Protectors of Golarion (Wrath of the Righteous AP)

Game Master Sensen

I believe it was for that round. It was still that round so I applied the penalties. If it continues, then I may need to look into using the spear.

Yeah, you need to beat it once to become immune to that brimorak's aura. Unfortunately, the dice roller isn't cooperating with you guys.

Just dropping by quickly, with pink being entangled and fatigued on top of prayer he has at least another -3 to attacks, and Elliot has both shield and alter self(small humanoid) up buffing his ac to 27. Which unfortunately means the primary longsword still barely hits as well at the hoof on a nat 20 but the secondary long sword as well as both the crit confirm for the longsword and the hoof should miss (I think nat 20's on crit confirms still miss if the number is too low but please correct me if I'm wrong). It reads as if the primary longsword would have hit for 6 damage and the hoof for another 6, for 12 total putting him at 46/58.

Also thanks to Meri's prayer for saving me some damage!

And jeez... 4 out of 5 attacks against this thing were natural 1's or 2's on my end and almost all his attacks on me were nat 19's or nat 20's, with double nat 20's on the hoof? O_O

Afaik, there’s nothing that removes the ‘natural 20s always hit’ rule for confirmation rolls (so, probably the hoof will still crit)?

Huh, I forgot to include the entangled/fatigued conditions in my notes. Ah well. I'll adjust that in the morning.

GM, when a creature makes a caster level check to dispel magic with the target of another creature (so that any single spell on it might be dispelled), the caster of dispel magic rolls just one CL check, and the result of that single check is then compared to the DC for each spell currently affecting the target creature in descending order from highest DC to lowest until it has dispelled one spell or failed to dispel all of them. The DC for each spell is 11+[that spell's caster level]. So the black-lined brimorak's result of 7 on its CL check against Verene is first compared to DC 19 (for communal resist energy at CL 8), then DC 17 (for prayer and fly at CL 6), then DC 12 (for endure elements, mage armor, and shield, all at CL 1.) It's not greater than any of these, so the dispel magic attempt fails against her.

But it's not all good news for us. For Thesius, I thought at first that a CL check of 16 from the white-lined brimorak would indeed hit none of his spells up, under the process described above. But then I remembered that I declared earlier that his fly effect was the one Verene cast from the scroll she scribed. That means it was CL 5, as I noted when she created it, because there was no particular reason then to scribe it at CL 6 instead of the standard CL 5 on a third-level spell, and it would have cost around 50 gp more. So the DC to dispel that casting of fly is only 16, which it just hits. Poor luck for us.

I'm just all over with the rules, aren't I? Thanks for the help. I was hoping I'd done okay this post, but alas no.

Not at all. It's a lot to keep track of, especially with ten magic-users in this combat and a lot of buffs and debuffs flying around.

Indeed, there is a lot going on. Mistakes are bound to happen. You're efforts are appreciated.

My understanding is that Thesius lost fly which means he drops 5 feet. Looks like a 10 feet drop is necessary to worry about damage and potentially going prone. So he should land on his feet. I'll go with that, but please adjust if my understanding is wrong.

Oh, I forgot he was still flying. Then yeah, he does drop, but no damage.

Fly also calls out that if it ends prematurely, including being dispelled, the fly recipent gets a safe fall distance.

Weirdly, brimorak have cold resistance 10 and vulnerability to cold, meaning the one that Elliot knocked out should technically still be up, but I'm just gonna let that one lie.

They have over 90-ish hp? Wow.Tough brimoraks!

Chiming in to confirm that if fly ends prematurely it's the same as if the duration expires while you're airborne: you float down at 60 feet/round (as in feather fall) for 1d6 rounds, then fall any remaining distance.

And agreed, these guys do seem very tough compared to the last brimorak. But also we're not hasted, and we've just been rolling badly. It happens.

I don't know how you were adjudicating it, GM, but when a creature has both resistance and vulnerability to energy damage of the same type, the vulnerability is applied first to get the total damage, then the resistance subtracted from the total. This is the opposite of the way it worked in 3.5, but Pathfinder removed that text and James Jacobs has confirmed that this is how it is supposed to work in PF. So when Elliot did 20 nonlethal cold damage to the brimorak on his crit, it would indeed be 20 in practice: 20*1.5 = 30 - 10 = 20.

Merixia, are you sure your base damage numbers shouldn't be a bit higher? With 18 Str and a +1 bastard sword wielded in both hands (right?), that's a base of 1d10 + 7 (4 Str * 1.5 for two handed weapon, +1 weapon enchantment). Then Mythic Power Attack adds +3 (instead of normal Power Attack's +2) for each -1 of penalty you would be taking. With a +4 base attack bonus, you're taking a -2 penalty to hit for +6 to damage. That +6 is then increased by 50%, again because of using a weapon two-handed, so it's a total of +9 damage from Mythic Power Attack.

Basically, I think you're shorting yourself by 5 damage here. Not a lot individually, but it could add up.

I’m not wielding it two-handed, though. Merixia has a buckler, remember?

Although I might consider ditching it in the future for the sake of more damage.

Oh, I see. I thought that was why you had the buckler - so that you can still wield your sword two-handed sometimes and use the buckler for its defensive bonus sometimes.

Well, if I fight two-handed I don’t get the buckler’s AC when the enemy hits back. The way I see it, Merixia’s role in the group is not to do massive amounts of melee damage. Her primary role is divine spellcasting with melee second. She needs to stay alive and conscious in order to heal everyone else after the combat is over.

Does she know that IC? Sort of. She doesn’t like it, and would rather be slaying demons personally, but she’s too self-aware to not realize that she’s never going to be as good at swordplay as Azira and Elliot are. It’s going to take time for Merixia to truly accept a role as a primary spellcaster, in large part because she has anger issues and chopping off demon heads feels good.

It really does.

Makes sense!

There's always unhindering shield as a feat though (with GM approval) if the shield is important to her, and I think between mythic powerattack, keen bastard swords, divine buffs and high str that Meri could still dish out lots of damage if she wished to and built for that. Especially since mythic power attack has this weird additional clause that causes crits to be extra deadly and probably wasn't needed with how well it already scales.

And agreed, these guys do seem very tough compared to the last brimorak. But also we're not hasted, and we've just been rolling badly. It happens.

Plus they're all advanced with max HP for their HD. I was tired of having you walk over the enemies. :P

I don't know how you were adjudicating it, GM, but when a creature has both resistance and vulnerability to energy damage of the same type, the vulnerability is applied first to get the total damage, then the resistance subtracted from the total. This is the opposite of the way it worked in 3.5, but Pathfinder removed that text and James Jacobs has confirmed that this is how it is supposed to work in PF. So when Elliot did 20 nonlethal cold damage to the brimorak on his crit, it would indeed be 20 in practice: 20*1.5 = 30 - 10 = 20.

I wasn't actually sure either way, but I think I did end up doing it the proper way. Still, it would've been up because its HP is more than 20 at the moment, but I'm still not going to retcon that.

As for the Unhindering Shield, I'd allow it. It is a lot of time to invest in it, though, for someone not primarily a fighter/smash-y character.

It's definitely easy to fill behind in damage in comparison to Azira and Elliot. Generally why I reserve Heroism for Thesius is so he has a chance to keep up with at least hitting. Having used it earlier in the day for multiple people when going after the queen is definitely effecting his capabilities now.

It's still a bit out, but eventually he should have the ability to put Mythic Heroism on people for 24 hours. That's at least two mythic tiers away though if he focuses on that though.

Mythic heroism is awesome, yeah.

By the way this probably doesn't affect anything this turn but Elliot's attack is actually 1 higher at +17. Base +11, Bane +2, arcane pool +1, alter self: small +2 (dex+1, small+1), prayer +1 = +17.

Gotcha. I'll try to remember that. xD

A few things:

Verene rolled Prescience last turn for this reason, and actually got a good roll last time, so I would like to have substituted that for the 2. If Merixia's 17 made it, her Reflex save using the Prescience will also succeed for half damage of 23. So only 11 fire damage to Verene, leaving her at 29/40 hp.

Merixia and Elliot (? I think? It said Thesius for the roll, but it would have to have been Elliot if Merixia was affected) are still affected by communal resist energy at CL 8 for fire resistance 20, not 10. After both making their saves for half damage, they would take no damage from the remaining 11 fire damage.

Thesius rolled a 20 on his last attack, and Merixia a 21. If he hit, so should she have, and if she missed, he should have missed too. Assuming the brimoraks are identical in their stats.

The longsword against Azira for 29 just hits her AC even with Verene's protection from evil up. This was discussed back here at the desecrated ghoul temple. Her current AC is accurately noted in your status spoiler. The brimoraks continue to be extremely fortunate in their rolls.

Gray-lined is dead from Verene's burst of radiance, right? That's why it's been taken off the map?

This fight has been a bit of an unlucky slog, but we're still doing okay. 2/6 down, 1 blinded, 3 hurt. Turquoise, Black, White and Yellow have all used their dispel magic SLAs, so hopefully they can't do so again. Black and Yellow have already used their fireball SLAs. Verene is at 29/40, Elliot at 38/58 , Merixia at 49/54, Thesius at 42/54, and Azira at ??/61 HP. If all of these brimoraks are advanced and have max HP, that's going from roughly 300 HP to roughly 600 HP for us to chew through, so the slog element is not surprising. It's probably going to take another 3-4 rounds if we continue to roll badly.

G#+!%&mit, I specifically made note of that before I began writing yesterday, and totally forgot. My apologies, Verene. And you're correct in the damage as well, for some reason I missed it was 20 rather than 10, as well, with Merixia and Elliot being the other two targets.

Thanks for keeping me honest. :P And yeesh, there's a lot I need to adjust.

Damage to Azira, prayer: 1d6 + 5 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 5 - 1 = 7 She's at 48 hp.

And yes, grey is dead from the burst of radiance.

As for the hit/miss thing with Merixia/Thesius, I've been remiss in not pointing it out - but the sickened roll (and subsequent penalties) happen at the beginning of one's turn. Ergo, Thesius' roll is actually at 22 rather than 20.

EDIT: Due to the stresses of workers in and out of the house, etc. I'm unable to promise a post today. Apologies for the delay, everyone.

No worries. Thanks for the update. Hopefully it all goes smoothly.

Yes, no worries at all, GM! Thanks for understanding and as always, we appreciate all you do. That makes sense on Thesius and the sickened condition. I hope the work on the house goes well.

I have an action for Verene in mind, but I'll wait for it to be officially the next round in case what Azira or Merixia do changes things. :)

Why hast thou forsaken me, dice roller? T_T

Hopefully today's the last day we'll have workers in the house, but I also hope to get a post up today, since I'm feeling a bit better.

Glad to hear that. Can be stressful having people in your space.

All's done today, so I'm planning to get a post up soon.

Sorry about the delay. I couldn't access the site all of today due to the scheduled maintenance.

Oh, I forgot Prescience and spell resistance rolls. It didn't occur to me to check if magic missile was SR-mediated since it's just force damage, but I guess it is. Spells cast from wands and scrolls use the item's caster level for the caster level check, not the user's, and don't benefit from user abilities like Eldritch Breach.

Prescience, 2/8 remaining: 1d20 ⇒ 10
Caster level check to overcome spell resistance, Yellow: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Whew, just makes it I think. Please use the Prescience if better for any save Verene has to make before her next turn, etc.

Doesn't verene have both CL 6 and the +4 bonus from riftwarden orphan to overcome SR checks on evil outsiders? Shouldn't it be +10 instead of +5?

Verene does, and her normal CL check to overcome SR on a demon would be at +10, yes. But the magic missile was produced by activating the wand, and as I noted above, spells from wands and scrolls use the creator's caster level for all purposes and don't get to apply the activator's CL or abilities, like Eldritch Breach, or the Riftwarden Orphan trait (or the Augment Summoning feat, or etc. etc.)

Staves are good partly because they're the exception to this rule — they use the activator's CL and ability score bonuses for all purposes.

Interestingly, SR doesn't get boosted by the advanced template, so that does pass.

I'll give Thesius a bit to post before botting him.

Sorry about that. Post is up. Hopefully the blinded condition and lack of sickness gets him through for the hit.

It does! Fortunately.

GM, should Black be able to teleport away here? Gray and Yellow were here to start, then summoned reinforcements with Yellow's fireball. Black, Pink, Teal and White showed up via teleport the same round. Most demons only get one teleport per day. Are these guys different? I ask because this could be important for how fast reinforcements get here.

Unfortunately for Azira, a 1 on a save is always a failure, but fortunately for her, Verene's communal resist energy still eats that 19 fire damage. You're welcome :)

P.S. Why is the weapon Thesius is using listed as a "copper" mace? Isn't it cold iron?

Oops. Well, I'm sure it can run away via air-walk, if nothing else... I guess. Alas.

Could you let us know what it did and where it currently is? This could change what we do going forward. If it cast air walk, Verene at least will likely pursue it with fly and more magic missiles. Merixia and Elliot are also capable of flying after it and attacking. It also would have needed to make a Concentration check to cast while threatened, or else accepted an attack of opportunity, to move any real distance in the same round it cast air walk, since creatures can't 5-foot step and also take any other form of movement in the same turn. And it would have provoked from Azira or needed to make an Acrobatics check against her CMD of 26 by moving more than a 5-foot step away from her even with air walk, if it did so.

All true.

Concentration, Combat Casting: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (18) + 14 = 32
Acrobatics vs. CMD 26: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33

Yeah, it wandered off the east of the tower - it's about 30' away now.

If Black does go unconscious, it falls. This also applies to us if one of us gets knocked out, stunned, put to sleep, or paralyzed while flying (as opposed to having the spell end), so be wary!

Um, can I retcon my earlier post to instead attack black? If it's critically injured and trying to escape, Elliot would prioritise that one especially with Merixia and Azira about to destroy teal anyway. I guess I wasn't keeping track of remaining enemies properly; with black's token off of the map i assumed it was already dead. With his starting position next to yellow, Elliot should be able to just charge it through the air.

I feel almost sure this set of magic missiles will take Black down, Elliot. It's taken 108 damage by my count after that spell*. And this way you're in position to make a full attack against Teal next round.

But, if Elliot would go after Black as an in-character decision, I also think he'll take it down, so GM, please switch Verene's magic missile target to White, to help Thesius.

*Azira did 21 in Round 3, Thesius did 10 in Round 4, Verene did 16 with burst of radiance in Round 4, Azira did 40 on a crit in Round 4, Verene did 12 from magic missile in Round 5, and now she did 9 more from magic missile in Round 6. The burst of radiance damage bypasses DR and isn't reduced by half on a save, and the magic missile force damage, as energy damage, also bypasses DR.

Okay, I'll trust your judgment and stay on teal then.

Wow...just wow...Desna why you do him like this?

Triangle is where he moves if taking his first shot at the fleeing brimorak (black-lined) and diamond is where he moves if he winds up using fleet charge.

We PCs might need to make a group offering to Desna after this...

Why. Just... why. I think a group sacrifice to Desna is definitely in order.