GM Fuzzfoot's Carrion Hill PFS run (Inactive)

Game Master PJP

We do not even have a prayer of defeating this creature considering the make-up of our party. We just cannot generate enough damage quickly enough to bring it down. This means that running back to the inn is our only realistic option.

It appears to be a CR 9 creature and is more than a match for most parties of level 4-6. The fact that it has Blindsight of 30' makes it even more dangerous as Mirror Image cannot be used defensively to combat it. It is a total beast! :)

Pai - just checking your CMD is 16 + 10 for grease, right? No other bonuses.

Pai might still be able to get away next round depending on the actions that this creature takes. Generally maintaining a grapple is a standard action which means that the creature cannot maintain a grapple and full attack. Also generally if a creature is grappling it cannot take opportunity attacks against other creatures.

So if the monster drops Pai to full attack it might split its attacks and try to feed on anyone it can capture with a tentacle or target a bigger and juicier target like Droogami.

I am going to guess that it will try to feed on everything within reach as it is such a glutton and it will not focus its attack on one target.Of course I don't have the GM's script but that is my guess due to the description of its overwhelming hunger for blood.

Pai - just checking your CMD is 16 + 10 for grease, right? No other bonuses.

Yes. Gulp.

^Lucky it was you as your character's hit points are insane. It would have likely killed or at least incapacitated any of the other characters.

That's the joy of the Kineticist: a CON based class. Of course, that means the CON damage from its bloodsucking ability will be really bad for her. Good thing we have a wand of lesser restoration! Now if only she can get away from that dang thing!

It is hard to say what this creature will do. It can drop you and then attack everyone in range, go for the pin or simply drag your character away and then suck you dry perhaps even underground where the others will not be able to easily follow.

I would opt for drop and full attack everyone in range for maximum carnage. That seems to me to be the most fun option. :)

Another fun option would be to attack the building again and see what might happen. Sure it will take some damage but what about its tasty little morsels? It will be worse for them. It is a good time to be the GM now. :)

This is much more fun that another fight with a Keeper that goes down in round 1. Although I will accept an easy victory graciously as well.

^Yes but taking a 5' step after escaping the grapple would probably not have helped as the monster could simply re-grab her this round. Risking the opportunity attack to fly away was the right move. It just did not work out.

Based on how skillfully/easily the creature hit Pai, it would be obvious Pai has almost no chance of avoiding a hit. The grease does give a better chance of avoiding the grapple, but I think the creature has to roll a 7 or better to succeed. The 5' step would avoid being regrappled in the same round and give the rest of the party a chance to do something, like throw a smoke bomb or cast obscuring mist.

Moot now.

@Borax - Obscuring Mist will not be effective against this monster as we know it has Blind Sight 30' from our knowledge checks. Also spells like Mirror Image, Blur, Vanish and Invisibility will not be effective tools in fighting this creature if you are nearby. I posted a response in game.

Grease was certainly the right call. The grab AoO just barely succeeded - which is why I wanted to confirm the CMB.

@Grimdog - You might not be aware of this but Wildshape does not allow you to take on the statistics of the creatures in the Bestiary. You will need to apply the bonuses from Beast Shape I to your charaacter's statistics and you only get the abilities listed in the polymorph section and Beast Shape I. So considering that Lini starts off with a Strength of 6 she will never be a capable melee fighter. Also the monster has DR/10 Magic which Lini will never beat on any of her attacks unless she crits. I am just letting you know as you said that you are not familiar with Druids and they are NOT a friendly class to learn how to play properly. :)

If you are going to go this route at least cast Magic Fang on yourself from your wand first so you can do some damage. Also I would recommend the Deininychus. It is one of the best Medium forms and is in the first Bestiary. Plus Dinos are cool. :)

@Borax - My character and Tiny Pebble ran 80' away last round so they are off the map. I have moved him and Tiny Pebble even further on the map but there is no room left on the screen to go. Sorry for any possible confusion. :)

The lack of any tactics displayed by this monster is really encouraging for everyone's survival. Pinning Pai is a really bad move tactically but I guess the monster is really hungry for blood!

Motivation here isn't really tied to you. It doesn't know that you are hunting it. The monster was trying to eat the Keepers. But eating seems to be the only real motivation I can find, so given that - and its near god status - good tactics aren't likely a concern it has. You might be able to use that against it!

On the other hand, I watched you all just completely destroy this module with a lot of individualism, so I am interested to see if you can come together on this one.

IMPORTANT: Can this thing make attacks of opportunity as long as it's pinning Pai? How about non-opportunity attacks?

Normally, one couldn't, of course...but if there's one thing a Spawn of Yog-Sothoth isn't, it's normal.

First, it is not pinning Pai. She was only grappled.

There was some confusion on whether it could make its full attacks while grappling Pai. Logically, I think it should, but I think Igor is right in that RAW, it has to use a standard action to maintain the grapple, which precludes a full attack. So that's what it did here. Of course, maintaining the grapple is how it feeds, so that is what won over in its spawn brain. :) However, yes - it could still make its full range of AoO attacks. So far, nothing has provoked one - Pai used acrobatics to avoid provoking which was very good thinking on her part.

Technically, Pai should now have 2 blood drains, but I missed the first.

Note that creatures that grapple (or pin) other creatures also suffer the grapple condition themselves. This includes a penalty of -4 to their Dexterity (so -2 AC) and -2 on their attacks which is relevant here in terms of Droogami's attacks hitting. Both Droogami's AoO and bite hit and yes Magic Fang was cast on him so the damage should go through. So an additional 18 points of damage on top of his other attacks. Another effect of the grapple condition is that a creature cannot make any AoO if it is grappling another creature. Of course once the grapple (or pin) is broken the creature is free to make AoO again. This is all straight RAW right out of the CRB.

In terms of the blood drain. It is only triggered on a pin. If you are grappling someone you have several options when you spend a standard action to maintain a grapple. One of them is to pin your opponent. So the monster choose that option, pinned Pai and then the blood drain triggered. So you did blood drain exactly right as it is only triggered on a pin and not on a mere grapple. One time and one time only. At least for now. :)

Note also that the Stench effect should not apply here due to Air Bubble effect still being in play at least for the relevant combatants.

If this team is going to fight this creature, I am at a loss for how I can contribute. I don't have any magic weapons and the only extracts I have are Adhesive Spittle and Shield.

I have want of Burning Hands, Is the creature immune to fire? And a 1st level wand of MM with 15 charges, that I use for disrupting spells, so not really keen on burning it up for 1d4+1 points of damage.

Well do not feel so badly as the Glitterdust spell to outline the creature and my character's Knowledge check on the creature will likely be his only contributions in this combat as well. Although allowing the party to see the creature is a significant contribution. :)

The creature is immune to Fire and Cold so forget about Burning Hands. It has a SR of 20 so you will need to roll a 19 on the die for a wand of magic missile to work against it as you will need to bypass the SR. It also has Blind Sight so a lot of defensive spells (like Mirror Image) are not effective against it. Combined with decent saves it shuts down casters hard. Don't sweat it and don't be lunch for this monster. This is the time for the beat sticks to shine. Unfortunately we only have one in the party (Droogami).

Going forward you might want your character to develop some sort of combat ability as your extracts are generally not effective offensively in combat (with a few exceptions) or better yet retrain him into a Witch, Wizard or class that will make better use of the 20 Int. I think that you will need to do something or you will feel that you can not contribute effectively in any combat (forget this crazy one).

Yeah, this class struggles with combat unless you go the ranged route or multi-class. What Paizo really needed to do was give this class proficiency with a whip. My other investigator has that and it makes a huge difference in terms of combat contribution even if the damage is weak.

The longspear or polearm is an option, but I have a hard time seeing myself walking around with a longspear or a bow. Unfortunately with a 10 DEX a light crossbow isn't very effective.

The whole sword cane/rapier schtick would be great, but then you're exposing yourself to melee and a Light armor build and you're having to burn a lot of cash to try and boost your AC. Plus, this build has 10 DEX/STR, so I can't even get much out of Finesse weapons.

yet retrain him into a Witch, Wizard or class that will make better use of the 20 Int.

Retraining is not an option. My goal was to see if this kind of character could be useful without the heavy investment in melee combat.

I think my plan with this character is to invest more in wands. I just haven't played him enough and have not gotten around to assembling a wand arsenal. Was appalled I didn't even have a wand of grease.

Alright then. The answer is simple if you want to make this character playable. Invest in the Power Attack feat and then combine it with Bull Strength extract and Mutagen. This combined with any two handed weapon will yield good results and requires minimal investment. You can get away with only the Power Attack feat or Mutagen (but you will really need at least one) and buff your character before combat with Heroism and Bull Strength extracts. There are loads of other extracts to self-buff so the sky is the limit (for both offence and defence) and you will have invested only one feat or talent of your build.

Tripping people is an alright trick but CMD begins to scale up as you level up so it becomes unreliable. A lot of creatures also fly, cannot be tripped or don't really care if they are tripped. The simple hit with a big stick is a tactic that works all the way up to level 20. With 10 Strength and 10 Dexterity I do not see a way to make this character the terror of the battlefield but aim for passable and then blow people away with your out of combat utility. :)

Wands are great for utility, buffing and healing but are less effective when used directly on an opponent. They generally have a lousy DC and a low caster level and they do not age well at all. A standard wand of Grease has a DC of 11 for example. So that means they are only good as a backup option or if you want to be clever say with a wand of Silent Image.

Another way to go is get a pistol. Even with a low Dex, if you stay close you roll against touch AC which is often low even at higher levels. You can then make some use of your studied combat skills without changing your direction too much. Maybe still not great, but something. You are definitely more of a face and skill monkey though, so combat doesn’t really need to be your thing. You could also take a level in gunslinger or amature gunslinger to extend your range against touch AC.

Firearms do require some sort of feat investment. Most combats will have you facing cover and in-combat penalties. Add a -8 penalty to a 10 Dex character and he will have difficulties hitting even touch AC reliably. So there is no free lunch here either. :)

The vanilla Bard (with a 20 Int and 13 Charisma) would fit the role he is looking to fill so much better then the Investigator while contributing to combat. For example a 7th level Bard could cast Good Hope on the party beforehand and then start combat with Bard Song and Haste. That would make him and the party incredible in combat without any build effort at all.

Alright then. The answer is simple if you want to make this character playable.

The character is already playable. He's just not a damage dealing in combat, especially against exotic creatures.

Invest in the Power Attack feat and then combine it with Bull Strength extract and Mutagen.

I was under the impression you have to meet the prerequisites in order to take a feat.

There are loads of other extracts to self-buff so the sky is the limit (for both offence and defence) and you will have invested only one feat or talent of your build.

Well, I need to figure out if I'm really going to try and spend a lot of capitol to do damage, or accept I will not be a damage dealer and then figure out just how to hit so I can use some of the debuff Talents.

Tripping people is an alright trick but CMD begins to scale up as you level up so it becomes unreliable.

I don't use a whip to trip people. Disarming isn't always that useful either.

[quuote]With 10 Strength and 10 Dexterity I do not see a way to make this character the terror of the battlefield but aim for passable and then blow people away with your out of combat utility. :)

Yes, I have to decide what the bare minimum is for my enjoyment.

Wands are great for utility, buffing and healing but are less effective when used directly on an opponent.

That would depend on the spell. There are so many low level spells that have uses and Borax can UMD them on a 7.

They generally have a lousy DC and a low caster level and they do not age well at all. A standard wand of Grease has a DC of 11 for example.

Sure, something like Obscuring Mist or Entanlgle will block line of slight or slow monsters down.

They key is for me to just spend more time figuring out how to contribute without having to do damage, and recognize here will be some battles I am of very little help. Kind of like most Fighters/Barbarian/rRangers in social encounters. I don't need this character to excel in every phase.

there's nothing wrong with your character, man...he's fine as is...it's just we're at a lack of front liners...that's all. if we had a vanilla fighter with us, we'd have a shot at dealing with this thing...but we don't so we'll have to figure out something. play your guy as you want...it's just a bad pull for this BBEG....

The GM and myself were just offering a couple of suggestions to help you out going forward. That being said it is your character and your experiment so please have fun as it is a game. In the end you might prove me wrong with this experiment of the wand wielding Investigator. I hope so. :)

The GM and myself were just offering a couple of suggestions to help you out going forward.

I appreciate both of you taking time out to offer suggestions. I am not put off by any of the dialogue. Truth is, this is the least played PC of like the eight that I have, so I just haven't figured out how I want him to work yet. I know that I am not going to multi-class.

I also agree that he needs to be able do something in combat. Normally I use adhesive spittle. At 5th, I can pick up Sapping Offensive and Studied Combat as a Swift action, I just need to figure out if that makes sense with such a low attack modifier and low AC. i may pick it up as a back up to help him escape out of melee. I can also try the Talent that allows Inspiration use in Combat at only 1 per. But that's three talents for melee combat, which I'd rather avoid.

IME, PFS players typically tend to devote a lot of their build to combat, so in most parties, my lack of damage is usually not an issue. As grimdog points out, we just lack some frontliners and this is a very unique enemy.

In terms of this combat this is the sort of the smack down you can expect when you don't finish weakening the creature by completing all your tasks. Or the person writing the module has no idea how to balance combats by dumping one big CR 9 monster in a 4-6 adventure. Really without reading it I cannot know.

Now I am certain that certain parties would be able to easily take it down despite the fact that it is CR+4. Barbarians, Archers, Melee Druid + Pet etc. are good examples of PCs that deal impressive damage at this level range and can bypass its defences fairly easily. Light the monster up with Glitterdust and then go to town. :)

That being said the monster is dumb so that is a big plus in our column. We might in the end be able to defeat it out of sheer necessity as escaping from it if you are nearby is not easy. Time will tell. :)

Certain classes have better synergy than others providing great utility and combat ability in one package. Generally the caster classes (Bard,Cleric,Wizard and Druid) do not require much (if any) optimisation outside of very challenging encounters.

@Pai -To ready an action is always a standard action regardless of the action readied. SR 20 at this level sucks hard! :)

D'oh! I guess it would help to read the whole entry when looking up the rules on something. In that case, she'll just stay put because she can't bear to abandon her pals to near-certain death.

Pai, I don't know how many blasts you can do, but if you can kite the creature, you might have have a chance.

Raynard, if you're free of the beast, you might want to grease Lini and yourself, if you guys are going to stay and fight it..

I'm going to give you a free hint or two (or 4) here.

1. Don't worry about grappling. After Igor's protracted rules discussions, I have come to the conclusion that grappling is stupid and won't be using it any more here.

2. SR wasn't one of the things that was weakened, but it isn't impossible to get past. If Pai rolls a 15 or better, it works, meaning she at least has a 25% chance.

3. One of the things that is weakened is the HP. So 133 isn't your target, it is lower than that.

4. The building IS going to fall on you... it is just a matter of when.

Maybe I should have added don't leave the creature with too few targets...

Raynard, would you please move at least 5 feet before I take my turn?

I think I ought to get in at least one full attack (remember, 2 attacks + lead blades + THE SWORD!) before trying to retreat, so please cover/support me at least long enough to do that and survive.

Pai, I don't know how many blasts you can do, but if you can kite the creature, you might have have a chance.

Pai can do one attack per round. She won't get a second until 8th level. I'm just going to keep trying as long as possible.

A few points I would like to make.

1) You have two rounds of actions to kill this creature before it turns invisible. Use those rounds well.

2) Pai only needs a 14 on a D20 to bypass the SR. SR is treated like AC in that matching the SR means the spell is effective. Still her chances are only 30% per blast so overall not fantastic.

3) Grappling can be effective. That being said for a creature with multiple small attacks facing multiple opponents it is not a good tactic. For a T-Rex or a Purple Worm it is a much better tactic. :)

2) Pai only needs a 14 on a D20 to bypass the SR. SR is treated like AC in that matching the SR means the spell is effective. Still her chances are only 30% per blast so overall not fantastic.

Sooo, 10-platinum question: Anyone got any tricks for helping Pai with her SR penetration? I don't, and they're rare, but I know there are some.

Someone could loan her a shirt/folio reroll in a pinch (then again, she might have her own).

I don't have one. I should probably remedy that at some point.

Folio's worth it; think of it as tossing a few extra quarters into an arcade machine to BUY EXTRA HEALTH RIGHT NOW, [BLUE] [VALKYRIE]!!!

@GM Fuzzfoot: Just bought a t-shirt from the approved list. Is that good enough to earn a re-roll, or do I have to have it in hand? I assume I'd have to prove that I actually ordered it.

Thank you all for hanging in there - I know this dragged on a bit due to my ever changing schedule (despite being basically stuck at home anyway!)

As games go, I think this one was a little light on the challenge until the end which then significantly increase! For those that didn't know they basic plan, the final monster started with 6 negative levels. If he had gotten to eat any keeper, 2 of those would have been removed. So you did see the weakest version of him!

I also want to apologize to Igor - I got a little perturbed by what I perceived (very likely incorrectly); but looking back over the posts and my notes, I just think I was being testy. I DID have two different version of the beast, which I only now realize, and therefore some of my data kept changing. Igor noticed, although I am sure he didn't know why I was so flip-floppy... it was most definitely my fault.

Here are your chronicles. No day jobs for a module, it seems. And grimdog73 - I need to know which character you want to apply credit. Anyone else need anything noted? Just drop me a line.

Thanks again - I hope you all had fun.

Oh, and @Pai - yes, that would have been enough for a re-roll!

ahh...right...125048-12

Thanks for the apology. I hope that you do not mind me saying so but all players (including Grimdog's Pre-Gen) are allowed to participate in all downtime activities including day jobs even after a module. In fact anytime a character earns XP he is granted downtime. This is all spelt out on page 36 of the season 10 guide but is widely implemented as well as I have played through many modules.

I suggest that everyone just take 10 on the roll and right it directly on their sheet to save time and paperwork for our GM. His real life schedule is busy enough.

Could you list the spells from the spell books that we found? At least the good spells of 3rd level or higher. The copying costs begin to become significant at that point. I know that this is a bit of a pain but I think this could benefit at least three of the characters.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to GM. :)

i can't remember what i can roll for a day job...can handle Animal be used? other than that i can only get a 13 with a take 10...craft jewelry...

Grimdog - Without a specific boon you can use a trained craft, perform or profession skill only. I am afraid that none of your skills are trained (even craft- jewellery) so you are out of luck here. Still it would only have been a handful of gold anyways. :)

I never looked at her craft skills carefully enough to notice. They really should have dumped at least 1 point in there for flavor. :)

yeah...wasn't 100% sure handle Animal was available...didn't think it was...

I stand corrected! Apparently they changed the rules for downtime for modules (back in season 5, it seems, but it may have been that long since I ran a module).

Chronicles updated. Borax - I took the take 10 for your alchemy, let me know if you want to roll instead. Everyone else did at the start.

My Chronicle looks good. Thanks for running this! I tend to enjoy modules and series run all together more than the one-off scenarios, so I was really happy to be able to jump on this one. It was an interesting set of situations for Pai to wrap her head around, and I'm sure she'll be spending a lot of sleepless nights second-guessing herself over her actions and inactions here.

See you around the boards!

Thank you for running this one GM Fuzzfoot!

Thank you guys for the great game!

for ir...ty boss! gg guys!

Alright, for my FINAL trick of the "evening"...:

Craft (Jeweler), folio reroll: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (11) + 21 = 32

Spiffy; DM, please amend my Chronicle accordingly. :)