GM BBlackwood's The Slave Master's Mirror (Inactive)

Game Master Gum B the chewy

Here is the Discussion Thread.

Hello everyone!

Thanks GM for setting this up!

I have never played a Brawler before and am considering to build one so if you guys do not mind I would jump in with the level 7 Brawler pregen to test the class! :-)

That is Kess! The iconic Brawler.

This is Truddig's replacement character for this scenario. Liberty's Edge and has played the prior 6-05 (much earlier in his career).

Noral, I love my Brawler; one of my favorite PCs to play. Martial Flexibility is awesome! Have fun with Kess. :)

Brawler can be a lot of fun! I have only played them at lower level, but watched others go to town with high level ones.

I will be playing Betty again.

Love the brawler, the martial master fighter, and the oracle that has martial flexibility.

Level seven, big cat and I should get the banner of ancient kings this level!

Fifi has reached level 6! No items bought here, she's still saving up for her +1 Keen Scimitar. However, getting the Remove Disease on demand through her Mercy is really good and in character for her: During her early adventuring days, which noral might remember, Fifi fought Ghouls in a small villa in Taldor, and was unable to cure someone of their ghoul fever. She vowed to never let that happen again, and now she can stop that easily!

Brawler would definitely be welcome in this scenario. Finishing up a family vacation and the games I'm coming back to are shaping up well.

Updated my profile.

Since there is an arcanist in the group this time, I've taken the time to copy the list of spells in my spellbook into the profile. We might be able to exchange some spells.

I’ve a couple of rules questions.

Belts and Headbands that boost attributes generally say they are a temporary ability boost for the first 24 hours. I believe that the developers have stated that adventurers don’t need to bath and such with them, they can be removed for short periods and replaced with no problems provided you didn’t try to wear a different one in that location in between.

If we don’t put on a different item, can we go back to full effectiveness when we put back on the items? This is probably most important for Int and Con boosting items.

As a Spellslinger, it says that the arcane gun replaces the Arcane Bond. I think that I should be able to cast spells without the gun and not needing a concentration check, but wanted to check that you agree. The gun doesn’t really act as an Arcane Bond, I can’t use it to recall a spell and I don’t get special magical crafting rules with it.

I’ve a couple of rules questions.

Belts and Headbands that boost attributes generally say they are a temporary ability boost for the first 24 hours. I believe that the developers have stated that adventurers don’t need to bath and such with them, they can be removed for short periods and replaced with no problems provided you didn’t try to wear a different one in that location in between.

If we don’t put on a different item, can we go back to full effectiveness when we put back on the items? This is probably most important for Int and Con boosting items.

As a Spellslinger, it says that the arcane gun replaces the Arcane Bond. I think that I should be able to cast spells without the gun and not needing a concentration check, but wanted to check that you agree. The gun doesn’t really act as an Arcane Bond, I can’t use it to recall a spell and I don’t get special magical crafting rules with it.

This is my understanding of both magic belts/headbands and arcane guns. You should be able to store or retrieve such items fine with the box, and having them off you for some time does not have negative effects besides not having the enhancement in effect, the arcane guns in particular replace and are not arcane bonds, they get attuned daily, so no negative effects from not having them out.

So I expect we will need someone to be able to make some Bluff or Disguise checks. Here are the things I’ve found that would likely help:

Honeytongue Elixir +10 to Bluff to lie
Scroll of Glibness or cast the spell. +20 Bluff to lie

Wand, scroll or cast Disguise Self
Potion, scroll, wand or cast Disguise Other

For those pretending to be slavers, Hat of Disguise. I’m assuming that slaves wouldn’t have any headgear.

Duration for these will be a bit of trouble.

I will most likely be picking up the Honeytongue Elixir for Betty. Potion should be a small enough item to hide and Betty is trained in Sleight of Hand.

Note that all the spells listed except Disguise Other has a range of Personal so you can’t make them into potions,

I see Silver Crusade as a faction. Anyone in Liberty's Edge?

Tenibri is Liberty's Edge

Hi guys, just a reminder that I’m still on vacation. I’ll jump in on Monday!

The character I’ll apply credit to is silver crusade.

Just checking we've got the 5 players with Fifi, Betty, Awkin, Zinzarin, and Kess (pre-gen). APL is exactly 6, so high-tier.

We'll move on from the intro on Monday.

In the meantime, once we get to the next section, we will need to know who exactly is disguised as slave and who is slaver. We will need at least one of each.

Alright, trying to organize who is taking what roles.

Tinibri slaver?, hasn’t declared shrunken item yet

Fifi slave w/ shrunken scimitar

Kess slave, hasn’t declared shrunken item yet

Betty slave w/ shrunken spell component pouch. Betty also plans to hide a dagger on herself.

Awkin hasn’t clearly stated, hasn’t declared a shrunken object yet.

——

To get the +2 to sleight of hand for clothing do I need to purchase special clothing or is my poncho enough to get the bonus? I assume a masterwork tool would work, is there a better option?

My shirt if immolation can be hidden. :-)

Awkin's is the figurine that contains his animal companion.

Awkin's is the figurine that contains his animal companion.

Might not need to hide the figurine, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt.

So is Awkin going to pretend to be a slaver or a slave?

I think Tenibri should be a slave. He's disinclined to purchase the hat of disguise and has no ranks in Bluff to support the disguise.

Who in the group has a good Bluff? They should be the slaver, ideally purchasing a hat of disguise to pull it off.

He'll shrink his spell component pouch.

Who in the group has a good Bluff?

No one.

Awkin +2
Betty +0
Fifi +4 w/ paladin code
Kess +1
Tenibri +2

So what are we going to do here?

If a bluff check is called for, we don’t have a very good chance of success. Do we just fight our way through or does someone have a better idea?

I can try to play the part of a slaver, taking advantage of the fact that Fifi is not bound to the standard paladin code, but rather Sarenrae's specific one. She still won't be able to hit a 7th-level DC, but a Honeytongue Elixir can take care of that, and we could pool our resources to buy it (still, it is only 10 minutes).

Fifi doesn't have much experience bluffing, but she can certainly try her best if given proper instructions. She would need to hide her birthmark and armor, which she can do because of her Sleeves of Many Garments. It's not the best plan, but it's a workable course of action.

I can give it a try or be there to aid.

If I have it correct, we have:

Pretending to be slavers:

Fifi, shrunken scimitar, using sleeves of many garments to make sure some clothing covers her birthmark
Awkin, shrunken Cat figurine

Pretending to be slaves:

Betty, shrunken spell component pouch, hidden cold iron dagger
Tininbri, shrunken spell component pouch
Kess, shrunken shirt of immolation

Betty is basically putting everything except her clothes, shrunken spell component pouch and cold iron dagger in the secret compartment of the chest. I will redo her spells memorized tomorrow. I may elect to learn Mage Armor given the circumstances.

If we can split it five ways, it would be 150 gp each for the honeytongue elixir(s).

Looks good to me! I'll give Tenibri's spells a once-over as well, before the end of the day today.

If we can split it five ways, it would be 150 gp each for the honeytongue elixir(s).

My understanding is that we can split the cost of a consumable--even if only one PC uses it--as long as it is consumed during the scenario. If we don't use it, someone needs to buy the others out and only that PC keeps it moving forward.

Betty Boomstick wrote:

If we can split it five ways, it would be 150 gp each for the honeytongue elixir(s).

My understanding is that we can split the cost of a consumable--even if only one PC uses it--as long as it is consumed during the scenario. If we don't use it, someone needs to buy the others out and only that PC keeps it moving forward.

That is my understanding as well.

So is it possible to purchase a tunic that looks like the type slaves are given and gives a bonus to Sleight of Hand checks to hide items like a dagger?

You have basic slave clothes here, but since you're going for playing slaves and no slavers, it's recommended you go more for boosting Disguise and SoH side of things, which means there's a lot more relevant equipment that you could go for, starting with a disguise kit, and stating anything that you want ready for an inspection.

You have basic slave clothes here, but since you're going for playing slaves and no slavers, it's recommended you go more for boosting Disguise and SoH side of things, which means there's a lot more relevant equipment that you could go for, starting with a disguise kit, and stating anything that you want ready for an inspection.

Guess I will buy a disguise kit. Even a small bonus is better than nothing.

I would rather not spend 2/3 of my remaining money on a Concealing Pocket Magic item.

Would you accept a Masterwork Tool that gives a bonus to SoH checks to hide a small item like a dagger? I would think that a tailor could modify the tunic to add something that works.

Is there a better mechanic than that?

I am assuming things like a Wrist Sheath would not work because I doubt the tunic has long sleeves. The pocketed scarf also wouldn’t work because slaves shouldn’t wear scarves.

Hint it’s something my players found last time discussing things involving subterfuge.

So the inside pocket seems mechanically bad.

DC15 to detect the pocket holding an item vs my take 10 with a dagger being DC20 to find a hidden dagger. If they find the pocket, isn’t it all over?

How is the inside pocket good for someone who has sleight of hand trained?

So the inside pocket seems mechanically bad.

DC15 to detect the pocket holding an item vs my take 10 with a dagger being DC20 to find a hidden dagger. If they find the pocket, isn’t it all over?

How is the inside pocket good for someone who has sleight of hand trained?

It's also only 1 inch deep; daggers are a bit bigger than that. I.e. this is good for hiding a folded piece of paper or something that size.

However, the way I read the description, the DC 15 only applies if you don't have Sleight of Hand trained. Sleight of Hand is trained-only, so this gives you the equivalent of a fair Sleight of Hand result if you don't have the skill. If you have the skill, you get +2 to your result.

I think that is great so I’ll take such a pocket just in case. :-)

I've updated Tenibri's spell list, and there's nothing on it right now that needs a material component. As such, I'm going to change his shrunken item from the spell component pouch to his headband of vast intelligence.

Betty, I don't see any duplicate spells between our two lists, which is good.

All, Tenibri has liberating command prepared, which is an immediate action to cast and grants a +12 bonus to an Escape Artist check. 1 immediate action per round, though; who needs to be free from bonds first?

Fifi will be spending 2 Prestige Points to buy a Honeytongue Elixir, and pour it into a waterskin.

Alright, looks like we've got this set up appropriately. Moving on.

So three uses of the disguise kit?
Tenibri, Fifi and Betty.

You may all want to look up the rules for coded language here, under Bluff, even if no one gets Gima’s message. I’ll copy it to Discord as well.

Bluff

We don’t have people skilled at Bluff.

I love the innuendo message, but it does require some skill on the sender’s side. Fortunately if they make the skill check, the intended recipient understands the message. Intercepting is Sense Motive.

You can keep trying Bluff/deliberately fail, but you may/will end up seeing what happens with a bad message.

Or see what happens if nothing is done.

Yes, Snapper is Large, and the slave line should be placed at most 15 feet from him. The box is up with the Gnolls, Vargru is Viole(n)t, and Hargur is wHite.

Need to know a couple more player actions here before we see what happens.

I assume we are on Slide 11.

Is the barracks the square enclosure with two gnolls at the double-doors?

Yes, that is the barracks. Doors are open.

I must admit. It is entirely within character for Kess to attempt to bring the entire fortress down on your heads for show.

Hello everyone, sorry for being too impulsive.

:-/

I’ve got a question: for some reason I cannot access the map. Is that a general problem?

Yeah, looks like this may be a rough battle. Our ACs are horrible between lack of equipment and the fatigued condition. I’m trying to figure out what my best next move is.

As for the map, I am able to access it from either the link in GM Gum BBlackwood’s header or the campaign link at the top of the page.

What sort of system are you using? If it is a smartphone or tablet, you might want to install Google Slides.