GM Xavier Kahlvet's Hell's Rebels 2e (Inactive)

Game Master KingTreyIII

Long couple of days at work and today is looking packed but shouldn’t go late- I’ll catch up by this evening.

Chance…you’re not up. Edrakk is.

Sorry, I've been a bit of a wreck this week, I'll try to post in a few hours when I'm out of class.

Level 11!!

Formulas: Blight Bomb, Greater (FINALLY!!), Blisterwort
Perpetual Potencies: Leadenleg, Graveroot
Increase Stealth to Expert
Feat: Continual Recovery

Also I finally got a spreadsheet for his formula sheet, so there won't be any confusion.

...HAVE YOU NOT HAD CONTINUAL RECOVERY THIS ENTIRE TIME?!?!

I'm almost certain I went under the presumption that you did at one point in time. Egg on my face XD

Nope, lol! I've had Ward Medic, so I can heal 2 people at a time, but not continual recovery.

@GM -

I know you’re planning to move us over to the Remaster rules at some point, do you have a sense of your timing? As of this morning, AON isn’t updated yet and neither is HeroLab (sunk costs - I’ve got too much invested in HeroLab to switch over to the new character builder Paizo is backing).

I don’t think it matters for leveling Chance up to 11, but I just downloaded my subscriber PDFs of Player Core & GM Core last night and haven’t had a chance to review any of the rules changes. I did confirm that the basic level 11 advancement features for bard don’t change and that starting damage for telekinetic projectile has changed from 1d6+spellcasting mod to 2d6 (a relatively minor debuff - Chance and Jisara currently each get +5 from the CRB version as opposed to an average of 3.5 for the Remaster’s extra d6).

I’ll get Chance leveled up this weekend.

I just realized that with his advancement to level 11, Chance has now passed my PFS oracle Kepli as the highest-level character I have played all the way through from level 1 since approximately 1987 (not counting characters run as the GM).

First draft of Chance at level 11:

Bard weapon expertise Proficiency increases to expert, apply critical specialization on critical success while under effect of one of your compositions
6th rank spells: Phantom Orchestra (Rage of Elements), Suspended Retribution (Dark Archive)
Replaced 5th rank spell: Summon Entity with Death Ward
Vigilant Senses: Perception increases to Master
General Feat: Untrained Improvisation (close decision vs Diehard given how often Chance has gone down)
Skill increase: Diplomacy to Expert

I’ll make final decisions and update taglines later today/tomorrow morning.

@GM -

I know you’re planning to move us over to the Remaster rules at some point, do you have a sense of your timing? As of this morning, AON isn’t updated yet and neither is HeroLab (sunk costs - I’ve got too much invested in HeroLab to switch over to the new character builder Paizo is backing).

I'm holding off at least until AoN gets the remaster stuff.

Alertness – Perception increases to Expert
Divine Will – Will Save increases to Master
Exalt – Improved Champion Reaction
General Feat – Fast Recovery
Skill Increase – Hell Lore to Expert
Heighten Focus Spells
HP +14 to 162

Skill increase: Stealth to Expert
General Feat: Incredible Initiative
Spells: Disintegrate, Field of Razors
Perception and Weapon Proficiency both to Expert (finally!)

It's the Fair Fortune Livery, isn't it. I'll do a post when I get a chance.

Actually, I realized, since Vitalis doesn't speak Tien nor does he have any of those Lore skills, he'll let someone else initiate a deduction.

"Lady Docur": Drat! He's a Tengu, he'll see through my disguise for sure!
Edrakk, having zoned out thinking about eating poisonous mushrooms: what

You laugh, but that is LITERALLY correct. "...insist, without any factual support, that tengus can see through their trickery with a mere glance..."

She irrationally believes that your mere presence means that any attempt at trickery is futile.

You laugh, but that is LITERALLY correct. "...insist, without any factual support, that tengus can see through their trickery with a mere glance..."

She irrationally believes that your mere presence means that any attempt at trickery is futile.

That is incredibly funny and also very useful for us!!

(sorry Chance and Vitalis!)

Well I still have the Greater Backfire Mantle.

That is incredibly funny and also very useful for us!!

Yeah, I laughed so hard when I read that little sidebar; it's such a random thing that gives a weird sense of humanity to these monsters. Granted, it would have changed relatively little in the long run; it just means that she started combat needing to Force Open her manacles instead of letting y'all get her out of them before turning on you.

I might not be able to get a post out today; something just came up and I'm not sure if I'll be able to until at least much later in the day.

Well, I’m sorry, but we’re using it now. We thought it had been abandoned because EVERYONE IN IT WAS SLAUGHTERED BY BARZILLAI THRUNE, YOU KNOW, THE GUY WE’RE TRYING TO OVERTHROW?”

Everyone in the Lucky Bones was slaughtered by the Order of the Torrent in the ‘70s, not Barzillai. I think the raid on the Lucky Bones would’ve actually been before Barzillai was even born XD

I’m not going to feel bad about lying to the shapeshifter accessory to a kidnapping plot.

That curse of death is doing all the heavy lifting.

I've been looking forward to that spell for literal years and it has not disappointed.

Alright, so…the remaster is released. And with it, I would like to also transition this game to the remaster properly now. Now, the remaster stuff won’t hit AoN until much later, but the people this is mostly directed toward are Chance and Jisara, whom I know for a fact have the books.

For Chance and Jisara, I am giving you both the opportunity to freely retrain stuff about your characters to bring them up to date with new options, etc. This will mostly affect Jisara (since witches get some cool new tricks), but I would still like to extend the offer. I will assume that y’all will want to adhere closely to how your characters are built as-is. But some notes for each of y’all specifically:

@Chance: Most of your focus spells got renamed. Additionally, glyph of warding got made into a ritual called rune trap, and I could see you wanting to trade out one of your Ritualist rituals for it. I would recommend going through your spells and modifying the ones whose names got changed in the remaster.

@Edrakk: Already-existing poisons got some nerfs in damage, but overall function pretty much the same. When Player Core 2 drops (and alchemists are officially remastered), I’ll extend the rebuild to you.

@Jisara: You can choose to have patron’s puppet instead of phase familiar (which I think you’ve used, like, once), and Thatch gains the ability to provide flanking whenever you Cast or Sustain a hex. As such, Thatch’s presence in combat will likely become a lot more prominent, meaning he will probably be subjected to AoEs from now on. Also, your staff of divination is now a staff of the unblinking eye, which grants a +1 status bonus to Perception checks made as part of initiative. I would recommend going through your spells and modifying the ones whose names got changed in the remaster.

@Vitalis: Any of your effects that dealt good damage now deal holy spirit damage, which means that it now affects EVERYONE. Additionally, the holy rune on your halberd functions differently: it now deals 1d4 spirit damage, which increases to 2d4 against a target with the unholy trait (such as fiends or clerics of Asmodeus). You also gain the holy trait. When Player Core 2 drops (and champions are officially remastered), I’ll extend the rebuild to you.

And yes, this means that spells like telekinetic projectile no longer add your spellcasting mod to damage anymore.

I have also got a spreadsheet for things that changed in the Remaster process, mostly name changes.

What's the new book called? Is it the "Core" book?
I haven't been keeping up with any of the 2nd Edition stuff. But maybe I'll pick this up.

Player Core and GM Core

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Hey Chance, next level I'm gonna get Coven Spell, which I think you'll really like.

Here's what it means for you: besides the option for a damage bonus, I will be able to also use my reaction to apply my Familiar Conduit spellshape, which means you can use Thatch as an origin point for any spell that has a range. Since lay on hands also has a range, we could even use that to let Vitalis heal Thatch at range (or anyone that Thatch is sharing a square with).

Oh damn. That is…not a utilization I had foreseen.

Okay, I think I'm all updated. Main things I changed: switched out Clever Improviser for Scion of Many Planes (to get Beastbrood), switched out Incredible Familiar for Stitched Familiar, and replaced Phase Familiar with Patron's Puppet.

Ok I picked up a copy of the Core players guide. But like you said, Champion isn't in it, so it doesn't seem like there is much for me to change atm. I'll update the holy rune. I'm guessing the persistent good damage from retributive strike would also change. Let me know if you want to just change the damage type to "spirit" or if it should be modified further.

Sorry, I’ve had (am having) a busy week at work, and my wife - who has been sick for a couple of days - just tested positive for COVID (first time for either of us). Assuming I’m not sick by tomorrow, I’ll be on the road most of the day tomorrow to pick up our son from college for the holiday (my wife was planning to do that today, but obviously can’t) so unless I can start on it tonight, I won’t even be able to begin looking at the Remaster until Saturday night.
Did I see that Paizo has already released errata for Player Core and GM Core?

@Jisara - that is very nice!

They released some errata to make stuff compatible with the Remaster as a placeholder until Player Core 2 is out with new champion rules. Here's the stuff that's most relevant to you for right now.

Shelyn still allows you to choose to be sanctified, so no trouble there.

There are some slight changes to the tenets of good and paladin cause.

The Tenets of Good
You gain the holy trait and add that trait to any Strikes you make. In addition to your other edicts and anathema, you gain the following:
Edicts do not knowingly harm innocents or fail to prevent harm to an innocent if your direct intervention could save them
Anathema commit murder, engage in torture

Paladin Cause
You’re honorable, forthright, and committed to pushing back the forces of cruelty. You gain the Retributive Strike champion’s reaction and the lay on hands devotion spell. Your code gains the follow edicts and anathema:
Edicts follow the law, respect legitimate authorities or leadership
Anathema take advantage of another, cheat

Divine Smite
In the Divine Smite class feature, replace all instances of "persistent good damage" with "persistent spirit damage". This persistent damage is a holy effect.

Radiant Blade Spirit
In the Radiant Blade Spirit feat, replace "flaming and any aligned properties (anarchic, axiomatic, holy, or unholy) that match your cause’s alignment" with "flaming, holy if you are holy, and unholy if you are unholy".

Having the holy trait applied to all your strikes is nuts. You already had the holy rune on your halberd, but now even if you just punch a devil it will activate their holy weakness.

Thank you Jisara

Sorry, I’ve had (am having) a busy week at work, and my wife - who has been sick for a couple of days - just tested positive for COVID (first time for either of us). Assuming I’m not sick by tomorrow, I’ll be on the road most of the day tomorrow to pick up our son from college for the holiday (my wife was planning to do that today, but obviously can’t) so unless I can start on it tonight, I won’t even be able to begin looking at the Remaster until Saturday night.

Did I see that Paizo has already released errata for Player Core and GM Core?

@Jisara - that is very nice!

I got sick & tested positive for COVID myself yesterday and have been knocked out. Will try to finish the remaster update for Chance tomorrow.

Sorry, I've been exhausted the past few weeks from school and after getting home from college yesterday I collapsed and accidentally slept until 5 in the afternoon today lol, I know I don't have as much to update at the moment but I'll try to get what I can finished soon.

Oh yeah. @Chance: the "you are a master in a save" class features (juggernaut, evasion, and resolve) got renamed; the name varies between classes. For your character, it's now named "Performer's Heart"

EDIT: Oh yeah, I would also like to emphasize that I'll be doing what PFS is doing with the remaster. Specifically, you can keep using spells that didn't get reprinted in the remaster, so you don't lose out on mirror image, etc.

Working on Chance Remastered and apparently somewhere along the way, Chance obtained a scroll of undetectable alignment and learned the spell. Any thoughts about an uncommon substitute? There aren't many uncommon second level spells on the occult list, but maybe confetti cloud or illusory shroud would be a good fit? Both from LO Firebrands.

There are apparently ZERO rank 2 uncommon spells in the remaster, so...uh...confetti cloud. The Firebrands don't exist yet, but you're friends with Shensen and I gave her Firebrand stuff, so why not?

Ninja'd by an edit. Definitely not illusory shroud: that's just a straight-up better invisibility at the same rank, and that's ridiculous.

Remastered statblock is posted. I think I caught all of the changed spells and magic items (both spells known and those on Chance's scrolls and wands and staff), thanks to a spreadsheet I found on Reddit ... that I just this second realized the Reddit post is by GMXK. And is the same spreadsheet he posted here a week ago.

Yeah, COVID brain fog is real, people.

Anyway, I'm very excited that Chance can now wear his mage's hat and masquerade scarf at the same time, which he couldn't do when the scarf was a hat of disguise. I quite like the image of Jisara knitting and Thatch chasing the enchanted yarn.

I hope we don't need to leave town anytime soon because I'm swapping out the Mystic Carriage ritual for Rune Trap. It's probably time to find a way to learn Teleport anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whoops! My bad; misremembered the skinsaw mask bonus. They only deal an additional 1 precision damage against frightened creatures, not any creature. So the damage for the Strikes against Chance (that didn't hit) were incorrect.

Hero Points reset in a week

Holidays have been chaos at the best of times, and I was probably exposed to COVID, but I seem fine for now.

On the bright side, a friend of mine recently finished drawing art of Jisara and Thatch! I'm really happy with the result.

Holidays have been chaos at the best of times, and I was probably exposed to COVID, but I seem fine for now.

On the bright side, a friend of mine recently finished drawing art of Jisara and Thatch! I'm really happy with the result.

I hope you don’t catch it (again?), Jisara. COVID sucks, 0/10, would not recommend.

That’s a great portrait your friend did for you, thanks for sharing it.

Holidays have been chaos at the best of times, and I was probably exposed to COVID, but I seem fine for now.

On the bright side, a friend of mine recently finished drawing art of Jisara and Thatch! I'm really happy with the result.

I'm glad you're not sick yet, hopefully you stay that way!

I wasn’t able to preview my post just now - each time I hit the Preview button, I was sent to the main page for the Forums. The same thing happened when I hit Submit Post, but when I got back to Gameplay, my post had posted. Just make sure you write your posts outside the browser until this gets fixed - I always write my Gameplay posts in another app, but I started this Discussion post in the browser and when I tested the Preview button (same problem), I lost it.

Also, I have to admit, it is pretty discouraging to have a weapon like Reprisal and not be able to land a hit with it. Good thing Chance is so irrepressible.

I really like that picture too, Jisara.

“Maquerade! Ugly faces on parade!

Masquerade! Hide your face so the world won’t have to see it
Masquerade! Cultists of Father Skinsaw
Masquerade! Look out Edrakk, there’s another jerk behind you!”
I should’ve used this song during Barzillai’s ball.

Did you not notice I named the Ruby Masquerade’s social encounter “Paper Faces on Parade”?!