The Journey of a Thousand Miles (Jade Regent AP)

Game Master Sensen

I'll give everyone a chance of posting before we move towards the graveyard (unless you want to go visit the ruins).

I do not remember the character well, but it was certainly something neutral, j%~. But I retired it before ending book 1 and restarted with a paladin. I basically became fed up of not having strength enough to carry the equipment and was always moving so slow, plus not having enough healing to make a hole dungeon without resting.

The paladin worked like a charm though and I completed the game during covid confinement! :D

Goodness always triumphs in the end!

XD I played with a character with a grand total of 7 in strength... lugging loot around was a pain sooo eventually I just had to learn what was worth taking :P

A paladin would have been nice.

I played support.

The game is NOT designed for the main character to play support.

Those solo fights were really... really challenging >.>'

Man, yesterday I went down the Paizo drama rabbit hole

A post will be forthcoming from me tomorrow morning. I'm exhausted.

Aha! I finally found the actual timeline for Brinewall, and my guess was two hundred years off, give or take a few decades. Well, as I said to Yuto, he didn't really study it. Making excuses for my own lack of research.

Oh well, they do not have anything like the Internet those would be heroes, they are constantly making errors while trying to fetch things from memory :)

I'm going to give our other present players more chances to get posts in - I don't want to rush past them, especially on a weekend.

So I was looking to change my character to make use of the thing Yuto showed me as agreed... buuuut I noticed that I have to replace a versatile performance for it. And archivists don't get versatile performance >.>'

Soooo

I guess that's a no go

I also remember Ameiko is an amazing cook! So there is no point in having Riftun know how to cook XD

Any chance I could swap out the cooking knowledge now that I know and have never used it? :)

If you prefer, you can instead invest a feat to take the Divine Fighting Technique feat now or later in order to gain that fighting style. In fact that is the "normal" way, the versatile performance substitution is just a special way for bards through "optional replacement"!

Oh, we have a very nice cook called Lorsk in the caravan. He is trying to find a thing he calls "quick beer" :)

It did have an explosive result last time.

True enough >.>' Mayhaps I will do so

But first!

Are we doing Elephant in the Room or no?

I forget...

Partially because I'm dumb (in like a cute way) but primarily because I just had a super stressful job interview and my brain is friiieeeeddd xD

We are not, unfortunately. I've had enough to juggle without learning all the neat things it does. I would like to experiment with it, but not necessarily as a GM.

Fair enough! Just idle curiosity~

Alrighty, final Riftun build, just swapped out profession (cook) for sleight of hand.

I got ideas~

Sounds good to me.

Did you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat? xD

Oh, well, at least he got a nice view of the keep!

Two questions:

1) If Teruko casts Bless, will it reach Yuto or be blocked by the wall?
2) Does the enemy have partial or total cover?

Trying to figure out what her options are because she ain't passing either of those strength checks :P

The (yellow lined) enemy currently has regular cover from Teruko - she can shoot it, but it will get the +4 AC from the attack.

With regards to bless, it's a 30-foot burst, no? As he's just at the edge of the battlements, I'll rule that it would hit him. It's a close thing, but he'd get its benefits.

Cool, thanks!

I see Torra and Yuto are not in bold but the bird-likes act after them. Is it intentional or shall I go with Yuto's actions?

I also assume Yuto just arrived up and had no time to arm his shield and weapon.

As I'm botting Torra, I wanted to make sure she had a chance to do things too, but... I doubt it's likely that whatever she does will affect Yuto? So in this case, sure. When/if she gets up to join Yuto, I'd ask that you hold off for that, though, just so it's a tad more organized.

Mind you, I think Torra's player is supposed to be back soon? In three days. So at that point, the concerns will be moot, and you'll all be able to go.

And yes, Yuto does not have his sword or shield ready, though with the +1 BAB, he can draw one of them in conjunction with a move action, I think?

EDIT: You can also try to do damage to the gates. They do have hardness and hp, but that's probably not something that anyone other than Torra would be able to take advantage of.

To explain the double natural ones I'm just gonna lean heavily into Riftun being a scaredy-cat xD

Sorry I won't be able to show off my cool bardic performance this fight but maybe next time. In the meantime, thank the gods I took the combat advice feat so I can still do something at least!

Combat Advice is a move action btw so I used it twice in place of a move and standard action.

Also, I didn't state it last time so we'll roll with it like it's been played for now but when Riftun has Heightened Awareness up he'll end it when Initiative is rolled for the +4 bonus.

Though, that does beggar the question. Would I be able to identify a creature with the +2 bonus from the spell before Initiative is rolled and then end the spell for the +4 Initiative bonus? Would appreciate your thoughts~

And yes... I COULD have used my, once per day, 20 on a knowledge check to identify the birbs buuuut I'm saving it for the boss >.>' just in case~

Elvina, I don't think we're doing elephant in the room rules here so you don't add your dexterity to damage rolls.

Combat Advice is a move action btw so I used it twice in place of a move and standard action.

It also requires full sight of the enemy, which I'll allow this time because you rolled high enough on your perception before combat began.

Also, I didn't state it last time so we'll roll with it like it's been played for now but when Riftun has Heightened Awareness up he'll end it when Initiative is rolled for the +4 bonus.

Sure, gotcha. That makes sense.

Though, that does beggar the question. Would I be able to identify a creature with the +2 bonus from the spell before Initiative is rolled and then end the spell for the +4 Initiative bonus? Would appreciate your thoughts~

I'd say that under some circumstances, he could. Like, if he wasn't seen by the creatures in question, or had the chance to converse with them before things spiraled into combat. Otherwise, it'd be one or the other, 'cause initiative takes precedence over knowledge rolling in terms of "urgency" so to speak.

And yes... I COULD have used my, once per day, 20 on a knowledge check to identify the birbs buuuut I'm saving it for the boss >.>' just in case~

Possibly wise! We'll see how it works out for you.

It also requires full sight of the enemy, which I'll allow this time because you rolled high enough on your perception before combat began.

I appreciate that~

I'd say that under some circumstances, he could. Like, if he wasn't seen by the creatures in question, or had the chance to converse with them before things spiraled into combat. Otherwise, it'd be one or the other, 'cause initiative takes precedence over knowledge rolling in terms of "urgency" so to speak.

Seems pretty reasonable to me! Glad we hashed that out :)

Hm, this might prove more challenging than anticipated. Well, if needs must, I do have a way out. And you can always retreat, if you feel like this won't end well.

Teruko, have you really used your Inspiration 3 times already today? I didn't think you had, but I might be wrong.

With the red corby flanking him, I guess Yuto cannot enter the door square with a 5-foot step, can he?

Would be he able to do it with a withdraw (standard full-round) or move action?

Withdraw's a full round action, which would prevent two of the three dire corbies from getting an AoO on you - the red one would still get one when you moved out of the second threatened square. 5-foot stepping is... you could go directly northeast, but you still wouldn't be in the building, and you'd remain vulnerable to being flanked.

One thing one of my other players did in a similar situation is do full defense as a standard action and just take the risk of getting hit by the AoOs. With full defense, and drawing your shield as part of the move action, I think you'd have... AC 24? So they'd only hit on a crit?

Drawing the shiled is a good idea, it would take the move action to draw I think (usually you can only do it freely with weapon-like objects).

I lean towards using a standard full-round action to withdraw into the tower, taking one AoO from red , then drawing the shield so he can strap it on next opportunity. At least that way I think Yuto has a chance fighting them one by one.

And it seems like something the defensively-minded Yuto would do!

I am re-checking the rules about readying a shield and it seems you can strap it to the arm as part of the move action, so maybe it was that what you meant? Still, Yuto has to spend a move action to pick it from his back, right? So move to draw the shield, and move to strap it, which means I am probably better withdrawing this round and preparing the shield to strap it next one (if still alive :D)

EDIT Got confused, withdrawing is a full-round action.

Sure, you can withdraw. There'll only be the one AoO, and it's not terribly likely to hit you when you're not flanked and charged. Mind you, withdrawal only works as a full round action, to my knowledge, so the shield and the like would have to wait until next turn.

Teruko, have you really used your Inspiration 3 times already today? I didn't think you had, but I might be wrong.

One use on the heal check for Ameiko earlier, then the attack roll burned two. So yep, I'm at 2/5.

I don't usually use inspiration for attack rolls unless the situation is truly dire, but I figured having half the castle woken up was enough to warrant turning a 'probably won't hit' into a 'maybe might.'

Ah, right. I forgot that attack rolls take 2. Makes sense, then.

Hey! Sorry to make everyone wait so long. I have overtime at my job so my sleep schedule has changed up a bit but I'm here now~

Sorry to bog you down with questions Aganhei but, new campaign who dis?

Anywho~

So, from what I've seen an 11 misses a Corby but a 13 will hit so that means their AC is somewhere between 12 and 13, just somwthing to keep in mind strategy wise.

Noe, that being said, Teruko and Riftun have the same initiative. I have just seen Teruko rolling an 11 to hit which I know will miss based on what we've seen so the question is... can I use Combat Advice to add the bonus now to secure the hit? Cause it feels a little meta-gamey.

Furthermore. I have three immediate action spells. One grants a reroll on a saving throw, one grants an immediate escape artist attenpt to a grapple or similar effecf, and one grants a competence bonus on attack rolls/skill checks after I've confirmed they've failed. How would you like me to apply these in the future? Cause I might have wanted to help Torra out with that last attack.

Also, the bird bois on the first floor.... were they flat footed last round since they hadn't acted yet? Will help me figure out AC.

Sorry for the question bombardment! Much love! You're doing a great job! :)

Edit: Wait! Their AC is 13 given that Yuto missed on 12 so yeah I'll only be using that immediate action spell if the birdies were flat-footed last round.

I mean, you can use the bonus - it is a bit meta-gamey, but if you think it's something he'd've done - which is a reasonable thing, given he's lost sight of the other three - then go for it. It's not such a huge change that I'd object to it.

As for immediate actions... hm. It's a tough one, especially since they draw from a limited pool. Generally, I don't mind a gentle retcon, if things head in that direction, so if you can get in a post before the round ends/the target acts again, that works. On the other hand, that's not exactly reliable... I'm not wholly sure, honestly.

The birdies weren't flat footed - they'd acted to open the gates, unfortunately.

Unfortunate that the corbies weren't flat-footed but fair enough.

I'll take the less meta-gamey approach this time and buff Torra I think, just to be extra fair.

I do have one possible solution in mind for immediate actions if you don't mind.

I was thinking you could handle them.

For example, if an ally is grappled Riftun WILL use Liberating Command. So you can just factor that in in your post.

Same goes for Saving Finale. If an ally fails a saving throw while Riftun is using his Performance then he WILL use that.

The last one is a little tricky.

I'd say one solution could be that if an ally attacks a monster or makes a skill check and fails by the amount Timely Inspiration can give (which is currently a +1 competence bonus that wont stack with combat advice) then you could factor it in. But, like I said, that one is the tricky one.

Over-all it's up to you~

Gotcha.

On a totally different note, it'll likely be difficult for me to post on Saturdays from now onwards, so I won't ask for more than 1 post over the weekend from any of my players.

Teruko, did you ever settle which revelation you were taking for the Extra Revelation feat?

On this note, I've found that Flesh of Stone would let her get up to DR 2/adamantine at 3rd level with one point of burn - it gets +1 DR for every two levels above level 2, with an additional point if you accept one point of burn.

I realized that I've never actually answered this, apologies. The maximum DR is equal to the kineticist level, so by taking 2 points of burn Torra can get DR 3/adamantine (which she will).

In other news, I'm back and all caught up with the gameplay thread!

Ah, I missed that you could apply more than one burn. Disregard the damage she took, then.

That said, two points of burn is 6 nonlethal at level 3, no? Just to make sure you're aware.

EDIT: Also, once you've caught up, you can post - as can everyone else, because all the NPCs now go after you all. (Poor dire corbies rolled really poorly - I mean, everyone else did, too, with no initiative roll in the double digits, but they rolled the worst.)

Huh. My reading of Elemental Overflow was that you needed to have accepted burn that round, but I guess it doesn't actually specify that...

I guess Torra's been walking around with it suppressed and then reactivated it just now? Seems fair to me.

I'll give Teruko and Elvina a few more hours before I bot them.

I'm actually not sure what I should do. Cackle? Try to move into a position to shoot the corbies on the first level?

You probably should focus on getting rid of the corbys at the lower level before helping Yuto.

So perhaps you can do both things by 5-foot stepping out of reach and then crackling and shooting at the corby attacking Torra?

Do not know, perhaps hexing black is a good option too.

(I think the corby that Elvina hexed with missfortune before is the yellow one who is currently not attacking Yuto, but she has no way of knowing that to be fair.)

Yep, yellow is the one that was hexed. It's also dying, but... she probably knows neither that nor the fact that it can't easily attack Yuto.

That said, the yellow one is out of range of the 30 ft. radius of cackle. I probably should have said that earlier.

Okay that you for the advice. I think Elvina will focus her efforts on the corbies on the first level

Oof. Okay, I'll try to get a post up later tonight, but if not tonight, then tomorrow morning. Sorry, feeling a bit tired this evening.

I'm pretty sure I'm doing ferocity correctly, but man does it make these combats a lot longer than they'd be otherwise.