PFS2 #1-14 Lions of Katapesh (Inactive)

Game Master cmlobue

Discussion thread for cmlobue's PFS2 #1-14 Lions of Katapesh.

Hey All,

@GM - I don't think I ever played with you. I am glad that this will change now. I actually never played this scenario (even that I played most of season 1 games). I did glance through the scenario as I was preparing to run it, but in the end I haven't done it.

[quote=]
I do hope a tanky PC joins us. I'd hate to run into a bunch of lions with only an investigator to keep them away from us squishy spellcasters (no offense intended; I love playing investigators).

Hey! This is a tanky gnome, Haechi! You would be glad to have him between you and the danger :P But thankfully we got two melee characters to play that role, what a relief.

@All - I played (or am playing) with you all. Good to see you and good to be at the same table with you.

See you on the flip side!

I've also never played this scenario before.

Hey! This is a tanky gnome, Haechi! You would be glad to have him between you and the danger :P

Believe me, if someone wants to stand between Haechi and danger, he's all for it... though no doubt he'd tell you otherwise ;)

Hey there everyone! Well I've never played this either but I'm fairly new so I haven't played most of the scenarios jeje

@Ulrich, yep! Is great to have you here as a fellow player I was actually looking forward to play along you :D

Also Penny also previously played the trailblazer bounty with another party.

As for Penny, she is my most role play heavy character along with her familiar Mofu, she may sometimes do weird things just for the sake of role-playing but will ultimately go along with the party.

@GM, do we get a chance to change our prepared spells and similar after the mission briefing or should do it right now?

I've got an extra Hero Point from having GM'ed enough PF2 games, and because I'm playing Maldlethu it's going to go to one of our spellcasters. XD Sorry!

Who?: 1d3 ⇒ 3

@Penny, you get an extra Hero Point!

I too have a Glyph Hero Point to give away: I'll give it to Ahmad.

EDIT: And school consumable = Potency Crystal

@Maldlethu thanks you very much :D

Edit: here's my Hex cantrip in case you aren't familiar with it Discern Secrets

Oh! And as for my school item I'll take an scroll of burning hands.

Profile and header have been updated. Details in () are during Rain of Embers Stance. Botting Instructions added to profile. Dice strings are written out in the profile.

@Ahmad, I don't think Deadly Simplicity works that way. The feat has a prerequisite of worshiping a deity with a Simple favored weapon (which Gorum's greatsword isn't), and the rules on increasing damage dice size says that a weapon with a damage dice of 1d12 cannot be increased further. Or is there something else going on that gets the damage die up to 3d6?

I'm inclined to agree. It doesn't look like that combination works. For now I am going to reroll the damage die as a d12, but if there is something else that will turn it into 3d6, I can change it back.

Red Lines would be my suggestion, but that seems absurdly easy.

From a metagamey point of view, I assume that any approach that tries to absolutely stop the cats from entering the camp is likely to either fail or not be permitted. I furthermore assume that the best we can hope for is to be able to somewhat control the movement of the cats within the camp when they arrive so as to reduce their ability to reach the goblins and thus minimize the number of goblin casualties. At least, those are the assumptions I made when I suggested the pink walls.

The red walls might work too, except that I'm guessing the cats will end up coming at the camp from across the river and easily hop across the partial bridge scaffolding to get in. But it would allow us to set up a defensive position at the camp entrance to try and catch the cats as they come across the river. Of course, we should probably do that anyway, regardless of where the new walls go.

All of this hinges on the ability of the existing walls and the new wall sections to stop the cats' movement. If the cats can jump over the walls with enough effort, then it might not matter where we put them; at best it will only slow them down slightly.

We can move on as soon as there is a decision about where to place fences.

I'm fine with pink. It's incredibly confusing that they *have* a fence that fails to keep out the lions but somehow we're supposed to guess the pattern the author envisioned for using even more hastily constructed fencing that will accomplish *something*.

The pink fences seem reasonable. You have a choke point for both sets of tents. Set yourselves up for a nice, peaceful night on watch.

Just fyi, I DM'ed Penny as she stopped posting after 16th of April (and she plays at my SFS table), given that these are some crazy times I hope she is well. Just letting you know.

Thank you. I scaled this encounter as if Penny is not here, but leaving her on delay incase she does return (if so, there may be a straggler among the enemy). If she misses the whole fight, I will drop her from the game.

Just that it is clear, Ulrich is marked bold but he does not move till the next round (so he does not have to stabilize this round).

Just that it is clear, Ulrich is marked bold but he does not move till the next round (so he does not have to stabilize this round).

Do not spend your Hero Points to stabilize yourself until you're about to go to Dying 4. Even if you do stabilize, you will remain unconscious and unable to rejoin the fight until someone (Maldlethu presumably) can get you some HP. Whatever you do, try not to take damage while Dying; that will make things a whole lot worse.

Can confirm, having lost a character last night to AoE damage while at dying 3. Don’t worry, Maldlethu still has a heal left for the day (not to mention what Ahmed might also have available).

Ulrich Makaisson wrote:

Just that it is clear, Ulrich is marked bold but he does not move till the next round (so he does not have to stabilize this round).

Do not spend your Hero Points to stabilize yourself until you're about to go to Dying 4. Even if you do stabilize, you will remain unconscious and unable to rejoin the fight until someone (Maldlethu presumably) can get you some HP. Whatever you do, try not to take damage while Dying; that will make things a whole lot worse.

No worry, I am simply dragged by a cat. I don't have a leech attached while lieing in a water infested with it ;)

I have run a Starfinder game where a PC was at 0 SP, 0 HP and had bleed. That was a lovely way to drain Resolve. (She survived, with 1 RP.)

No worry, I am simply dragged by a cat. I don't have a leech attached while lieing in a water infested with it ;)

Ha ha. It does seem like Ulrich and Hopper are having a bad day today. No doubt they’ll both pull through though. Pathfinder PCs are notoriously hard to kill off.

I have run a Starfinder game where a PC was at 0 SP, 0 HP and had bleed. That was a lovely way to drain Resolve. (She survived, with 1 RP.)

In the early days, I used to panic a little as soon as one of my PCs went to Dying. Then I went through Plaguestone where it happened in practically every encounter to at least one and sometimes multiple party members. On one occasion, our gnome bard went up and down a couple of times and was at Wounded 2 with persistent bleed and a handful of HP while we’re all being chased around by a critter that was almost certain death if he caught up to us. The poor guy missed all 10 bleeding recovery rolls while the rest of the party was pouring elixirs down his throat round after round to avoid the bleeding from killing him. We finally killed the creature and the bard recovered naturally, but it took every spare healing potion we had to do it. Three out of the five of us went to 0 hp in that encounter. Since then, I don’t worry about going to dying so much; just the price of doing business on the cutting edge.

Greatsword is not a simple weapon. There also doesn't seem to be a die size above d12.

Both of these conclusions are correct.

Warpriests of Gorum do not meet the prerequisites for Deadly Simplicity.

2d12+4 averages 17 HP of damage while 3d6+4 only averages 14.5 HP. Looks to me like that's that's the way to go anyway. When we go into a fight from here on out Ahmad, just hang around long enough for either Haechi or Maldlethu to cast Magic Weapon on your greatsword.

Guess I won't be needed to narrate Haechi's turn.

I hope I didn't step on any toes by presuming too much about the situation in my post. I enjoy the role-playing and creative writing aspects of PbP the most and since I have time on my hands these days, I tend to indulge myself. However, if I'm over-narrating in my posts or otherwise annoying anyone, please DM me and I'll tone it down.

Of course not! The goal is for everybody to enjoy themselves. Some people just want to roll their dice and move on, and that's who I add the commentary for. Say as much as you want about your character's actions.

Ahmad?

It’s going to be a lot harder to finish this fight without Ahmad. Should we perhaps bot him until he resurfaces? If I were him, I would step one square SE and get behind the blue cat to flank it with Ulrich and strike the blue cat as hard and as often as I could. This would allow Ulrich to also get flanking when he gets around to attacking, without wasting an action moving.

You have this mostly in hand, but I will give him until tomorrow and then bot for the rest of the combat.

Ahmad. Good to have you back. Don’t forget the benefits of Magic Weapon on your Greatsword; +1 to hit and +1d12 of damage. Assuming both of your strikes hit, then the extra 2d12 damage should finish the cat off... or get pretty close to it.

Edit: I just noticed that your second hit is a crit. That cat is toast.

The first barely misses

This is neither here nor there for us, since the result is equivalent, but attacks had previously hit on an 18 where Ahmad rolled a 17 vs a flanked target. The GM adjusts the AC down by 2 when a target is flanked, so a attack of 17 vs. an AC of at most 16 should have hit. Just a reminder.

Unless the earlier hit was an error and they really do have AC 20+.

My mistake. I'm so used to raising the attack roll on a flanked target instead of lowering DC.

The second hit would have been fatal in any circumstance.

I'm so used to raising the attack roll on a flanked target instead of lowering DC.

So many of us are. :)

I took a shot at organizing our token marching order according to Haechi’s suggestion. It appears that the passageway heads east to northeast. Given that we’re all fully recovered, both Haechi and Maldlethu have Magic Weapon spells slotted. These require being within touch range of the weapon being enchanted. So Haechi is behind Ahmad and Maldlehu is behind Ulrich. Masigonde fights unarmed so has no weapons that can be so enhanced. We’ll have to hope that the spellcasters get initiative or the fighters may have to delay.

Yep, looks good here!

Or Ahmad could probably Hero Point that natural 1. I don't recall him using a Hero Point yet, and he had 2.

EDIT: Also, we look to be at the end of the scenario and my recall and quick search suggests no Hero Points have been given out.

@Ulrich, remember that the dice result from Devise a Stratagem is only used for the first attack that round against the target of the Stratagem. Further Strikes against the target require dice rolls as usual.

Yes, hero points. Have some. Maldlethu, since Penny left with yout GM point, you can give that to someone else. Also:

He waits a couple of beats before raising his head with a pleading look. With open palms facing forward at his sides, he turns back to Muckmuck and continues, "Please, my lord, we beseech you and ask the help of your mighty tribe." He shifts his hand back to his chest. "We are but mere humans and lack the cleverness and skill needed to escape the clutches of the undead." He then drops to one knee and stretches his hands out towards Muckmuck in supplication. "Will you aid us?" He then finishes by dropping his chin back down to his chest to await an answer.

Performance: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

One hero point for Haechi for a dramatic performance.

Maldlethu jumps to his feet, finally coming out of his meditations atop the wagon. “MAGIC!” he yells excitedly. “It is within all things, and all things are within magic. It will nurture you...” Warm light streams from his hand through the air to wrap itself around Ulrich. “...guide you...” Masigonde feels his senses sharpened, his feet steadier, his breath more relaxed. “...and in the end, it will consume you!”

Healing to Ulrich: 1d8 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

One hero point to Maldlethu for selfless application of magic.

Ulrich spends some time walking around the camp. He gets a goblin coat, shirt and pair of trousers. He changes his skin color to be of the green color and eyes to red. His hair changes to black, which he makes to be in disarray. Then using his disguise kit and manual skills he creates long ears that he straps to his head. Inside his pockets he puts dead fish 'for the smell'.

Impersonate, deception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Ulrich dressed as a goblin shows to the party and asks "What do you think? I could be bate. There is hope that they might come after me."

One hero point to Ulrich for looking so tasty.

One hero point for Haechi for a dramatic performance.

Wow! How unexpected. I'd like to thank the Society for this incredible honor and my fellow companions who did so much to make this adventure such an amazing experience. And of course, special thanks to cmlobue without whom this adventure would never have been possible. <music starts> Thank you, thank you. <waves to crowd and then falls down the stairs getting off the podium> Ouch! No, no; I'm OK.

@Ulrich, remember that the dice result from Devise a Stratagem is only used for the first attack that round against the target of the Stratagem. Further Strikes against the target require dice rolls as usual.

You are correct, I copy-pasted the attack :( My bad, fortunately, I missed the attack so nothing needs to be retconned.

@GM - thanks for the hero point. I am glad that I used the impersonate, and that it had an impact on the fight => even if it meant that I was taken down in 1st round.

Actions 1,2 & 3 (◆◆◆)Cast a Spell:HealTargeting me using 2 action option and third to Heightened

Heal: 2d8 + 16 ⇒ (3, 7) + 16 = 26

I'm not certain where the misunderstanding is, but 1) Heightening occurs automatically for prepared casters when they prepare the spells in higher level slots, 2) a 2nd level spellcaster cannot cast a 2nd level spell/version of a spell.

This game has been reported, and your chronicle sheets are available HERE. Let me know if there are any problems.

Thank you for playing!

Everything looks good here. Thanks for a fun game GM!

Chronicle looks good, downloaded.

@GM thank you for running this. I found this scenario enjoyable. Good job @all hope to meet you at future tables

Downloaded the chronicle and everything seems to be in order. A big thank you to the GM and all the players for making this adventure such a pleasant romp.

Downloaded. Thank you!

I am deactivating this game. PM me if you need anything.