GM_DBH's Shattered Star

Game Master DBH

Are you sure? We have a lot more gold value on our characters than Vhane seems to have.

If y'all don't mind Vhane having it then that's cool with me. I'll gladly snag it.

But if not, then no worries at all. It's all good to me either way.

Sorry for going quiet. Had a family get together over the weekend and of course someone was carrying a cold but 'Didn't want to miss everyone.'

So naturally I'm now flat on my back with an awful head cold. Seems to be letting up but the weather down here is cold so I'm staying warm in bed.

Hopefully should be back tomorrow.

I was a little too optimistic regarding recovery time. I've had an awful few days with this cold. Managed to not go to pneumonia thankfully.

Spent most of my time sleeping as being awake was unpleasant.

Hi, storms in the area have knocked out power and cell service. Authorities are saying that these outages could last for days. I’ll chime when I can post again. Feel free to bot me if needed.

Hi, I'm back. We just got our internet back yesterday. I'll catch up on my games by this weekend at the latest.

Sorry to hear that DBH. Sounds miserable.

And welcome back Axton!

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For shopping, is there anything that is off limits for purchasing? I'm still figuring it out. Also, is anyone thinking of getting a teamwork feat? If so, I might get a dwarven commander's helmet.

Best Teamwork feat for Fighters & Rogues has to be Outflank.

Elathras has Precise Strike and at 9th level adds another teamwork feat, I was planning on outflank.

I have thought about getting those feats yes, since as a caster you can use Shared Training to share a teamwork feat with the entire party for 10 minutes/level, which imo is highly underrated and underused. There's lots of good choices both offensively and defensively. Like Back to back or shield wall to give everyone huddling up/sstarting close together large bonusses to saving throws or AC, escape route to prevent enemies from being able to take AoO's, lookout to prevent surprise attacks and the ever popular outflank/paired opportunists combo.

Unfortunately both my level 9 and 11 feats are set in getting and improving inspire courage. I can get *one* teamwork feat by investing tons of money into a training weapon enchant, which I'm not sure is worth it at present. Though I'm sure there will be that one time an enemy caster dominates one of the casters in a surprise attack which leads to a death that might have been prevented had the +4 bonus to all saves from back to back been in effect :)

Right, in that case I'll spend 10k on this:

Dwarf Commander's Helm

The following wondrous item is generally available only to members of the indicated race or ethnicity.

If the wearer is a dwarf, she can choose any teamwork feat she possesses to grant in this way. The helm can grant no more than one feat at a time; when a new feat is granted, all subjects lose any previously granted feat.

The Helm will have Precise Strike, as Elathras already has it. Plus the prerequisites are so easy that if needed, anyone in the party can benefit from it with the command word.

Assuming that this is allowed? I'll get a post written up shortly explaining how he gets his hands on it.

Post is up and purchase made. He and Elathras will make an even better team.

Now he can just hope that some better weapons drop in the future. With APs like this, I always feel very hesitant to upgrade a weapon when a better one might be found.

Post is up and purchase made. He and Elathras will make an even better team.

Now he can just hope that some better weapons drop in the future. With APs like this, I always feel very hesitant to upgrade a weapon when a better one might be found.

So true, on both counts :)

Hey Elena, I need help navigating the loot sheet, please.

All (non-pure money) items unmarked or equipped are still in party inventory.

So, that statement counts for everything on the list, not just the items above that statement?

Earlier in the thread, you said we each have 11,651 (or 14,563 if we sell the wings), but the loot sheet says 22,245 each?

(I vote for selling the wings.)

The orb of consumption (row 129) is still marked for Axton, but we earlier agreed to sell it.

Regarding the dust of dryness and dust of illusion (rows 132 and 133): We have two of each. Earlier I suggested we sell one of each, and that certain people hang onto the remainder, but I don't think anyone has taken me up on that. So to make it simple, Axton will just carry both doses of each of them.

Axton is interested in claiming the wand of false life (row 175). Will this affect the gp payout?

I want to sell a few of Axton's wands that aren't that effective now that we're no longer at low levels. How have we been handling that: have we just been selling our own items and pocketing the cash, or are we adding it to the loot list? I don't want to cheat anyone, but I don't want to make things more complicated than they need to be.

Apologies for all of this; I missed the discussion earlier when my power was out.

FYI, I'm claiming the annoying dhampir's spellbook on row 42 of the loot list. I've marked it as such.

@Axton:

The 22245 was a reference to how much gold each of us had to spend at the end of book 2. I posted the sell value of how much each of us had to spend back then in tje discussion thread too. As in, everything we sold at the end of book 2 amounted to 22245 gold each. I didn't keep track of who bought what and how much others have left of that obviously as I feel that is everyone's own responsibility. I think the sell value of the orb was added into things back then.

We are currently in book 3. The sell value of everything we found in the mansion was around 11,6 k. That is assuming we sell the wings. The table also shows a seperate entry specifying this stating if we we don't sell the wings, we'd instead get around 9 k. We only get 14.x k if Umazura/Vhane passes on their share. But I think the consensus is that Vhane gets Umazura's share so that leaves 11-ish k each as the excel sheet states.

Okay, all that makes sense, thanks.

Is it too late to claim the wand of false life?

@Bharak. The lesser version of that helm is fine.

Okay, Axton's shopping is done. I sold some of the 1st-level spell wands and bought the following:

Spring Loaded Wrist Sheath for 5 gp

Mnemonic Vestment for 500 gp

Wand of fly (6th level, 10 charges) for 2,250 gp

Wand of Monster Summoning IV (15 charges) for 6,300 gp

Belt of Physical Might +2 (Dex/Con) for 10,000 gp

DBH, This last one means that Axton's initiative and AC have gone up by 1.

I'm fine with continuing to the next area/investigation. If Elathras wants to continue the conversation with Elena we can, also fine with leaving it for later. I think from Elena's perspective, his reaction to her drawing of him is a bit of a sore point, even if they just remain friends. It Doesn't have to be adressed or resolved but it probably stunts further development either way until it is.

I was going to continue the conversation as we moved along, just wasn't sure if we were ready to go.

I'll respond tonight, sorry. Have had a couple of rough days and not much time or energy to post. Good post though!

I'm loving these insights into Elathras and how Elena is drawing them out.

I'm loving these insights into Elathras and how Elena is drawing them out.

For pity sake, stop encouraging her...

You're asking the priestess of a love goddess to ignore what appears to be self-loathing dangling in front of her like a carrot on a stick. :')

That said, if you truly want me to stop asking about it OOC, then I will, of course.

self-loathing dangling in front of her like a carrot on a stick. :')

LOL, no I'm happy to let Elena ask to her hearts content. I don't know how much deeper you can plumb though. He has a Lawful evil aunt that he shares a family resemblance with. He both admires and fears her. He wants to keep the best of what he learned from her: bravery, loyalty and order; but not be cruel or manipulative.

That part I had figured out when we started the whole deeper 'self loathing' Conversation which came about when he told her to keep the drawing and she asked why.

So, we have someone who does not particularly like the way they look, based on how they were treated as a child by the person they respect the most. Someone who values actions more than appearances. Someone who, before he became a pathfinder, was not accepted by his culture and did not make friends easily. Someone who intentionally lives a very spartan lifestyle not valuing possessions as 'memento's but as tools.

"How about I draw a likeness of you as a memento? I'll make it a good enough one to serve as my devotion to art for the day. Plus, you seem like you'd make a good model, no?"

Lastly, we have Lawful good person who was told one thing (the drawing was for her as a memento) and once the drawing was done was offered to him instead.

The last aspect of this, I think he would have subconsciously felt like he was being manipulated. She wanted him to have it, so she told him it was for her. Now OOC I can say all that. I'm not sure he would say that in Character, nor have I figured out the best way to do so.

He wouldn't want to hurt Elena, nor would he want to damage their relationship. I think as an adult he would understand the difference between intentional manipulation to get one's own way and someone feeling or saying one thing then changing their mind.

Since I think this aspect of his reaction is subconscious, I'm not sure he would actually know that this part of how he's reacting is due to the 'manipulation.' Putting the shadow of how he'd been treated in the past over the situation of someone new he both likes and respects.

I think subconsciously he sees the best part of Elena similar to the best parts of his aunt: Strong female leader, gifted, smart, driven. And in the best ways different. His aunt was religious for power, Elena truly likes her god. His aunt was militant her art was war, Elena's art is art. His aunt was plain, spartan, intentionally drab in her facial appearance, Elena seems to be intentionally pretty. His aunt didn't care how he felt or what he thought, Elena cares about both. I don't think he can subconsciously deal with the idea that Elena used any form of manipulation, which his aunt was very good at.

Sadly, since all of this last paragraph is what I think would be going on in his subconscious, I've no Idea how to put it in his thoughts nor have him speak it in game. He would clearly blame himself for any fault not even thinking that he may be reacting to being manipulated.

Interesting! That is very insightful.

Reading back that scene, I think I simply forgot in between posts or during the writing of one of the longer ones that it was meant only for her and not Elathras. I guess I can write that off as Elena's chaotic tendencies making her change her mind during the process. Or use the alternative solution of there being multiple sketches during the following scene and that she felt bad about not giving one to him as well as a gift of sorts.

I don't think Elena would ever intentionally try to manipulate Elathras in some way. The most she would probably do is show concern for his well-being. As he has dropped a number of mentions that the Hellknights do not seem to be that nice of a group to be in, what with the 'hide your wounds from your healer' instructions and now this revelation with his aunt.

the Hellknights do not seem to be that nice of a group to be in,

LOL, you think :)

Back when they had the original discussion I tried to consider his motivation. Generally, If I'm making someone 'good' there is a reason; kind friends, good family, adore a 'good god,' that sort of thing.

And while his parents were kind to him, I think Elathras is 'good' because he knew most of the folks he was associated with weren't, and he didn't want to be like them. Fortunately, his order is the one that kills monsters, not one of the ones that enforce the other sort of views associated with Hellkights.

So now I'm wondering what happens if Elathras leaves the 'hellknights' and just starts taking the 'fighter' class.

It would be fun character growth, and a nice plot point should he ever run into anyone from his past.

But if you are leaving Cavalier, you could also look at Chevalier Prestige Class. Only 3 levels, but gain immune to fear, immune to poison, smite evil, better charging, and better defenses vs enchantments. Plus, and this is just speaking from my own point of view, in choosing to not go Hellknight, it seems like a thematic option.

That said, fighter is also a great option, given that your archetype for cavalier would stack with fighter weapon training. Which fighter archetypes are you eying?

I actually hadn't looked at any Archetype, I was just pondering if Elathras would consider leaving his 'hellknight' order, happy to just be a pathfinder and free of the old life.

At this point I don't think he'd do it, but as he matures and spends more time away from the 'order' maybe he would?

I'll look at Chevalier and maybe some fighter archetypes. Are you familiar with any that would synergies with a polearm well? Or maybe he should double up on something else.

I actually hadn't looked at any Archetype, I was just pondering if Elathras would consider leaving his 'hellknight' order, happy to just be a pathfinder and free of the old life.

At this point I don't think he'd do it, but as he matures and spends more time away from the 'order' maybe he would?

I'll look at Chevalier and maybe some fighter archetypes. Are you familiar with any that would synergies with a polearm well? Or maybe he should double up on something else.

polearm master

Main part is at lvl 2 you can turn off 'reach' from your polearms. Very useful.

Spear Fighter

At lvl 3 gives you swashbuckler’s opportune parry and riposte deed when using a spear.

Phalanx Soldier

Allows you to use a two handed polearm as a one handed weapon. Which kind of sucks, given that you could just use shield brace to use a shield two handed with a shield.

So…Cavalier 8
Chevalier 3 (immune to fear, immune to poison, smite evil, better charging, and better defenses vs enchantments)
Polearm Fighter 9 (gives you flexible flanker, +2 hit, +2 damage (+4/+4 when readied action), and only -2 when making your weapon not reach)

The neat thing is that all together it is versatile. +6 hit and +2 damage when charging, and +4 hit/+4 damage when readied action.

Anyways that would just be a suggestion. The planned Hellknight prestige class is tasty as well. Something I'd always meant to try but never got a chance for.

Him leaving the hellknight order sounds like great character development and in-line with some of his quotes, I'd say. Then again since Elena was the one directly asking about this I suppose I might be biased.

Regarding 'fighter' class options, first there's always the Slayer base class which seems in-line with his order's penchant for being focused around killing monsters. Slayer is a very powerful martial class and you could take I.E. take a ranger combat style like Menacing or Two-handed weapon as slayer talents. The Vanguard Archetype seems very similar to the cavalier, just as a Slayer instead of cavalier.

Staying with Fighter though, Bharak's options are good but I'd probably go Weapon master instead. Weapon master has a hidden benefit that it qualifies for the advanced weapon training feat at level 4 and those options are very strong. Especially Warrior Spirit and Weapon Specialist, which respectively allow you to enchant your weapon with I.E. bane or ghost touch like a magus and grant your (Weapon Training bonus - thus increased by the gloves of dueling) as a number of free bonus feats for polearms/spears. There's also weapon and item mastery feats which allow options fighters do not normally have, such as vision mastery to see invisible enemies, or cut from the air to attempt to parry incoming ranged attacks at no cost. As a side benefit, weapon master also increase your weapon training bonus 2 levels faster than normal fighters.

Also, regarding polearm master, there is the Weapon trick (Haft Bash) feat which functions almost as well as the polearm master fighter's option to fight in melee with his polearm.

That weapon trick is awesome! Completely replaces polearm master <makes mental note for future builds> With that weapon master is certainly better.

As for slayer? I love the class. It just needs 7 levels for swift action studied target. Without that it always feels abit awkward with action economy, unless you can get off sneak attacks regularly .

Weapon Master 3 then brawler would also be great to pick up item mastery feats on the fly…

Sorry, rushed off my feet today. No time to update.

So, with the information we have on this pool, my suggestion would be to leave it and not risk insanity on someone. It can be argued that we are on a clock to find the missing other adventurers and can probably discover most important things ourselves.

However, we *can* technically do it and keep asking questions until it goes wrong at the price of a heal cast and some gold (@GM assuming CL11/Heal spellcasting is available in this city?). Elena, with the highest willsave, speaks Thassilonean. So she (or someone else speaking Thassilonean) could theoretically keep asking questions for more information omn this dungeon until the insanity triggers, then she could be knocked out and taken to the healer.

Some things we could probably ask:

-What do we need to say to you to ask questions of you without triggering your Insanity trap??
-What is the route to the Sihedron shard?
-What is defending the Sihedron shard from potential thieves?
-What dangerous things, traps or entities are the complex ahead?
-How can we circumvent the dangers on the way to the Sihedron shard?
-Are we required to speak a password or codephrase somewhere in the dungeon? If yes, what is it?
-(ofc, the true adventurer question): Where is the most valuable treasure kept and how do we get to it?

I'm not sure to what degree this is metamaging or out of character of a good party as we're essentially trading some time, gold and danger to one character for knowledge that might protect us later on.

-What do we need to say to you to ask questions of you without triggering your Insanity trap??

I was thinking along this line. If we know this, then we can ask all of the questions we want, possibly.

Sorry for the silence. My health is very bad at the moment. I caught another cold which is now bordering on pneumonia and am trying to stay warm and sleep my way to health again.

Sorry to hear that DBH. I hope your health improves soon. I've been having bronchitis for the past two weeks and even the less severe airway infection is a very unpleasant time to have.

I hope that you both recover soon. Doesn't sound fun at all.

Yuck, Bharak is right, I hope you both recover quickly.

Man oh man, sorry to hear that, y'all. You two get to feeling better ASAP, for sure.

I ain't ded!

Feeling better, just catching up on all the chores I missed while comatose. Should be posting in a day or two.

Thanks for your patience.

A little confused, probably because I'm still on my first cup of coffee so I went back and check our posts.

"Afraid that I didn't bring anything strong for ye to drink." Bharak replied as he back out of the room. "But if anyone is smart enough to figure this out it's ye. I'm rooting for ya!"

"...Okay. I guess I can try helping Axton. Bharak and Elathras, please leave the room. You too, Vhane...

Assuming they leave and agree:

Furrowing his brow as Axton hinted that he should abandon those he was meant to protect. He understood Bharak stepping out of the room. The dwarf was their scout and expert in inhospitable terrain, he was indispensable. Frowning as Elena insists they leave the room, Elathras wants to argue with his friend. Breathing a deep sigh, he bites his tongue, willing to trust her better judgement. Nodding, he adds [b]"Stay safe you two." As he leaves the room.

A Fort Save DC20 for everyone in the room or take 3d6 Strength damage please. :)

Bharak stood back and watched, confident that whatever happened Axton would be able to deal with it.

"Huh." Bharak said, running his fingers through his beard. "Strange symbol. What does it mean?" Whatever magical effects the symbol had; it didn't seem to have an effect on the dwarf.

I assume Bharak forgot we exited the room maybe? Either way, I believe Elathras is still out of the room, so I will him him behave that way.

Fwiw, I was also under the assumption it was only Axton and myself in the room. We knew it was dangerous and there was no real reason for anyone else to be there. Actually, it would have been much more dangerous since an insane Bharak could likely kill Elena and Axton in single swings with the massive damage rule.

That said though it worked out for us and i font blame anyone for forgetting stuff like this between days and campaigns.

That said though it worked out for us and i font blame anyone for forgetting stuff like this between days and campaigns.

Gosh ain't that a fact. One of my worst things is forgetting what's going on. Heck sometimes, in certain games, I forget what my character can do.

Now that I've had a couple cups of coffee, I realize my post here in discussion was redundant, but at the time I needed to spell it out for myself and if I was going to go to the bother I thought it only appropriate to share it with the class.

Now that I've had a couple cups of coffee, I realize my post here in discussion was redundant, but at the time I needed to spell it out for myself and if I was going to go to the bother I thought it only appropriate to share it with the class.

I can't tell you how many posts I've written to try and clarify things, only to have the act of typing things out make it clear, so I never post what I've written.

Sorry, have to go out today. No update.

Ah, well, sad for this couatl, though I'm not sure how we could have figured out how to free him since the previous text outright stated that he tried to answer questions but was unable to form words. Anyway, I presume that even if we did, as a severed head it would have died instantly anyway?

Yup. Bound in there for 10,000 years. It was a mercy kill.

Hi gang, I'm starting a two-week vacation tomorrow with my family and my wife's extended family. I won't disappear, but there may be delays. Feel free to bot me if I'm holding things up.

Enjoy yourself.

@Bharak You were healed fully by Elena in the last combat. So, unless there's some major sou4ce of damage i dont know about, you should have... 7 damage? Which to Bharak is probably a paper cut. Or is there some other reason or source causing you so much damage?

@Gm To keep us honest, does the nat 20 chain vs Elathras crit him?