GM Jhaeman's "King Xeros of Old Azlant" (Inactive)

Game Master Jhaeman

General Notes:

I try to post every day to keep things moving, and if you can keep a similar pace, that would be great. We all have real life interruptions of course, so if you can't post and we're in the middle of something like a combat, please give me bot instructions or I'll assume your PC does Total Defense.

Please place a good array of information in your character header. Knowing your PC's armor class, Perception mod, Initiative mod, etc., saves me a lot of time when doing posts. If you need help figuring out how to format that, we can help you.

If you're new to Pathfinder, Pathfinder Society, or play-by-post, just let me know--I'm always happy to help.

If you want to earn extra GM love, posting a full character sheet in your profile is great. That way I can look stuff up and answer my own "how did they do that?" questions. Related, if you have some crazy weird or complicated build and want to explain anything, here's a good place.

If you've made any purchases between the end of your last Chronicle and the start of this scenario, please post them here so I can reflect them on your new Chronicle.

You'll need a picture of your character for the grid scenes.

Finally, role-playing is good! Please give your PC some personality and engage with the other PCs and NPCs. I'll gently move us along if we're dwelling too much in one part of the scenario.

Any questions, ask away!

Magt is a crossblooded abyssal and aberrant bloodrager. Can grow large when he rages from abyssal. And he has a reach polearm. So he potentially has a lot of reach. Though on a ship, that might not come up too much.

He also has resistance 7 to all 4 standard energy types.

His bot instructions are pretty simple since he is usually a pretty straightforward kind of guy.

Outside of combat, he might attempt to intimidate.

In combat, pretty much charge the biggest, baddest, ugly he can see.

We'll wait another day or two and then get started--I'd like to get at least 4 PCs so I don't have to run an Iconic.

Okay, we're picking up steam. I have to be away part of the weekend, so let's plan to kick things off on Sunday (my crazy Aussie time).

I reposted in the flaxseed recruitment thread (I hope you don't mind). A lot of people are just about wrapping up their GDIX games.

Purchases in this scenario: headband of alluring charisma +2, goz mask, gauntlets of the deep

@Raynor: Thanks, can you send me total amount of gold spent?

If anyone else is making purchases to be reflected on this Chronicle, please post them here.

17k: headband 4k, goz mask 8k, gauntlets 5k.

What was the caster level check on the wand of ill omen for?

Most likely spell resistance

Just for the record, as I told you all I was burning a replay to play this scenario again, this fight is where my previous character died.

The battering blast might do better to knock them out of contact so they have to start again.

@Artemis: The Precise Shot feat negates the -4 "firing into melee" penalty, but creatures still get soft cover bonuses to their AC (unless you have something like Deadeye Bowman). But it doesn't matter in any event, as the creature would still have been living until Raynor's action.

To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target's square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC).

Soft Cover:
Creatures, even your enemies, can provide you with cover against ranged attacks, giving you a +4 bonus to AC. However, such soft cover provides no bonus on Reflex saves, nor does soft cover allow you to make a Stealth check.

Category: Religion
Requirement(s): Erastil
When you are using a longbow, if only a single creature is providing soft cover to your target, your target does not receive the +4 bonus to AC.

Deadeye Bowman is basically the same as Precise Strike except more specific requirements and no prerequisites.

Artemis' Precise Strike negates the -4 penalty.

Deadly Bowman is not basically the same as Precise Strike. Cover is a bonus to AC that a creature gets for having something in the way of whoever is attacking them. Deadeye Bowman helps negate that bonus in certain situations. There is also a feat called Improved Precise Shot that fully negates cover caused by living creatures (aka soft cover), but it has high prereqs and in practice is only a little better than the Deadeye Bowman trait, you don't see it in play much.

There is ALSO a penalty that the shooter gets for firing into melee, which Precise Strike negates in all situations. Precise Strike is the only thing I know of that negates the firing into melee penalty.

So it's two separate things. One is a penalty to attack rolls for attackers and the other is a bonus to AC for the target.

Right. So, Artemis has no soft cover between him and the enemy. So, no penalty to shoot into melee.

The caster can just dismiss the pit which will bring both of us back to the surface.

Pretty sure the pit is not dismissible.

My bad, you are correct.
I would have sworn the entire 'pit' line of spells was dismissible.

Just ignore me.
Nothing to see.
Move along.

There's even a feat that lets a caster dismiss conjured pits: "Hindrance Dismissal". (Pathfinder has a feat for everything! It should be a meme.)

instead of "There's an app for that.'.."There's a feat for that."

Paralysis for hours is kind of a bummer. Ignatius would like to spend 1 PP to have a spellcaster come in and cast remove paralysis on him. Page 22 of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guide says that this can be done at any point in an adventure as long as we have access to a suitably large settlement.

@GM: is it possible to retreat to a safe area and wait this out? if not, might as well call this mod at this point and chalk it to partial fail since we've lost half of the party...

I would rather spend the prestige to get cured if that's an option. It's kind of what prestige is there for and it'll be better than taking the hit on our gold earned. I know it's GM discretion but it does seem like we're in a location where we could our accumulated goodwill to get so emergency items or services air dropped in. I'd have to double check it, but I think you can even get items mid adventure. Id splurge for a scroll with 5 castings of Remove Paralysis on it (2 PP for a 750 go item), which would remove the paralysis from you to four targets.

Yeah, Since we're in Absalom, those of us not paralyzed could go get some shopping done. I definitely have done it before. There is no in-game time limit, from what I've garnered.

Can, the heal checks tell if this is the kind of paralysis that will be resistant to Removal (ie caster level check)?

A lot of my characters actually have a scroll of Remove Paralysis by this level. But Magt has such a high fort save, it didn't seem worthwhile. Doh!

You are able to leave the ship if desired, as the portal has transformed into a normal door and no one will try to stop you from leaving. Whether or not there are any in-game implications from waiting things out or leaving the ship, I can't really tell you because doing so would be a spoiler. Absalom is the largest metropolis in Golarion, so you can definitely spend prestige or gold if desired (up to your Fame limit, of course). (your Heal checks can't really discern whether caster level checks would be necessary or not for spellcasters to remove paralysis)

My vote: Waiting hours on the ship or ashore is the same really. Let's get to the docks and have healers via PP.

I’m fine with Raynor’s suggestion.

We're in Absalom, there's a Venture Captain nearby and the entire navy of the city is on or surrounding this boat. I feel like this is a situation where we could get resources in pretty quickly, especially considering the vast array of magical resources the Pathfinders have.

So, Is that the plan? Those that are paralyzed will spend PP to remove the condition? What about just spending gold on remove paralysis potions and Artemis just administers the potions? Artemis would like to purchase some other supplies.

Remove Paralysis effects up to 4 targets which makes it way more economical to get it as a scroll or a spellcasting service than as a potion. 3 potions would cost 900 gp, whereas 2 PP could get five castings on a scroll and 1 PP would heal the everyone paralyzed in one shot. Or if we spent gold it would be 60 gp for the spell or 125gp for a single scroll. Another good thing about the scroll is that we have two people that can use it (Raynor and Kyra). And there's probably going to be more xill on this boat.

Personally I would prefer spending the PP over gp because thematically it feels like it would be faster to call in the resources of the Society than to leave the ship to go shopping and time might be an issue. The Pathfinder Society has people that can fly in or even teleport to us.
But that's really the GMs call on how much time any option would take.

It's really up to you guys how to proceed--whether potion or scroll, gold or prestige, staying on the boat or making additional purchases. You also don't need to make a joint decision for this--some can stay, some can go, some can spend gold, some can spend prestige.

In terms of competing timeframes, I'll just assume it takes the same amount of time to buy stuff yourselves as it does to arrange for Pathfinders to come in and do stuff for you.

Back on Sunday!

Sunday Aussie time or US time? ;)

Anyway, I'm making a list of wands, scrolls & potions to purchase for Artemis. He is quite useless in combat. I built him in 2011 when the APG came out and thought the Archaeologist looked cool. Then, most of his chronicles were GM credit. So, yeah, if anyone has suggestions for items, throw 'em at me.

I will spend the 2 PP to get a scroll of remove paralysis for Ignatius, which Raynor or Kyra can hold onto. That way we'll have it if we get attacked by more Xill.

Artemis' Shopping List:

Wand of Grease, 2 PP
Scroll of glitterdust x2, 300 gp
Scroll of remove fear x2, 50 gp
Scroll of acute senses x2, 300 gp
Scroll of mirror image, 150 gp
Potion of remove sickness x2, 100 gp

2 PP & 900 gp total.
I noted the purchases on my last chronicle & ITS.

Sounds good, thanks folks.

Just noticed, my post was eaten by the boards.
I will also spend 2 prestige to get a 5 casting scroll of remove paralysis.

Alright folks, that's a wrap. It was touch and go for a bit, but you came through in the end. Thanks for a great game.

Now's the time to do Day Job checks and let me know if there's anything else I need to write on your Chronicles that you haven't already listed here.

No day job here, GM.

no day job here...gg guys! Ty for running this boss!

After crafting new bullets there's always a little extra gunpowder left over to sell in the market.

Craft Alchemy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

I posted my day job post moments ago and got a 33. Looks like it got eaten. I'll try again.

Ambrus Valsin sends Artemis out to sell some surplus items for The Pathfinder Society to help fund future missions or have spare coin in the coffers. He gets a tip on a couple merchants looking for the items for sale and can probably make a good profit. Also, Artemis gets a cut for his knowledge of making good deals.

Know: Local: 1d20 + 14 + 1d4 ⇒ (15) + 14 + (4) = 33
Grand Lodge faction pin

Day Job: Profession Sailor: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (2) + 19 = 21

Gah!!! oh well, better that than something else going wrong during gameplay! ;)

A ton of thanks for another awesome & fun game, Jhaeman, and everyone else!

Thanks for running this one for us!

dayjob craft tattoo: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Just out of curiosity, was there any chance for a better result like keeping the boat or at least getting more info from it?

@Magt: There wasn't any chance of keeping the boat, and you got the bulk of the available information.

@Everyone: Day Job checks look good, I'll get the Chronicles posted here this weekend.

Thank you for GMing!

Thank you for GMing Jaeman!

Ok folks, Chronicles can be accessed here. If there are any issues, just let me know and I'll fix them up.

You lost a small amount of gold (333) because for some reason the scenario expected you to "provide the remains of a fire projector to Taldor or any other interested party", and you also lost 1 PP because you didn't remove the xill eggs from the rescued prisoners. Sorry--these early scenarios sometimes set rewards depending on goals that aren't always fairly broadcast to the players.

Reporting has been completed.

Once again, thanks for playing. And if you haven't already played it, look out for this scenario's spiritual sequel, Starfinder Society Scenario # 1-27, King Xeros of Star Azlant.