Chance, you are aware that the personal staves section from Secrets of Magic is an optional system, right? As in, it requires GM buy-in. I'm not necessarily saying no, I'm just saying that you have been going under the assumption that I'm fine with it.
Ummm, it is? Are you...
A custom staff is always unique, and you need your GM’s permission to create one and introduce it to your game.
Got it - sorry, I did miss that part. I probably won't take magical crafting until level 7, so we don't need to address it before then. If you decide personal staves are too much, he'll try to craft a staff of illusion or a similar stock item instead.
Sorry - difficult work week, but I'll catch up later tonight or first thing in the morning.
Alright, so my laptop decided to be incredibly finicky, so I had to take it in to do some stuff. Because of that I will be without my computer and thus will be unable to do super-detailed posting for the next few days. Apologies in advance.
That sucks. I dropped my phone on my laptop keyboard and broke a key yesterday. Not as inconvenient because I can still use the laptop while I order a new key but still annoying.
So, it gets worse: apparently my motherboard was completely dead, so I have to get a new computer. Luckily all my files managed to be backed up.
That sucks. Glad you had a backup. I know I would not be a happy camper if I lost all my saved stuff.
Oof, that's terrible. I had a near scare with that earlier in the year, but "fortunately" it was just my power supply going bad. I still need a new motherboard, though, because I bought the thing in 2014 and at this point it's the bottleneck in upgrading my computer any further.
GM: Since I'm going to be taking Magical Crafting next level, would it be okay for me to make Chance's staff? I know they're "personal" but it doesn't outright say you can only make one for yourself, that just seems to be the assumed use case for the rules. Just figured I'd save Chance a feat and a skill increase since I'll probably have a higher Crafting modifier and was already planning on it.
Oof, that's terrible. I had a near scare with that earlier in the year, but "fortunately" it was just my power supply going bad. I still need a new motherboard, though, because I bought the thing in 2014 and at this point it's the bottleneck in upgrading my computer any further.
GM: Since I'm going to be taking Magical Crafting next level, would it be okay for me to make Chance's staff? I know they're "personal" but it doesn't outright say you can only make one for yourself, that just seems to be the assumed use case for the rules. Just figured I'd save Chance a feat and a skill increase since I'll probably have a higher Crafting modifier and was already planning on it.
Honestly, I don’t see why not.
I think I'm good to go for the Lucky Bones. I'll need to change my spell loadout and familiar abilities but I'm feeling optimistic about our chances at level 5. Which probably means we're doomed!
Honestly, I don’t see why not.Oof, that's terrible. I had a near scare with that earlier in the year, but "fortunately" it was just my power supply going bad. I still need a new motherboard, though, because I bought the thing in 2014 and at this point it's the bottleneck in upgrading my computer any further.
GM: Since I'm going to be taking Magical Crafting next level, would it be okay for me to make Chance's staff? I know they're "personal" but it doesn't outright say you can only make one for yourself, that just seems to be the assumed use case for the rules. Just figured I'd save Chance a feat and a skill increase since I'll probably have a higher Crafting modifier and was already planning on it.
Thanks, Jisara! In that case, I’ll switch the skill increase to Perform.
GM - Sorry to hear about your computer woes. Glad you’re fully backed up!
The remaining otyugh looks over at the bodies of its fallen allies and its singular eye begins tearing up. It starts bawling and runs over to the nearest pile of refuse and cowers within it.
Aww. Don't make the paladin feel bad.
Once Edrakk is done coughing up the poison, he shakily stands up and thinks for a minute. "It's a good start, I liked how to the point it was, clearly very professional. Unfortunately, it felt like a lot of show, and there wasn't much substance. I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10."
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Ok, this shouldn't be too bad. They're all fairly close together, and I don't see any reason why a blight bomb wouldn't--
Wait, uhh... are they really attacking us?
I mean, they threw the bolas and stuff, sure, but that's not really that violent? I'd feel weird about responding with that much more force than they did.Ok, hold on...
Edrakk reaches into his bag and pulls out a vial of yellow powder, steps into the room, and tosses it towards two of the changelings. The vial hits the ground and breaks, causing a cloud of yellow gas to surround them.
Huh. Um...I always assumed that using an inhaled poison like that made the 10 foot cube adjacent to the person who Activated it, but I cannot for the life of me find anything that indicates that. Also, would Edrakk like to Delay until after everyone else so that they don't accidentally end the fascinated condition by attacking?
Huh. Um...I always assumed that using an inhaled poison like that made the 10 foot cube adjacent to the person who Activated it, but I cannot for the life of me find anything that indicates that. Also, would Edrakk like to Delay until after everyone else so that they don't accidentally end the fascinated condition by attacking?Edrakk reaches into his bag and pulls out a vial of yellow powder, steps into the room, and tosses it towards two of the changelings. The vial hits the ground and breaks, causing a cloud of yellow gas to surround them.
I have had a lot of trouble finding the rules for it, so I just made a guess. I'm fine just moving a bit more and having the cloud be adjacent to Edrakk if you want. But delaying is probably a good idea, yeah.
As the Silver Ravens make their way deeper underground, Chance begins to stop occasionally - particularly at intersections and doorways - and casts sigil to create a mark on the wall (invisible to anyone else) in the shape of a stylized raven.
Side note: the sigil is either visible or invisible, it's not only visible to Chance while being invisible to everyone else.
As the Silver Ravens make their way deeper underground, Chance begins to stop occasionally - particularly at intersections and doorways - and casts sigil to create a mark on the wall (invisible to anyone else) in the shape of a stylized raven.Side note: the sigil is either visible or invisible, it's not only visible to Chance while being invisible to everyone else.
Huh. Sorry about that. I've never used it (or arcane mark) before, so I missed that - it never occurred to me that a spellcaster might want to mark something with a sigil that the caster themself couldn't see. With that clarification, Chance will still use invisible sigils, and on the way back - assuming we're in exploration mode - he will use detect magic as his exploration activity so that he can at least know if he's in the general area of one of the marks (or potentially some other magic) and then rely on his memory of where he put them to narrow it down from there. To aid with finding the marks, he will put them all at head height (for him) on the left side (relative to the direction the group is going, so the right side on the way back) of the hall or doorway.
For the record, the fascinated condition isn’t as debilitating as it was in 1e; it mostly just prevents taking concentrate actions and provides a penalty to skills and Perception. That said, It does still have its uses.
Also true, but I had already considered that, which is why I asked Edrakk if he wanted to Delay until after everyone else so other PCs' turns didn't end the fascination (which Edrakk agreed to).
Hope you are feeling better soon, GM, but don't push yourself. We'll still be here and don't want you to feel like the game is an obligation when it ought to be something you enjoy doing. I know I am.
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Just wanted to mention that I really enjoy Chance's renditions of various songs.
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Me too.
Hoo boy! Completely off-topic, but I’ve more news about my computer debacle!
So, I’m attempting to get reimbursed for my computer, and in order to do so I need the receipt of the transaction. I’ve called customer service of the company on four separate occasions, each with progressively more information needed to find the receipt. I was told each time that I would get an email within 24 to 48 hours in response: the first time I never got an email, the second and third came four days later, and the last came within 24 hours. The last one had the most information: the exact date of purchase, the exact amount spent, the store in which the transaction occurred, and the first 6 and last 4 numbers of the credit card used. And THEY COULDN’T GET THE DANG RECEIPT!
Understandably peeved, I messaged the general manager of the store in question (I worked at that store and used my employee discount to buy the computer, so I had their number) and I sent them the exact same information and they said they would escalate the situation. I got my dang receipt within a day.
Called the company in charge of the protection plan to make a claim, and after some time determining that the motherboard was indeed dead, I couldn’t move forward with my claim because for some unfathomable reason I chose to peel off the sticker with the computer’s serial number, and the serial number is mandatory for any resolution of a claim.
I called the dang manufacturer and they told me that without the sticker or the computer’s ability to turn on, the last thing I can do is take the computer into a location that has a special tool that’ll allow the serial number to be extracted. UNFORTUNATELY, the closest store with said tool is 70 miles away! In a moment of surprising serendipity, my mother (who lives near the aforementioned store) is passing by me tomorrow, so I can pass the computer off to her and she can take it to the store to get the serial number.
That sounds like a real hassle. I’m wishing you luck to get it resolved quickly.
I probably should have said this sooner, but I've got a bunch of deadlines coming up at the end of the month, so I'm probably going to be a bit slow to post.
Do we have no one who can check for traps?
Vitalis isn't going to debate with a devil. You guys okay with just attacking it?
Do we have no one who can check for traps?
You do; Vitalis and Edrakk. You just failed to see it.
Vitalis can check for traps? By falling into them, clearly. =)
Do we have no one who can check for traps?
Vitalis isn't going to debate with a devil. You guys okay with just attacking it?
No objection at all, just thought I'd see if it has a villainous monologue for us first, but don't hold off on my account.
So, for the sake of consistency, I’m just going to say that those attacks were Vitalis’s actions on his first turn, because it doesn’t make a huge amount of sense to let obviously hostile actions be taken outside of encounter mode.
I assumed so.
Hero Points reset in one week
Currently working on a post; nobody post until I have, please.
It seems weird that you have to use the second roll for a hero point, most other fortune effects I can think of always let you use the better of the two.
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It seems weird that you have to use the second roll for a hero point, most other fortune effects I can think of always let you use the better of the two.
I was actually curious, so I went through it. Of the 77 various fortune effects (not counting Hero Point rerolls or abilities from monsters) 35 (45.5%) of them are “roll twice, take the better,” 19 (24.7%) are “reroll and take the new result,” 6 (7.79%) are “reroll, using the better of the two results,” 6 (7.79%) pre-determine checks (such as by Assurance), and 10 (13.0%) do other things (such as specifically cancel out misfortune effects and nothing else).
So the vast majority fortune effects grant advantage (to use 5e terminology), but the main thing about those effects are that you have to choose to use them prior to initially rolling (thus if you roll well twice, then it’s still used up). The “reroll and use the better” most prominently occurs in specific rolls (if you fail a Reflex save, for instance) and have a frequency in use (e.g. once per day), or have another downside (like advancing an oracle’s curse). And considering that Hero Points can be used for literally any d20 roll, I think it's fair that it's limited to using the second roll.
That said, Edrakk’s reroll won’t matter (just trust me here).
That said, Edrakk’s reroll won’t matter (just trust me here).
...Because you're all dead! Mwuahahaha!
Did my attack in round 2 damage the bearded devil? I still the hp is still -38. I'm guessing it just got overlooked and not that a 31 missed.
Did my attack in round 2 damage the bearded devil? I still the hp is still -38. I'm guessing it just got overlooked and not that a 31 missed.
Human error! My bad!
EDIT: Fixed.
So...apparently tech support at the manufacturer of my old computer lied to me, because they actually can't get the serial number without the computer being able to turn on. I'm trying desperately to figure out where else I could find the serial number, but it looks like I'm just s#&! outta luck here. Yay.
That sucks. I’m fairly computer illiterate so I can’t help unfortunately.
I stand corrected! Not the first time my perception of something has led me astray. I didn't mean to sound like I was griping, so I apologize if I came off that way.
“We’ve I don’t even remember what day it is, but I know our 18th was coming really soon.”
Wow. My impatience and ADHD really mangled the start of this sentence. I meant to say "We've been down here for so long I don't even..."
Happens to me all the time.
I know its just the dice rolls, but these changelings really suck at throwing things at us.
I know its just the dice rolls, but these changelings really suck at throwing things at us.
Not as badly as Chance sucks at throwing things at anyone.
Hero Points have reset
And I completely forgot to apply the bonus to attack rolls from Fanatical Frenzy to Blue's attack against Jisara, AND I forgot to roll damage for it, too. Ah well, it missed anyway.
How high is the platform? Are the stairs on the top the only way onto it, or can we try and climb up from below?
How high is the platform? Are the stairs on the top the only way onto it, or can we try and climb up from below?
I'd say it's probably about 3 feet high, so it'd be...let's say greater difficult terrain to move up onto the stage (whereas going up the stairs would be regular difficult terrain).
I addressed that question in this post.
This is pretty subjective but I feel like 3rd level spells are a big jump in power compared to 2nd level. I'm a fan.
Thanks. My memory sucks.
So because someone had to make a save against the poison, the poison is expended, regardless of what the result of said save was.
Have a home game today; will update later.
Vitalis chases after Luculla again but he knows that with her enhanced speed, he stands little chance of catching her. He prepares one last ditch effort to catch her off guard.
Readying is a two-action activity.