GM_DBH's Shattered Star

Game Master DBH

GM_DBH wrote:

@Elena. Belt of Giant str +2 - 2000gp.

Belt of Physical might (+2 str, +2 dex) - 10000gp. That's 8000gp difference, what am I missing?

A belt of giant strength/dex/con normally has a base cost of 4000 g, not 2000. 2000 is is you craft it yourself. So upgrading it to the 10 k +2 str/dex one is normally 6 k gold.

I hereby claim the accounting domain for Shelyn :P

Ah! That's what was bugging me. You are correct, I was looking at the crafting cost for the Belt of giant strength.

It is 6 days to upgrade Elathras's belt.

Sorry for my relative silence. Work has been…very busy and stressful (attorney). I’ll be getting a post in as soon as my brain isn’t melted.

Sorry, ran out of time today. No update.

No worries Bharak. Real life comes first, just let us know if you need to be botted.

I may have missed the class on how the 'shard' interacts with the pink rhomboid ioun stone. Can I still use the pink rhomboid ioun stone in the wayfinder?

Sorry to hear that, Axton and Bharak. Hope things improve soon!

@Everyone On the current story/scene, I understand that we're going to go to the temple and stop the presumed apocalypse from happening. As, if we don't, the adventure ends and here we have a clear reason to intervene with someone opening the door. The next shard is just coincedentally (?) there too. However... I do wonder, what real reason do we have to continue searching for the shards when we know from the prophecy that doing so greatly endangers the entire region if not the world?

Like, what is our in-character excuse as good/good-ish characters to ignore this and put essentially Sheila's curiosity and the prestige of the local lodge over the lives of an unknown number of innocents who will die because of it? That we want to make sure it doesn't fall into worse hands? That we are somehow convinced that we can stop this up to now eerily accurate prophecy from happening?

I know with the dungeon-crawler heavy aspect of this AP, character development isn't that much at the forefront and there isn't much screentime for it too. But I find I am struggling a bit to write Elena in such a way that she just takes it all in stride.

@Elathras, The pink rhomboid is now part of the shard of gluttony, you get the +2 to con if you are the holder of the shard.

@Elena. I think Elena is overreacting a great deal.

The abbey itself was built over the ruins of a much older site-a temple of Groetus whose deepest chambers contained mysterious sealed doors, including a particularly ominous one that the priests identified through study and research as one of the "Doomsday Doors."

Many ancient temples of Groetus included these portals-massive apertures said to be counting down the days until the end of the world, at which point each would open to unleash its own localized apocalypse to aid the End Times.

In their explorations of the ancient Groetan temple, the priests
uncovered a doomsday key that would open some of these portals, but they wisely decided these doors should stay closed. The doomsday key was entrusted to the Masked Abbot or Abbess and was kept in a vault where none could use it to delve the deeper chambers below the abbey.

So Groetus is the god of edgelords, there are a number of these doors in his temples, they seem to have something nasty behind them. Don't open them!

You are heading there to get the next shard, part of an ancient artifact of immense power. While you are there you can also deal with any problems at the abbey, and make sure the door stays shut.

Where you got ignore the problem from I don't know?

It is a local matter at the moment. Not a world ending apocalyptic event.

In short go to the abbey, solve the problems there, make sure the door stays shut. Find the shard and return.

Maybe Elena should take a night off and relax instead of crafting and panicking.

The party has dealt with a number of nasty problems and people successfully. Why freak out now?

@Vhane/Axton I realize crafting the Banner for Elena means I won't get around to your crafts this go around, but I'll give you priority during the next downtime over Elena and the others.

Yeah, I figured. No worries.

Sorry to hear that, Axton and Bharak. Hope things improve soon!

Thanks!

@Everyone On the current story/scene, I understand that we're going to go to the temple and stop the presumed apocalypse from happening. As, if we don't, the adventure ends and here we have a clear reason to intervene with someone opening the door. The next shard is just coincedentally (?) there too. However... I do wonder, what real reason do we have to continue searching for the shards when we know from the prophecy that doing so greatly endangers the entire region if not the world?

Like, what is our in-character excuse as good/good-ish characters to ignore this and put essentially Sheila's curiosity and the prestige of the local lodge over the lives of an unknown number of innocents who will die because of it? That we want to make sure it doesn't fall into worse hands? That we are somehow convinced that we can stop this up to now eerily accurate prophecy from happening?

I know with the dungeon-crawler heavy aspect of this AP, character development isn't that much at the forefront and there isn't much screentime for it too. But I find I am struggling a bit to write Elena in such a way that she just takes it all in stride.

I think DBH has mentioned a couple times about how this AP assumes the PCs are a bunch of treasure-hunting murder hobos (aka "Pathfinders"), and as such, the story just assumes we'll keep riding this train. A lot of these earlier APs have this same issue (and then another issue, where they just assume that the murder hobos will suddenly rise up against a discovered threat to the greater good). I can see many traditional heroic PCs having trouble finding a roleplaying motivation..

I wrote Axton's motivations as pretty shallow, and that's helped me justify his willingness to go with the flow as we move from Shard to Shard. His fascination with Thassilonian magic is sufficient motivation for him to hunt the Shattered Star. What was Elena's motivation for joining the Pathfinders? I can't tell from her background.

Axton raises some good points, however he & Elena are the two original party members.

While you've been chasing the past and collecting shards you've also been doing a lot of good. In Magnimar, down in the Mushfens, and now in Kaer maga. You've helped people, and haven't been psychotic muderhobo's. IE standard adventurers. :)

I think a lot of the writing expected the party to go full murder-blender as you were in areas that were basically dens of evil. The Crow, the Lady's light and the Dark forest were all solidly evil areas. Slaughter away without alignment consequences. :)

All right, thanks for the clarification DBH, and the comments @Axton. I guess it's true I/we don't really know how dangerous 'a localized apocalypse' is. And that if there are doors in multiple temples it surely can't be that bad, right? (that sounds so hollow when I say it out loud :) ) My comment about 'ignoring the problem' stemmed from I guess overestimating how dangerous this is and none of the other temples or cities apparently being alarmed over said 'local apocalypse' having a high chance to trigger soon, now that the complex housing one has been known to be attacked.

On the why freak out now question, I guess that is a combination of the above along with the prophecy we got. Which directly, literally, predicted where we would go next as well as that the opening apparently cannot be prevented. But, that aside, most of the prophecy seems quite literal in pointing out the previous shard locations and thus I assume the Great Flood as well as The Rekindling of an Ancient war are also literal events that will happen if we continue collecting shards. Up until we got the prophecy, we had no clues of this. It at least seems to be a valid question of morality if you want to keep doing this, having a fairly decent indication of what suffering your actions will lead to.

That said, Axton's suggestion does have one in-character way out of sorts. I could have Elena put her personal goal (become 'powerful enough' to bring peace to Galt in a less violent way than her bother is aiming for) over that and just accept the risks to others. Which would make her a lot 'harder', more of a 'means justify the end' type of person. Or just ignore realism and go full power of friendship/hubris , insisting that will always win the day without collateral damage, despite what Doom Prophecies foretell :)

Elena, sorry I didn't answer your above question, Elathras basic view is that he is with the pathfinders to keep the other pathfinders safe while they do important stuff. So, he's willing to let the others do the mental lifting :)

@Elathras Sure, that's fair. Probably best not to linger on it too long either, to keep the story going.

@DBH Just for the sake of completion, the previous books rewarded prestige points and fame with the pathfinder society for recovering the shards. Did we get that again upon recovering the shard of greed?

Final purchases/crafting for Elena this round:

-Finish +2 dex/con belt. (already paid)
-Craft headband of wisdom +4 (6 k)
-Craft Banner of the Ancient kings (9 k)

-Buy +1 branched spear with training weapon enchant for flagbearer combat feat. normally 8.32k, 10% discount makes it cost 7488 g.

-Buy +2 cha Ioun stone, slot in wayfinder. 7.2 k.

-Retrain wis increase to cha increase 500 g.

Total cost: 30188. Total gold: 22990. Short 7198g.

Sell: Woundrous pigments 2k, amulet of natural armor 1k, shield 2.15 k, silverfang (I wish I didn't have to) (4.66 k) = 9810.

2612 g left.

Buy scroll of Break Enchantment and Restoration (+100 g reagent cost): 1777,5 g. (assuming 10% discount).

835 g left.

400 g diamond dust for reagents.

435 g left for the road.

If we receive new prestige and fame, Elena will buy a few more scrolls of Blessing of Fervor with it.

@Elena. Whoops, I forgot that little perk.

Once the PCs provide a detailed report and maps of their adventure to the Pathfinders (a process that should take no more than a day's work writing), the Fame scores of PCs who are members of the Pathfinder Society
faction increase by 12 and the PCs earn 12 Prestige Points for their accomplishments.

So you are currently at Fame - 32, Prestige - 32. Less what you have spent so far.

I believe Bharak has bought himself a shop of his own.

* Property: Artisan Shop 'Locks for Every Occassion' (5% discount mundane items, +1 craft for income) and seneschal (Haldimar)
* Fame: 32
* Prestige Points: 18

prestige rules

Not sure if I’m going to spend it. On one hand, I like the idea of a townhouse in the city for the dwarf. That way he won’t have to live out of his shop. On the other hand? He doesn’t need it *right now.* And raise dead is 16pp. It would be nice to have that in the bag…so I suppose I’ll bank the points for now.

@Dbh thanks. I need to go back a bit and read what sort of scrolls and wands Elena bought for the party with her prestige. I think she spend most of it at the first and second shard. I dont remember spending the prestige on the third one... but if reaching 16 prestige is possible i'll agree with Bharak and hold onto a raise dead. Especially since we dont currently have a raise dead option otherwise in the party (costs a diamond worth 5 k gold).

Update: I went back and read the previous discussions scanning for prestige. As far as I can tell, Elena only ever used 6 prestige, to buy a wand of protection from evil, a scroll of blessing of fervor and one other consumable I can't remember atm. She wanted training in master performer but since she lacked the feat and it cost 10 PP, she/I abstained until it was available.

That'd put her at 26 prestige/32 fame. With raise dead being 16, I'll hold onto the points for now. technically I could pay for the master performer training and pick it at level 11 but Discordant voice is probably a better feat, we don;t know how long we'll be in the dungeon and we don't know what else could go wrong.

...Actually, I'll use 4 PP to buy two scrolls of Blessing of Fervor. If I need more than Raise dead + restoration to bring me back, those 4 points probably weren't going to save me anyway.

Okay, I think Axton's fully updated. Ugh, what a slog. I've added the +2 from the rechargeable Tome of Clarity, switched out his old charisma headband to a Headband of Vast Intelligence, and added the benefits from carrying the Shard of Lust.

DBH, as a result of these changes, Axton has a new initiative and perception.

Now, onto spellbooks. Axton's Spellcraft is high enough to auto-succeed deciphering all of the annoying dhampir's spellbook, Luonin's spellbook and Maligast's spellbook. Copying all of the spells that I want from those books cost Axton 1,035 gold and 33 hours of study.

I'm done with all of the spellbooks, and they've been sold for 1,895 gold. Elena, I don't know where to put that gold on the loot sheet.

I'm also buying Sandals of Quick Reaction.

There's also more I want to buy, but it's late and I'm tired. :(

I am finished with updating as well.

@Axton Honestly, I would just hang onto it yourself. I think it's too much of a hassle to keep updating everyone's gold total by adding what someone sells back to the loot list as gold. Very noble, though!

Will do. I thought you were implying they were party loot when you were talking about selling them.

Axton's final purchases:

Rod of Metamagic-Silent (lesser)
Scroll of teleport x 4
Scroll of phantom steed (communal) x 2
Scroll of arcane eye x 2
Upgrade Cloak of Resistance from +2 to +4

Axton is ready to go.

Will do. I thought you were implying they were party loot when you were talking about selling them.

I'm not sure what the above refers to. But if we instead choose to hard enform some sort of rule where all loot belongs to the party and people are only borrowing it, so that everything sold is deposited back into the treasury, that would put Elena 6 k in debt for the next time we do a loot division. Minus whatever everyone else might be selling. I think it's too much work to keep asking everyone if they sell something and update the totals, personally. I don't mind either way though if everything prefers to keep tracking and updating.

@Elrys. A bit out of your normal territory aren't you? :)

No update today due to stuff.

Sorry for going quiet. Health very poor at the moment. Constant nausea and lethargy have me medicated and sleeping as much as I can.

Hoping to recover in a day or two.

Yuck, get feeling better DBH, we're not going anywhere.

Agreed, wishing you a speedy recovery. That sounds miserable

Take good care of yourself, DBH! We will be here when you get better.

Feeling a bit better, catching up on all the things I haven't done this week. In short bursts followed by rests as I'm still lacking energy. At least I'm clearheaded again.

Some form of flu or bug, Doctor said it was something seasonal, she looked like she'd been seeing it a lot. The antibiotics killed it thankfully.

Start again on Monday. Thanks for the patience.

Start again on Monday. Thanks for the patience.

Glad things are better, and again (It's worth repeating) thanks for keeping us informed. It really helps keep the excitement for the game at a good level.

@GM given the redcap thing I'd like to buy a few spare holy symbols of Shelyn before leaving sandpoint. Like, three iron ones or such? You never know.

@Elathras, I'm not sure if this was ever discussed OOC, but based on your previous post following the performance in the Rusty Dragon, what should future character development between Elena and Elthras be from here, if any? Romance? More friendship? I've been writing her with some flirty moments in the past, based on descriptions from Inner Sea Gods that Shelynite clergy are supposed to both nurture and encourage love and be open to falling in love themselves (whether or not that is valid, there seems to be discussion on this). I don't mind either way, but it's probably a good idea to set a clear course?

@Elena. No problems with the holy symbols.

@Elathras, I'm not sure if this was ever discussed OOC, but based on your previous post following the performance in the Rusty Dragon, what should future character development between Elena and Elthras be from here, if any? Romance? More friendship?

More Friendship, he admires her and sees her as a paragon of art and femineity. The Very opposite of his aunt. I don't think romance is in his wheelhouse and I'm certainly not comfortable writing about it. I think with his Lawful good leaning and Chelish upbringing that he wouldn't consider romance until he was ready to settle down and be a solid provider for wife and Family. Having intended on being a hellknight and now a pathfinder, he has never really seen settling down in his future. But his opinions about what a 'strong' woman is, is certainly changing.

@Elathras Sure, that's completely fair.

@Everyone I have a lore-related question. We're about to enter an abbey originally dedicated to all major gods (except for Rovagug). What is expected of a cleric when visiting another god's site of worship? It is considered polite to offer prayer to the other altars or is that a major faux-pass? Or is that dependant on the relations of that diety to your own/their alignment? I can't really find information on this and I'm not sure what is more logical.

I feel like the thought of clerics not acknowledging other gods is a bleed over of our real-world religions. We have numerous religions claiming to have only one deity, and the recognition of other deities is heretical. However, Golarion has multiple deities totally cool with each other, and there's usually observable proof of some sort that deities other than the one you worship influence the world. Unless they are a known enemy to your clergy, I think that saying some sort of respectful prayer is appropriate.

Also, I don't recall if this is accurate for Golarion or not, but plenty of D&D campaign worlds have allowed clerics that worship a pantheon instead of one particular god, and that's what they pray to for their divine spells. Those gods either didn't care if some of the worship is spread around or they didn't pay attention.

@Elena. A polite acknowledgement that you are in a particular Gods area is all that is needed I'd say as a GM. Something like, "'As a follower of Shelyn I greet you." would be accepted.

Getting the car worked on so no update today.

She looks at Bharak. "I think you're the only one among us who can kill them in their sleep. It... doesn't entirely feel right to me. But we can't risk them doing something like this again to some helpless town or group of travelers. We'll be right behind you if anything goes wrong."

My suggestion would be we follow Bharak at a respectable distance so the sound doesn't carry and we stay out of sight while he Coup de Grace's them.

Vhane also has a very high stealth

@Gm Thanks, that makes sense.

Vhane also has a very high stealth

Ah, you're right. In my defense, I don't think Elena has ever seen Vhane stealth around like Bharak has.

@Gm Thanks, that makes sense.

Elathras Narcinal wrote:

Vhane also has a very high stealth

Ah, you're right. In my defense, I don't think Elena has ever seen Vhane stealth around like Bharak has.

He can't stealth if he's going to keep griping about giants so much.

@Gm I'm not sure i understand the last post correctly; you mean that any stealrh roll below a 32 has a chance to fail, rather than that it is a guaranteed fail, right?

@Gm I'm not sure i understand the last post correctly; you mean that any stealrh roll below a 32 has a chance to fail, rather than that it is a guaranteed fail, right?

No, I mean if he rolls less than a 32 then he is detected. The DC for a Perception check attempted by a sleeping creature increases by 10. Ettin's have +12 Perception, Bharak has +17 stealth, so a roll of 5 or less fails.

What if the damage isn't enough to actually kill the giant? Does that matter?

No, I mean if he rolls less than a 32 then he is detected. The DC for a Perception check attempted by a sleeping creature increases by 10. Ettin's have +12 Perception, Bharak has +17 stealth, so a roll of 5 or less fails.

I'm guessing you mean 22? Because Barak would actually need to roll above 15 to beat 32. Which is gonna be tough. He's got a great chance of being detected with those odds.

Yes, when asleep their perception is essentially 22.

Fort save +11 for Hill giants, +9 for Ettin. Have to roll over the damage done in the Coup de grace.

The damage from a Coup de grace counts as massive damage, so it's save or die! With Sneak attack and a 4x critical weapon it wasn't going to be likely they would make it.

And as the module stated 'The PCs should reach 11th level soon after they begin exploring the aboveground portion of Windsong Abbey."

Which I am taking to mean now. So everyone can level up to 11th and rest up if needed.

The Giants were meant to make a lot of noise to alert whoever is inside of intruders. They didn't so you are still unknown. :)

Cleric 10/Bard 1 (+1 cleric level)

+1 BAB, +1 fort, +1 will, +1 4th and 5th level slot.

1d8: 1d8 ⇒ 2 As usual, no bonus HP as with the last 7 levels. :( Average again > +7 hp. > 92/92.

FCB: +0.5 BoL uses > 11/day.

Skill points: 4 base 3 int 2 background skills (9)

2 background: Perform: Sing.
+4 ranks perform: Sing.
Knowledge: Religion +3

Feat: Discordant voice.

Level 11!

+1 Barbarian (5)
BaB: +1 (second iterative)
HP: +11
Skills: +6 (Perception, Stealth, Disable Device, Survival, K Nature,
Saves: N/A
Ability: Crack Shot
Rage from level (+2) and FCB (+1)
Total Rage: +4 (lvl1) +8 (lvls2-5) +5 (FCB) +6 (Feat) +4 (Con) = 27

Feat: Dodge (AC 30, 32 when raging)

A good level!

As a question, did we sell the pistols from the last encounter? I realize now that it would have been wise to have kept one. If so then no problem, it is what it is.

11th lvl:
HP: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9 6+6=12
+1 BAB
11th lvl feat: Cornugon Smash
Agile Charger (Ex) At 11th level, a disciple of the pike takes no penalties caused by difficult terrain while charging. His movement is still hampered by obstacles, poor visibility, and other conditions. This ability doesn’t allow him to move through impassable terrain. This ability replaces mighty charge.
+5 Skills: intimidate, knowledge (local), perception, Sense Motive, and survival
+2 Background Skills: linguistics and knowledge (geography)

I screwed up background skills the last level, I've got it fixed now, but I need two new languages. Any recommendations? So far he knows: Taldan, infernal, giant, abyssal, sylvan, draconic , aquan, undercommon, celestial, and aklo.

Are ancient Thassilonian or Azlanti an option? Maybe he should learn Varisian first...

1d12 ⇒ 8

Every single time we level up I forget to roll...even when others do it first. My apologies.

I need two new languages. Any recommendations? So far he knows: Taldan, infernal, giant, abyssal, sylvan, draconic , aquan, undercommon, celestial, and aklo.

Are ancient Thassilonian or Azlanti an option? Maybe he should learn Varisian first...

Thassilonian seems appropriate for the campaign. Axton and Elena have it.

Ooh! Axton can now teach you Necril, if you want!

Arcanist level 11

HP: 1d6 ⇒ 6

New exploit: Greater Metamagic Knowledge (Piercing Spell)

New spells: Wracking Ray and Overland Flight

@Elathras. Thassilonian & Azlanti are definitely learnable, much of the Pathfinders work is investigating the things Thassilon and Azlant left behind.

1d10 ⇒ 3
1d10 ⇒ 4

Half+1 it is. I rolled twice because I'm now 2 levels behind. Yeah, I totally missed the last level. Don't ask me how because I just don't know. Just a big-time error on my part ultimately.