PFS1e 1-55 The Infernal Vault (KS) (Inactive)

Game Master phaeton_nz

Discussion Thread

So, Takabe says he won’t be joining us after all—should I invite Juzo? (He’s still level 2, but that’s not gonna solve itself.)

As a player who used to scrounge the recruitment board for games, I would like to request we bring out conversations here, instead of continually floating the thread up to the top of the recruitment board :)

She'll learn how to drink. One day.

Toshiko knows how to drink! It's everything that comes before and after that she's not quite sure of.

It occurs to me that I should probably prep some spells-- the ones I have right now are leftover from last session. Anyone got any recommendations? Seems like this scenario has potential to go in a bunch of different directions-- stealth, diplomacy, fighting devils maybe???

I'll be looking into this myself, but as always, happy to draw on suggestions :D

EDIT: Worth noting: I have 4 orisons and 2 1st-level spells (not counting Domain).

At low levels, I'm a fan of weapons against evil! Can always be converted to a CLW, but when you need people to be able to get through DR at low levels, it does the job!

Fair! I was thinking that plus Bless, the old classic. I think we thought it didn’t stack with Onna’s song earlier, but it looks like that’s a Competence Bonus whereas Bless is a Morale Bonus?

Bless won't stack with the eventual Flagbearer feat next level.

Which isn’t a problem yet!

Nope! Not at all.

Not feeling well tonight (no COVID symptoms, just can't think and I'm exhausted). Please bot me as needed and thank you for your patience.

I saw in another thread our GM is having internet issues.

Good to know, thanks Kenta! :)

Still having internet issues - major outage.

It would appear that phaeton_nz has no internet. I saw on the Starfinder Society recruitment thread that they are into their third day without internet. Patience I guess

And ..... it's back.

Hooray!

Also, a friend of mine did a commission of Hiiragi for me, and was even kind enough to throw in a bonus version for me!

I've added them to my profile, but here they are to save you a click~:

Hiiragi, Shrine Maiden of Daikitsu

Hiiragi, sans kimono (still relatively SFW)

Those are awesome. Is she winking? Even if she isn't, the mask has a lot of personality.

She is in fact winking! That was the commissioner's idea.

Also: not a mask, that's just facepaint!

I can't stop myself from staring at those muscles, though, omg

The muscles are a thing! Noticed them right off. Never realized how buff Ragi was. Don't break your songbird, she's fragile.

Now I've got the mental image of Onna touching Hiiragi's big ol' Korra arms and going all sparkly-eyed...

But yeah, that's what happens when you're the cleric of a harvest goddess!

Those pictures are very nice.

Hi folks, I am at hospital with my daughter for the next 24 hours. (Routine bronchoscopy and observation). Please bot me if necessary. Ta.

I hope everything goes well, and boring. 2020 has been exciting enough, no one needs any extra drama right now.

Hey, hey, hey, hey--

If Hiiragi-- a shrine maiden for a harvest goddess-- takes the lead when it comes to her relationship with Onna, would that make her...

a crop top?

That's...ah...uh...I have no words.

Yes ma'am?

Pardon?

Lol

Also, Hiiragi, saw your post in one of the Lodge's threads. One of my sisters' name is Bibi!

It took a little while but I figured it out.

groans

Oh, neat! It's a cute name!

Bibi is my self-insert PC (to go with my wife's self-insert PC). We were going to play through Rise of the Runelords with our roomies, with special character creation rules: each of the other roomies voted to determine your 3rd trait and your drawback.

Then that campaign fell apart twice due to a lack of GM's (ours moved across the country) so we've decided to bring them to our local PFS.

Then COVID happened.

Then I decided to GM a game for my wife and our roomie (separate from the above roomies).

Then the roomie moved out and made some political choices that are directly against my existence and didn't say anything when her whole family attacked me.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO we're gonna wait for local PFS to start up again :D

0_o

I'm sorry to hear that! Sounds like a series of let downs of increasing magnitude... The common trend seems to be those pesky roomies though, maybe you should take a break from those for a while :P

A "self-insert PC" is a PC you've made with yourself as the model, correct?

Yup! Bibi inherits a lot of traits of my physical appearance (including transness), my Sleepy B%#+* Disease (her non-PFS versions all gave her the "Phlegmatic" curse), undying adoration for her wife, and her personality from me. I'm also from Wisconsin, love the cold, and am sometimes associated with divine light by my loved ones, sooooooooo Winter Oracle seemed a good fit!

(I'd previously overlooked Oracles, so I ended up looking at "Celestial-blooded Sorcerer" and "Paladin, but frosty somehow???" for a while before I figured that one out!)

Sorry Onna, never dispersed a cloud before -_- I was thinking it'd only leave you with the potential strength check, which (at least to me) was better than the risk of being nauseated!

Well ... that's probably my fault. When a star ignites, the radiation pressure compresses the molecular cloud in the vicinity and can initiate gravitational collapse to make new stars. I envisioned the same sort of effect here.

As far as the Euphoric Cloud, my understanding is that she stays there fascinated as well. The examples to break fascination all seem visual to me (barring taking damage/being physical roused), and the fog blocks sight beyond 5ft.

Soooo..... what do we do with a fascinated enemy when we're gonna maybe get fascinated too if we approach her?

We really need Communal Delay Poison of course - once Hiiragi can prepare that we're golden ;)

I was thinking about that: Can't you cast spells at lower caster levels?

I only see it impacting SR checks, but the spell doesn't afford one. For now, I say we wait it out, but in the future, assuming you can cast at lower CL's, Itami will always cast it at CL 1 in a fight for the 1 min duration.

Only rounds per level, I agree that we should just position to grapple/tie her up!

We really need Communal Delay Poison of course - once Hiiragi can prepare that we're golden ;)

Kenta gets that at lvl 10, Hiiragi should get it at level 6 (Cleric Level 5) unless she dips elsewhere.

It would be incredibly valuable to be able to blast a couple clouds out there with some powerful effects and have everyone in the group immune to them. Obviously delay poison doesn't negate the poison effects permanently so we shouldn't have cloudkill or anything planned, but I see this as quite a powerful strategy if pursued.

If pursued, maybe also look into the spell 'Ashen Path'?

I'll look into Ashen Path!

My intention with the build is to invest in poison/cloud/enchantment based spells (his bloodline and race greatly support those spells choices). Stinking Cloud is on the list, as is Cloudkill (the latter being one he'd use VERY carefully).

I'm very supportive of immunizing the party against cloud spells! Especially since Itami is the one providing them :P I'd be willing to buy scrolls of prevention spell too, to ease the burden my spell choice places on the party. I've never used them before and rarely see them in games I've played, so I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone here.

Alternately, we could just buy facemasks for the party and try to stay 6 feet apart.

Wait, the squares are all 5 feet. how can we stand 6 feet apart?

We're all standing on the far edges of our squares, of course! Or we keep a square between us at all times and make sure to stay in the middle.

Do you think the 6-feet guideline has to be doubled when me and Ikari get real big?

what's the 6 foot guideline about?

Trying to avoid transmitting deadly clouds to each other.

Ah... facemasks... the penny drops!

Alright, since nothing seems to be happening in game. Here are my thoughts on how I 'hope' it can go down. Firstly, a definition of fascinated.

Fascinated: A fascinated creature is entranced by a supernatural or spell effect. The creature stands or sits quietly, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts. It takes a –4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks. Any potential threat, such as a hostile creature approaching, allows the fascinated creature a new saving throw against the fascinating effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a ranged weapon at the fascinated creature, automatically breaks the effect. A fascinated creature’s ally may shake it free of the spell as a standard action.

Now, the spell fascinates her for the duration of her being inside the cloud plus at least two rounds. However, the second the fog drops if we point weapons at her or do other obvious threats it breaks. However, if we merely 'approach' then she just gets another save against the fascinate. So I suggest this, weapons away for all and a couple of us walk up to her as the cloud clears. If the spell breaks, so be it. If it doesn't we should all get a free grapple attempt before it breaks. And grapple can be aided so... maybe one person attempts and everyone else aids? If we get her grappled, we can keep with the support aids and try to get her pinned by the primary grappler. Once pinned we can tie her up pretty easily.

Agree? Decent plan? I'm guessing the grapplers should be Kenta, Ikari and Hiiragi (maybe Toshiko too) with Onna Inspiring and Itami standing back presenting no threat.

At least this way we can move on and see if our 'subdue her' plan has any chance of working. Otherwise we could just try nonlethal damage (saps, etc...) or another charm person (though that spell has some strong limitations).

CMB Bonuses
Kenta +5
Ikari +3 (+5 if Bull's Strength is still up)
Hiiragi +3 (+5 if raging)
Onna +3
Toshiko +3
Itami +0

I'm out of Rage for today, so we're working with a +3!

I agree with Kenta's plan. Ikari's Bull's Strength lasts 3 minutes and was cast before entering this last room, so it's still up.

Alright, then I suggest Ikari be the primary. He has better AC and the same mod.

Works for me!