GM_DBH's Shattered Star

Game Master DBH

I didn't really expect us to get a surprise round, that was generous! I expected more of an ambush or trickery too. Hm...

More an arrogance round. She knew you were coming but thought she was in control of what was going to happen.

The routine in the past has been has been adventurers enter and gape her her, then get charmed. You knew she was there and that she wasn't Sorshen.

And then you all beat her initiative anyway. :(

Beast Totem, Lesser (Su): While raging, the barbarian gains two claw attacks. These attacks are considered primary attacks and are made at the barbarian’s full base attack bonus. The claws deal 1d6 points of slashing damage (1d4 if Small) plus the barbarian’s Strength modifier.

Beast Totem (Su): While raging, the barbarian gains a +1 natural armor bonus. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the barbarian has attained. A barbarian must have the lesser beast totem rage power to select this rage power. A barbarian must be at least 6th level to select this rage power.

Beast totem is +3 currently.

Man, I totally forgot about all that. Thanks for the reminder.

@GM DBH if the above is true, I wanted to ask what happens to summoned creatures under the effects of rage song. Raw they gain claw attacks in addition to their other attacks. Is that correct? Is there some logical restriction of the creature needing to have arms to gain claw attacks or does the song just magically make them grow them?

I'm going to rule against Snakes getting claw attacks. They don't have anywhere to put them and are a bit sensitive about it. "Ooooh, look at me! I've got hands."

Fair enough. If i may ask, i buffed everyone's weapons with communal align weapon: good prior to entering the room. Does she still resist bharak's weapon damage if aligned to good? If not, does she still survive?

@Elena. A good thing to point out. She doesn't resist Bharaks weapon then. She is still alive though, just looking very wounded now. :)

Sorry, I've been rushing around all day and am exhausted. No update.

I apologize to GM DBH if the extensive defensive preparations ruined this encounter or the fun. I guess it's just what happens when a full support caster has all spells available and knows exactly when and where the fight with the BBEG will happen along with advance knowledge of what the BBEG probably is (a demon/succubus).

Regarding the buffs, if everyone agrees I'll just call out active buffs in combat posts with bolded text from now. It seems calling them out beforehand doesn't work too well, which is completely understandable given the nature of PBP.

As a martial without that good of a will save…I just want to say this is why support casters are MVPs

@Elena. Just the way things work out. She knew you were coming and did cast several defensive spells to prepare. But is so arrogantly deluded, and rolled so poorly in her initiative that the party got the jump on her and laid the smack down.

It happens, this time it was in your favor. :)

@Bharak Thanks. Tbh that is also why i prefer to play supports game-mechanically; why make just your own character awesome when you can make *everyone else* more awesome too?

That said bit of luck applies to all your d20 rolls for a round. So you can reroll all your missed attacks if you wish.

@Dbh I see. Well, it happens then :) She was pretty hard to hit at ac 28, ill give her that.

Oh…wow. That’s amazing. :D

You guys are toast. Me and my new buddy maybe-Sorshen are going to mess you up.

It's not Axton Elathras is worried about, he's messing up himself...

@Dbh thanks for the explanation, i didn't know that.

I think that even with the +3 morale bonus to willsaves (or 2 from.good hope) from raging song and the +2 resistance bonus from prot vs evil, both Elatthras and Axton still fail it. Well, gotta think of something else then, as especially elathras has a very real chance to just instakill someone on the wrong roll/attack rolls.

@Dbh i'm not sure how many of my summons would have been hit by confusion, were any? They were adjacent to/surrounding Sorshen last turn so logically she can probably include at least one or two. Unsure if it matters; but i'll roll it randomly below as snake 2 and 3 seemingly did relevant damage to it/her.

which snakes were confused: 2d4 ⇒ (1, 4) = 5

I guess the lady of luck is with Elena as the only summons who actually hit seemingly were not targeted by the confusion, so then 45-61 damage between the two seems to stand.

confusion save snake 1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
confusion save snake 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
1d100: 1d100 ⇒ 45
1d100: 1d100 ⇒ 47

And the other two slither incoherently. :)

I think Bharak's iterative then might hit at 27 since snake 2 then presumably grabs her which might lowers her ac by 2.

Do the snakes provide flanking? Because that would be another +2, which would make the iterative hit.

reminds me of this

I dont know; snake 4 ran around Sorshen to flank, but i dont know if it still does under confusion.

Edit,: haha yean, that comic seems very fitting :) I guess that's the fate of the supports though, to explicitely call out all your buffs and have them be forgotten anyway. It just works less well in pbp than tabletop, but i'm doing my best to keep the cast spells relevant.

I think that even with the +3 morale bonus to willsaves (or 2 from.good hope) from raging song and the +2 resistance bonus from prot vs evil, both Elatthras and Axton still fail it.

I used to be better at tracking buffs that affected my characters. I would list them and their durations at the bottom of each combat post. I should start doing that again.

And the downside of the many Buffers comes out. Several rounds later the player suddenly goes - "Hold on. I hit!"

And then you have to rewind. :(

Do the snakes provide flanking? Because that would be another +2, which would make the iterative hit.

reminds me of this

Lol! Man, that comic trips me out. Funny stuff. :)

Umazara, do you want that wand of dimension door? It's on the skald spell list.

I went and updated the sell list. Not taking the items just found into account (in the final treasure room), and not selling any potions/scrolls/wands or other particularly noteworthy items not claimed yet (I.E like the second Lens of Detection or a +1 composite longbow), the total sell value of items is 16660 gold per person. Some of the items there are quite valueable so sell but probably best to see if someone claims them (like the Keen Guisarme or the Orb of consumption for perhaps axton).

This assumes the reward for the pathfinder society for handing in notes on Sorshen's final resting place is worth 8 k gold in total, not 8 k each. But @GM_DBH please correct me if I'm wrong.

As for the final found items, the only ones Elena can use are the boots of acrobatics and the +1 light fortification mythral breastplate. The latter would give her a -1 penalty to attack rolls and dex/str checks, but she rarely attacks on her own and it'd boost her AC by 3 points. I'm fine with the melee frontline taking it though as I assume it's also an upgrade for Bharak.

So much loot...thank you elena for keeping track.

(1) Lens of Destruction: Bharak has claimed this. I believe that it is accounted for in my profile (+5 perception and survival for the party rogue? Yes, please!)

(2) The mithril breastplate is a tough one for me. I'm not sure if Bharak will be pushing dex at all. Right now he goes to Dex16 when raging, and that is enough for his current breastplate. Though having less ACP is always nice. Why does Elena have penalties in the breastplate, I thought as a cleric she gets medium armor proficiences?

Perhaps Bharak could take the mithril breastplate and can give Elena his current +1 breastplate? So long as she has medium armor proficiency, that will still be +3 AC for her, and Bharak can get the lessened ACP (better stealth, disable device).

(3) I'd say go for the boots. Elena having more mobility is certainly good for the party.

(4) The blue rhomboid ioun stone is pretty nice. +2 enchantment bonus to Str without using the belt slot. I suppose that instead of Elena making Bharak a belt of strength, she could instead make him a belt of dex. With the mithril armor, it would give Bharak +1 AC, to include when raging and it would push his strength up to 19.

@Bharak Np!

Elena's herald caller archetype trades away medium and shield proficiency; she only has light armor. But she would happily take a the mithral-reduced -1 penalty to att/physical skill rolls in return for 3 ac and light fortification. Dex is her secondary/'attack' stat so she would probably get the dex belt soon for added benefit. Her current armor is a nonmagical mw chain shirt. Attack is in parenthesis here as Elena very rarely attacks on her own, she prefers to use buffs like the luck domain's bit of luck to make martials or someone who needs a saving throw roll all d20'2 twice for a turn.

Yeah, I noticed the str bit too; you could if you wanted give the +2 str-boosting/once a day haste casting sihedron to Elathras and take the str belt + this new shard that gives improved init and bonus saves vs enchantments. But i'll happily make you a dex belt instead if that has your preference.

I've not given the 'loot list' too hard of a look, But Elathras isn't interested in the breastplate, and may only bump dex slightly to get another AoO, he's at thirteen and took Combat reflexes without thinking.

presently he's carrying the +1 cold iron ranseur and the + 1 keen longsword. He has a cold iron longsword, so he will 'Trade' the ranseur and longsword for the Keen Guisarme +1.

Does enough people have 'dark vision' to make keeping the Goggles of night wothwhile?

Edit: Also possibly interested in the Boots of striding and springing. Sorry just noticed Elena was 'carrying' them, if she's going to keep them that's fine.

If the boots are good for Elatrhras he can take it, Elena would use it to acrobatics away from enemies though admittedly it hasn't come up yet. I *would* like Elena to also have something she could use; Divine caster gear seems to be pretty rare in this module, looking at things, and i think the only pieces of gear she picked up in book 2 were the second lens of detection and a scroll of heal. Though it probably plays a role that Elena is locked into very specific gear (normally only light armor, her exotic weapon type spear, glaives and generic stat boosters). I don't know what sort of loot would be specifically tailored to summoner/healers.

I was thinking a 30 ft move would be fun, but if Bharak is only moving at 20, then no reason to get in front of my cover...

Bharak has +10ft movement speed from barbarian. So he's going at 30ft move speed, which is more than enough.

There's also a boots of speed btw, for 10 rounds/day free action access to haste? From sorshen's body.

Umazara, do you want that wand of dimension door? It's on the skald spell list.

Sure. Might come in handy.

Uma has a +1 rapier y'all can add to the "sell" pile.

Alright! So…Bharak takes the breastplate and pale blue rhomboid Ioun stone. He gives his +1 breastplate to Elena. She makes him a belt. He has 17405 + 686 = 18091 gold. That’s a lot!

(1) Belt of Dex +4: 8000 gold.
- Dex12. Becomes Dex16. Rage makes it Dex20. Max dex with breastplate is +5. So that’s the perfect amount. In the future I’d upgrade it to be a belt of Dex and Con, so he’d have enchantment bonuses to all 3 stats.
(2) Cloak of resistance goes from +1 to +3. 8000 gold.
2091 gold left.

A good tank is AC20+level. Bharak becomes AC24, goes up to AC26 when raging. Either his rage or inspired rage. That’s good enough.

Can Bharak add a material to his hammer? Was thinking of spending 800 to make the hammer head liquid glass. A self-repairing weapon is great to have.

Also I forgot that his shard of greed gives haste 1/day. Should remember that.

Anyways, if the numbers are right then that’s my plan.

There's also a boots of speed btw, for 10 rounds/day free action access to haste? From sorshen's body.

Haste ten times a day wouldn't be bad, Elena if you prefer the Boots of striding and springing Elathras would use the boots of speed.

All right, I'll take the acrobatics boots then if Elathras takes the haste boots. Adding his keen longsword and old ranseur to the sell list adds 7.3 k, adding Uma's rapier adds 1.15 k, Bharak's old breastplate adds 725 g. That puts the total gold at 18495 each.

@Everyone remember that if we buy items from the market in Magnimar, we have a 10% discount on everything from a story reward in book 1. Also, no one has yet claimed the new sihedron to use. Bharak and I already have a different one. This new one with its ioun stone adds +2 saves vs enchantments, +4 initiative and +2 enhancement to charisma. That's pretty good in general, maybe best for Umazura though?

@DBH I assume this discount bonus from the merchant/market princess does not reduce raw materials/item crafting costs by 10%? Or does it? Also, a while ago I asked if items or feats that increased the effectiveness of bardic performances were allowed and if so, which ones. Could I have an answer to this for character planning?

The items that boost bardic performance are, AFAIK, The Three Reasons to Live, the dervish sikhe and the Banner of Ancient kings (does that work on a branched spear with reach)? The feats are master performer and grandmaster performer - normally those require membership of a certain academy, can fame/prestige for the pathfinders work towards that in this campaign?

@Bharak That's a kind offer, though the breastplate by itself isn't that good for me as Elena doesn't have medium armor proficiency. A -3 penalty to attack rolls and str/dex checks from a normal breastplate is a lot more severe than the mithral penalty of -1. I guess selling it would help though. Especially with craft woundrous item available, it's probably more efficient for elena to just craft a dex belt +2, a ROP +1 and Amulet of Nat armor +1 along with getting her chain shirt enchanted to +1 before getting a mythral breastplate.

The Three Reasons to Live, the dervish sikhe and the Banner of Ancient kings

I've never even heard of those items. I'm not sure I could see Uma using those things. But, to be fair, I've no idea what they are. The "Dervish" thing sounds like a weapon. The first one sounds like a book and the last, I would guess, is a flag of some sort. *shrugs*

This new one with its ioun stone adds +2 saves vs enchantments, +4 initiative and +2 enhancement to charisma.

Sure. I'll take it if no one else wants it.

If any of you want it, just say so. All good to me.

Shard of lust:

Curse:... While the owner wears any sort of armor or magic item that occupies the body slot, he is staggered.

Does that mean she'll be staggered if she's wearing armor?

Edit: OH, Elathras does not want it... for that curse or the other...

Is that what it's called? And is that what it really does? And what ioun stone is with it if there is an ioun stone with it?

And keep that Bag of Holding Type II. We need that. Uma will carry it if no one else wants to.

The Orb of Consumption sorta feel like an evil item. Elena suggested Axton carry it, but it seems to me that it draws potential enemies to surround Axton. What happens to them after someone touches the orb? Then they're hostile and right next to him. Maybe if he uses it while invisible?

Are there ways to use it that I'm not considering? I'm tempted to recommend us selling it.

Axton could hang on to the Whispering Coin, though. That items seems like it would be fun.

Let's hang on to the three pairs of Dust pouches and the Immovable Rod, too. I recommend Axton carry one Dust of Appearance and Umazara or Elena carries the second. We might need those in a hurry. The two Dusts of Illusion and the two Dusts of Dryness can go in the Bag of Holding, but I'm fine with selling one of each of them if we need the cash. The immovable rod should go in the Bag of Holding, also. If nothing else, it's a quick way to hold a door close, pin someone to the floor, or climb up something in a hurry.

Elathras, if you want the Goggles of Night Vision, go for it. I haven't checked who else can see in the dark, but I'm assuming it's only Bharak and Umazara. (And Elena has low-light vision.) Axton won't be in the front lines if we get hit by magical darkness or whatever. If worse comes to worse, Axton's familiar has scent and can communicate which directions threats are coming from to Axton.

I'm fine with selling the Ring of minor electricity resistance eventually, but if a frontliner has a ring slot open, why not wear it just in case?

I think that's everything that hasn't been already discussed.

@Elena. I had to do a bit of digging for the answers to your many questions :).

The 10% sadly doesn't apply to raw materials and crafting costs. While she is the Princess of the market Sabriyya Kalmeralm can't offer that much of a discount. People have to make a living. :)

Items that boost Bardic performance are allowed. The Pathfinder society has a lot of Bards among its members. Searching for history and mysteries is very Bardic. Finding these items available for sale is another matter.

As for the feats you mentioned? Currently there is someone in the Magnimar Pathfinder society who can train you for the Master Performer feat. it will cost you 10 prestige points.

You each currently have 20 prestige points with the Pathfinder society for your efforts so far.

Since a Branched spear has reach it is long enough to mount the Banner of ancient kings. You would have to fiddle a little to make sure it doesn't catch on the branches. :)

Remember you also get the rewards from Ayavah the sculptor.

Reward: Retrieving and selling the following items from under the Lady's Light earns the PCs full gp value for each item, a minimum of 10 rubbings taken from the door at area K3 (these also net a 250gp reward), the incense burner from area L18, and the unholy symbol of Nocticula from area L18.

So Ayavah pays full price for the items that are important to her. That's 3000gp for the incense burner and 1000gp for the unholy symbol of Nocticula for a total of 4000gp.

There is no cash reward from Sabriyya Kalmeralm for setting up the herb and spices deal with the Troglodytes, but keeping the woman who runs a large market friendly means your chances of the things you want to buy being available are much higher.

What about the Shard? Is it really the Shard of Lust? And is there an ioun stone with it?

It is the shard of lust. Sheila Heidmarch gave you the Pink & Green Ioun stone to attach to it so it is safe to have in your possession. IE - No curse of lust. :)

@ DBH thanks for the answers! What about the quest to get Ayavah (was she the sculptor?) drawings of the Succubi? Is that the 'rubbings from the door room' mentioned above or is that a seperate quest? I thought I was supposed to cast make whole on a statue guardian we destroyed and then draw that or take that to her. And is that 250 g total or 2500 g total?

@ Umazura

The Dervish Sikke*, made a typo so apologies

The flag

The three reasons to live

The master performer feat

These are mostly bard and skald items. The flag is really, really good for someone using a reach weapon (works on longspears per description, DBH allowed Elena's branched spear to work) assuming you also ualify for the flagbearer feat. A permanent +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls to yourself and allies within 30 ft as well as granting +4 init to you and increasing your bardic performance by 4 levels. Pretty much the best item a non-archer bard (or skald?) can use IMHO. It's so good I'm considering retraining Elena to where she could use it, though she misses a feat for it and would need to boost her charisma to 15 somehow. It's easier to get for Uma; any reason she wouldn't use a reach weapon?

@Axton rereading the orb, it may be better to just sell it yeah. It's essentially a cheaper, conditional +4 cha headband that requires you to expose yourself to danger to activate it for allegedly most of the day. My initial reading was that the +4 cha was *per point of inflicted damage*, which seemed beyond insane, but that's just the hours of duration.

Updating the new rewards, I think I already counted Nocticula's symbol as 1000 g. The incense burner is 3 k and wasn't on it yet. Selling the orb of corruption adds 5 k more. That brings the total to 21000 g for each of us. I'll wait on hearing if the rubbings are 250 each or total and if there the succubi drawings are a seperate reward.

@Elena. Yes, the rubbings are the quest for Ayavah.

From the description of the door at K3: The buttons themselves depict Runelord Sorshen conjuring succubi and binding them into all matter of
objects, structures, and carvings. A successful DC20 Knowledge (arcana) check is enough to confirm that the images depict a powerful wizard infusing objects and locations within the Lady's Light with succubi, likely to power magical effects and traps, to serve as guardians, or simply to punish the succubi.

So the rubbings are the Succubi drawings Ayavah is seeking. It is 250gp for the set. :)

Also: The central panel depicts Sorshen binding a particularly powerful-looking succubus into what would seem to be the scepter held aloft by the Lady's Light. When this panel is pushed, it glows softly as Thassilonian writing appears along the panel's upper edge, spelling the phrase "Ayandamahla is bound to the
Light for all ages" as the door itself swings open.

As you found out in M3 Ayandamhla found a way to break the binding and left her daughter Ashamintallu to take her place.

Cool. Well, that makes the final total with all items currently marked as sold 21245 g each, including all quests. Also I am assuming the 8 k/8 prestige reward for warning the city about weaknesses is 8 k total gold, not 8 k per person?

@Everyone Elena can craft woundrous magic items, but it'll be limited by how much time we have before moving on. She can craft at a rate of 2000 g progress per day until we reach level 9. So while Bharak's +2 dex belt is done before we exit (I need one long rest to free the maidens from their stone prison with stoneshape), from there I don't know how long we can craft before the next mission prompt comes up/how much downtime we have.

@DBH Unless crafting time between missions/books is waived?

One other thing is how long until we can use the +2 int tome again, it's been around 5 days since Bharak used it and it can be used once per month.

It is 8000gp total for warning Korvosa.

You will have 2-3 weeks down time in Magnimar before starting off on the next book.

25 days till the book can be used again.

All right. Then, on average, that is 18 days of crafting time. If we divide that evenly, that's 3 days of crafting time per person and we'd have 3 days leftover. Unless someone donates crafting days to others.

So everyone could buy up to 6000 g of woundrous items at half price if Elena crafts them and we'd have an extra 6000 g at half price for a some more expensive woundrous items.

I.E. everyone could get a headband or belt of their stat of choice +2 for 2k gold and a ring of protection +1 or amulet of natural armor for 1 k.

I'm not sure that is the best way to do it, but very big projects like +4 stat items would take six days and I think Elena would try to help everyone with smaller ones over 1 big one for a small number of people unless there are some in the group who don't care/donate crafting days to others.

At level 9 Elena will get a familiar which will increase her crafting speed to 4k/day so holding out for now is also a pretty reasonable suggestion. The only thing she would really like for herself is having a dervish Sikhe crafted (req 5 days) before or at reaching level 9 as that would make her inspire courage +2 when she gets it at level 9.

Alright! Bharak will wear the breastplate, use the Ioun stone, and will hang on to the ring of acid resistance. I suppose the ring will go well for him, given that he will have fire and cold resistance soon.

21,245 gold each. Half price on belt of Dex +2, 10% off other purchases. Bharak has a total of 22,606 gold. Goes down to 20,606 after the belt.

Then getting a ring of protection +1 for 1000 gold. And an amulet of natural armor +1 for 1000 gold. So 18,606 left. Everything +1 on the Christmas tree except a headband. Which isn’t worth it for him because he isn’t a caster.

Next comes Deliquescent Gloves for 7,200 gold. 11,406 gold left. So buying a headband of fortune’s favor for 6930 gold. This is a must-have. +1 to all saving throws and *BIT OF LUCK* lasts for 2 rounds! 4476 gold left. Sleeves of many garments makes it 4296. Upgrading buckler to +2, leaving me with 1596 gold. Goes down to 1552 with upgrading backpack to masterwork

This is great, as he is now AC26/28 when raging. A good tank is AC20+level, so he is not hitting this metric. Upgrades to Str, damage and save as well? Bharak made out well from this adventure. As the bearer of the shard of greed he must be feeling pretty sated. And I’d like to thank everyone for the armor/ioun stone/ring.

Wow, I didn't know the headband of fortune's favor existed; that is indeed really, REALLY good with bit of luck :O Almost like a Witch's fortune hex castable multiple times on the same person per day! The only downside is not being able to get a regular headband but I suppose that isn't a huge loss for most martials if it also boosts their saves anyway?

Let's see about Elena: she had 1576 g left but also already used 2 k to craft her headband previously. So that leaves her 20821 after selling the loot and crafting the +2 wis headband earlier.

Makes a dex belt: 2 k, a ROP 1 k, amulet of nat armor 1800. Total: 4800 g and gives her 20 ac, which is a start to fix her defenses. Leaves 16021.

She needs 11 k gold total to craft both the dervish sikhe by level 9 and a +4 headband by level 10, but we need to survive to there first so investing in defenses now might be wiser. It's probably best to also buy a +1 mithral breastplate which gets her to 23 ac for 4770 g, leaving 11251. Selling MW chain mail > +125.If she sells her MW Dagger and instead equips the unclaimed +1 adamantine dagger that gets 11528.

AC 23 is okay-ish at level 8 for a backliner I think, so rather than invest more in AC I'll go for saves first. The Lucky Horse Shoe grants a +1 luck bonus to all saves and an extra +3 bonus to one save per day for 6.12k. Since she has fate's favored (but never really used it) those boni are increased by 1 so that's a bargain imo, better than an actual +3 cloak of resistance. Leaves 5408 g, or 408 g spare when putting aside mats for the dervish sikhe.

*Technically* it would be more optimal to abandon the semi-reach cleric angle and dropping the reach weapon in favor of a shield, but for now I like the idea of being able to hit fairly hard if ever needed and getting some extra attacks through AoO's if anyone ever gets past the frontline.

@Everyone if everyone agrees I'll use the remaining 3 days of crafting time to get started on the dervish sikhe for Elena, which at level 9 increases the inspire courage bonus from +1 to +2, which should benefit everyone.