIT: Just so I explain what I'm doing, it's just a time-saving measure; ever since we started leveling, when I'm at level X, I start up a Google doc with the profile text of level X+1, so as to cut down on the time needed when we actually ding.

I would say it does.

Thoughts for a Saturday morning:

Mrs Redblade and I are most of the way through Reacher on Amazon.

1) Makes me want to make some giant something-slash-Investigator face-wrecker.

2) Every time I see this actor I think to myself, when tiny little Tom Cruise backed the money truck up to Lee Childs' house to play Reacher in the movies, he must've caught Lee in a VERY lean time. :)

The books aren't my cup of tea due to the writing style, but the show's been quite enjoyable.

My buddy, who hasn't seen the show, just commercials, says he thinks the guy could be a credible Pete Bondurant from American Tabloid (James Ellroy novel); it's been so long since I read that but he's probably right, standard caveats about adapting Ellroy's stuff apply.

As Mrs Runeforger is Chinese, we’ve been binge watching Chinese shows. Currently watching Reset, which is about a pair of people stuck in a time loop. The bus they are on explodes, causing them to wake up back on the bus. It’s enjoyable, and refreshing to see story telling done from a foreign culture

What are the odds (i.e. is there a relevant skill check) Ril could identify their former assailant? Even if it's just enough for her to think, "Holy $#-+, this is just like in Blackjack And The Mark of the Mantis!"

(I fully expect that story to have gotten NOTHING right, except for the color Red.)

@Ril: Knowledge (history) is the most relevant skill, but Knowledge (martial) can also provide some information.

I'm waiting to see if Torsten wants to adjust his course of action since his lifesense pinged someone upstairs. If I haven't heard anything by tomorrow after work, I'll proceed as planned. XD

For the past few days I couldn't log in to paizo. Kept getting that damned error message. Still can't log in on my iphone and don't know why. And yesterday went in for surgery on ankle (no walking for 6 weeks). Home now and can log in again on computer only. Sorry for my silence.

Yikes, best wishes for a rapid recovery.

On your phone, can you clear the cookies for paizo.com? That's what solved it for me.

Eeek! I hope you have a swift recovery.

Like Ril, I had the same error message until I channeled my inner Cookie Monster. XD

+1 Batman Villain XD

For the record, you two are the perfect counter to this encounter. It's supposed to be a highly-intense ambush in the middle of a burning building. Try to survive as you race against the clock to find answers before they go up in flames! Last time I ran this, 2/3 of the party came close to dying. In this case, Firebender + One-Punch Dwarf = zero difficulty. XD

We'll have gone too far when we face (or, Gods save us, have to become) Kite-Man. :)

I shudder to think what that other party went through, I feel like I"m barely holding serve here.

This is the power and downfall of gestalt. If I rolled a 1 on that will save we might be in more trouble. If we both rolled a 1 for fascinate in a burning building? Might be game over. Basically, a 2 person party goes down if we both tank our dice rolls, while a larger party has more people to average it out and save their friends. But when we both work? It’s a train without breaks.

And I, for one, am really enjoying running people over with this train. :D

My previous party composition was Cleric, Rogue, and Bard. Cleric and Rogue were new; Bard was played by my wife. *mistake #1* Cleric and Rogue decided that Bard was useless and decided to investigate without her. *mistake #2* Cleric and Rogue kicked in Vencarlo's front door and charged in. *mistake #3* Cleric and Rogue failed Perception checks to notice the assassins and got ambushed. *mistake #4* Cleric and Rogue spent multiple rounds inside burning building getting stomped hard by flanking assassins.

Resolution: Bard came in after four-ish rounds, started her standard buffing routine, and the day was saved. Turns out, small buffs add up really quickly. XD

It occurs to me I want to go upstairs. Post later; I'm at the museum with the family.

A rogue, cleric and bard? That alone is hard mode. Small party. No full BaB. Support casting for the most part. Even without all those mistakes they’d struggle

Just realized, I ought to have a point or two of damage from the jump out the window, maybe? Second story window, deliberate jump so the first die is non-lethal, probably 1 lethal 1 NL, right?

Sounds about right.

Evil GM idea repurposed from a meme I saw. On first minions, have one wear armor or just a helmet made out of dragon bones. The kind of thing that an adventurer would want to wear.

And when they face the necromancer? Raise the armor from the dead! It you can raise human bones to be a skeleton, why not a helmet made out of dragon bone?

I like it, but you'd need more than just the skull (spell description says "mostly intact"), but there's definitely ways to make that work. Hell, nothing says fun like "the skeleton that's laid across the armor comes to life and practically has you grappled straight away!"

Full suit of masterwork plate armor. Made with the bones of a human in it. Such as shin bones on the greaves and ribs over the breastplate. Looks badass, and it’s enchanted. The kind of thing that an adventurer might go “yes! This is something I need.”

And then raise the skeleton! It’s intact, the bones are close enough to each other (no muscle or sinew needed) and you have one trapped adventurer. :D

Then you start playing Necro-Mance-Mance Revolution with the guy inside the armor. >:)

Question: can improved familiar be taken as a background feat? If so it will be for this:

Improved familiar. Have the pet rock turn into a helmet

“ This finely crafted golden helm is decorated with intricate filigree, and flutters gracefully through the air on feathered wings.”

A sage familiar with truspeech, perfect memory, and it can be worn. Seemed like a cool idea. Wanted to run it by you to see if it alright to do.

Improved Familiar is a bit too powerful for a Background feat, so I've kept it a General feat. A cassisian angel is a fun idea, by the way. Based on Torag's domains, though, I think a harbinger archon might be more fitting. XD

It’s a good one! As a general feat I’m not sure where to place it…might not get to it until Lvl 13+. We’ll see. Regardless, it’s awhile away.

It definitely makes sense for an endgame feat. By then, the things you've accomplished might just have caught Torag's attention. XD

Right...all of this made me do another audit of Torsten. To my great embarassment he had 1 combat talent too many. While it breaks my heart, I dropped Tear Flesh. So no more bleed damage from Torsten and he can only do blunt damage. Really sorry about making that mistake. Saying it publicly is part of the mea culpa.

The big question is whether to trade greater trip for improved familiar at lvl 13. Doing so would mean worse trips, and unarmed damage maxing at 2d6 instead of 2d8. But improved familiar is really cool...so yeah. A problem for when I get there.

Losing Greater Trip makes your Combat-Reflexes-enabled partner weep, but you gotta do you. :)

Lvl 9: Giant Physique
Lvl 10: Break Defenses
Lvl 11: Greater Shove
Lvl 12: Greater Brute
Lvl 13: Greater Trip
Lvl 14: Mystic Fists
Lvl 15: Hammer
Lvl 15: Hammer
Lvl 16: God Hand

That’s the plan…with improved familiar taking out Greater Trip. But martial flexibility can add it back in, as a free action if just by itself. So not really crippling. God Hand is found at the end there, so at the very tail end of the AP Torsten can disintegrate enemies when he punches them to death. Which is the kind of capstone which is too awesome to pass up.

What I’m most looking forward to is Mystic Fists. For DR, his fists will count as silver, cold iron, adamantine (from monk), and good, lawful and chaotic (mystic fists). That’s most kinds of DR right there!

And while he doesn’t have tear flesh right now, martial flexibility is there if he needs to switch to piercing or slashing damage.

TL/DR: once more martial flexibility saves me from tears

See? So much more than just Dedicated Adversary! :D

I'm not saying this is related to Torsten's wonderful bone armor idea, but I'm also not saying it isn't....

In all seriousness, I've been looking forward to this NPC since the beginning of the campaign. She's a lot of fun to play. XD