Coldwater's Abomination Vaults

Game Master Quentin Coldwater

I'm still finalizing Lough's Class feat - I think I'm settling for the weird choice...

Thanks for the Spellguard Shield! Hopefully, between the Defend exploration activity, and Lough usually opting to keep his shield raised during encounter mode, spells that could turn him against the party will "bounce" off the shield's +2 bonus to saves vs magic.

Too, Kvit, I am looking forward to kitting out that Weapon Siphon as a collaboration of Alchemy and Occult Pseudo-Science!

=)

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2) Kvit had a scroll of Interposing Earth on the cashing-in list and the purchase list. I assume the entry in the cashing-in list was a typo

...

I bought that scroll to learn that spell and then sell the scroll back. As a reaction spell, a scroll of it would be relatively useless unless I was planning to get attacked.

Aren't scrolls expended after learning the spell? That would be a strange addition to 2e version.

Aren't scrolls expended after learning the spell? That would be a strange addition to 2e version.

The Learn a Spell activity doesn't mention anything about the source of the spell being destroyed, so if that's a scroll, the scroll is not destroyed. Selling it back does incur the usual 50% loss, so there is a cost involved.

Yeah, definitely cheaper to learn from available books and such. But it can be done. I suppose I could try to sweettalk Morlibint and see if he'll let me copy stuff, heck, he's probably where I had to buy it.

Alternatively, there might be some (albeit more divine) spellbooks available at the dawnflower library.

.

Honestly though, I might be wrong about the whole thing, it's just what I've seen done lots of times. Which admittedly doesn't make it correct. Though it seems like to works from the Learn a Spell description.

That feels super weird to me, but probably just because I'm used to 1e spell learning. I remember one of the big downsides to playing a witch was that unlike a wizard, who didn't use up the scroll unless they learned the spell, the witch lost the scroll regardless because you had to feed it to your familiar in a weird magic paste in order to even have a chance to learn it.

But yeah, nothing in the LaS activity says you lose the material, so I guess that's another minute change to mark down! Over 4 years later and I still find little things like this on occasion.

Can we assume that we returned the three icons to their original owners and that Kka is holding onto Otari's Infiltrator Thieves' Tools, or do we have to RP that?

I believe the sword goes to the library, the brooch to the mayor, and the spellbook to Morlibint.

I have to change my loot answer if we returned that book. I assumed we were holding onto them for the time being.

All the owners are fine with you holding on to the items for now, as long as you take good care of it and not sell them as loot. You're becoming quite popular heroes now, and word of them sponsoring you is good for business. :P

And now it is my turn to post about being spotty lately.

This weekend was my Mother's birthday, our first without Dad, and I had a hard bout of depression while thinking about our cats, who are rapidly approaching the end of their lives.

Glad you're back, sorry you're having a hard time with it. I've been through losing my dad and just recently had our oldest dog pass. I can't say I know what you're thinking/feeling, but it's something we all end up going through and I know it sucks.

I'm sorry to hear that, Cherry Berry. Take your time.

By the way, if anyone would like a break or something feel free to say so. I don't want to give you the impression that you have to chug on if you're not feeling like it.

Not opposed to taking a break.

Also down to keep chugging on.

=)

I have an idea. One of the spells in the spellbook I have is "Locate Object."

We could potentially get the ruby back to the Motley Man, possibly just by leaving it somewhere for him to retrieve. I assume that he has some way to locate it or knows where it is at all times. Then once he has it, cast locate object to find where he's taken it!

Hmm. It could work, but one of the big drawbacks is the spell's range of 500 feet. Do you think an enemy this level can teleport? If it can teleport, we'd lose it and the ruby in one fell swoop.

But it's possible we're low enough level that it isn't a likely outcome yet. So I'm down to give it a try. I think I'm just being a little paranoid because I don't want this scumbag to get away!

Just FYI, I won't be able to post until Monday. Crazy busy for the next three days. Don't go killing the Motley Man without me!

Not that it's likely in that time period but ya know. XD

It's been slow the past few weeks. Are you done here? Want to fast-forward to the next level of the dungeon, or want to play this out a little more?

I'm in Perth Australia for the next month or so, but other than the funny timezone, I'm ready to move onto the next level.

It's been slow the past few weeks. Are you done here? Want to fast-forward to the next level of the dungeon, or want to play this out a little more?

I'm fine with moving back to the Gauntlight. I was waiting for our meeting with Wrin to see if she knew anything about the denizen stuff. But is otherwise ready to move on. I think when we get back we'll need to try to work with the kid.

Ah, I had not heard a definitive plan or call to action, so I was holding off on posting. I'll update in a few hours once I'm done demo-ing (I'm currently at a boardgame con running Quests).

And we've officially arrived at the sixth level of the dungeon! Just to be sure, I'd like to post everyone's initiatives to see if they're correct (should be just a +1 compared to last level, but you never know):

Cherry Berry, Perception +14
Fuìn, Stealth +14
Kka, Stealth +15
Kvit, Perception +10
Lough, Perception +11

Make sure your headers are also correct. I already noticed Kvit's Perception is still at +9, but I won't remember that forever.

Thanks! I updated the stat line. I think that's the only thing I missed.

Sorry for posting delays. A hard week at work combined with a hard week at home (second in a row for both) left me with no energy to do anything but sleep.

Initiative is correct.

Sorry for posting delays. A hard week at work combined with a hard week at home (second in a row for both) left me with no energy to do anything but sleep.

Please take care of yourself first. Home life is more important than online life. We'll be here for a while. :)

Lough attacks the blob first with his usual mechanical arm, then... his own hair? However he does that, it seems to be effective.

Living Hair

=)

I guessed as much, but I think that's the first time you used it. I spelled out the surprise the party might feel. :P

The remaster is officially out now (though not on Nethys yet). How do people feel about updating their characters? I don't want to force people into changing if they don't want to, but I would prefer if people used the same version throughout (so for instance not someone who uses a 1d4+4 cantrip and someone else rolling 2d4).

I'm open to keeping either the old version of spells or adopting the new ones, whichever the players prefer. As a player, I know I prefer the "old" version as it gives more consistency, but that'll go for the GM as well, then.

I'm good either way currently. I know the remaster is out but I also know there is still a flurry of errata and questions and fixes in process so I haven't looked into it much for now. As a wizard I am aware there is significant changes to spells and spell schools and such. But I don't want to look into it too much until things settle down in a week or two.

One thing that would be nice is that, I used Pathbuilder. If we switch to remaster I can continue using it as-is. Otherwise I will have to switch back and forth between the remaster version and legacy version of Pathbuilder. Not a deal breaker by any means, but one point for switching to remaster.

My suggestion would be that if we switch to remaster, we wait until we level up to level 7. This would buy us time for errata and such, to look through the changes, and make a plan.

I say we full convert.

2 coppers.

I'm also a proponent of full conversion. As to the errata, they've already dropped it in the Remaster FAQ!

Most importantly: the Death and Dying rules have been reverted from the horrific insta-kill they made them in Player Core, back to the way everyone had been running them anyway (aka the Sane Way).

I suspect they dropped the errata same-day to quell the unrest about turning Recovery checks into a meat grinder. (Adding your Wounded value to your new Dying value EVERY TIME you fail a Recovery check?? WHAT?! Even Wounded 1 would mean instant death on a single failed check!)

I actually like that they moved away from adding your ability modifier to cantrip spells, because it means those spells are significantly more effective for the magus. Downside is, there are a whopping 4 non-cantrip spells that use spell attack modifier in the remaster, so it's kind of a 1 step forward, 2 steps back situation for them.

Bright side, is, the wizard and witch look SO GOOD, and the warpriest cleric is actually amazing! You can make a really beastly tank using a cleric now, which is wild to me. And you can actually put your boosts into Wisdom because your Divine Font is no longer tied to your Charisma modifier! That awful holdover from 3.5e is finally gone. (Sadly they still get garbage for skill proficiencies, but baby steps.)

Sorry, I'm neck-deep in reading Player Core and I'm pretty dang pumped. I will admit daze remains a crap spell, which is unfortunate, but I like a lot of the changes made.

Admittedly, converting is going to take the most amount of time for Kvit, since the wizard probably got the most alterations out of the party's classes, and that shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. Waiting until 7th level is actually a pretty good idea, since that gives some time for everyone to familiarize themselves with the changes and look at what needs to be altered for their characters.

Overall though, my vote is very much in favor of conversion, with the caveat that I agree with Kvit it should wait until our next level-up.

I had a look through the core for wizard and I don't really see a lot of change for wizard. Maybe I'm missing something. Mainly I think I just have to pick a new curriculum and spell list. But that's not *too* bad.

I don't have the book yet, but the core of the Wizard hasn't changed. The most interesting thing is the spells schools being scrapped and actual schools introduced. A lot of the old focus spells are still there, but reshuffled and slightly altered. Hallucinatory Terrain is still there, but it's an actual warping of terrain, so no save to disbelieve. Bonus spells are also changed and are more themed rather than by school, but there's still the school of mind-messing, so still lots of illusions and enchantment-y type stuff there, if you're interested. Apart from that, some feats got added that look pretty cool, but overall nothing too exciting.

But as I said, I'm fine with you sticking to the old chassis if you prefer that. If you're really illusion-themed the old schools worked better for you, I think.

Honestly, I've been a little distracted my real life recently and haven't even glanced at the remaster. I guess I should buy myself a copy and check it out. Doing that and upgrading Kka is going to be somewhat time consuming, so I'm more with Kvit with the whole waiting until we level up to 7th to deal with it all.

Luckily the Rogue didn't get much of a facelift. The big thing for them is that you can now use martial agile/finesse weapons as well, not just simple weapons and a few select martial ones. It adds a few nifty weapons (including one or two d8 weapons, I think) and damage types, but nothing too spicy.

I'd say swapping schools for a curriculum is a pretty big change, although you could also theoretically leave Kvit as-is and call it a custom curriculum. They did leave room for that, after all! I actually love the change, it makes my shriveled little Homebrew GM heart sing.

I didn't know they changed HT, I only just started the spell list yesterday so I haven't read them all.

@Kka, you don't necessarily have to by the Player Core. It should be up on AoN before we hit level 7, and as Kwinten mentioned, rogue didn't change a ton besides martial weapon proficiency. But if you have the cash, I say go for it. So far I'm really digging most of the changes.

I went ahead and purchased the remastered Player Core and GM Core books and had a quick look at the stuff affecting Kka. As pointed out already, it looks like it's pretty minimal.

1) Abilities are now Attributes? <shrug> Okay.

1) She's trained in all martial weapons now, so maybe she can now get herself a backup finesse bludgeoning weapon with decent damage potential instead of relying on her fists. Looks like her options are either a Monkey's Fist or a Probing Cane.

So given the minimal cost involved I guess I can upgrade Kka to the remastered rules immediately instead of waiting.

I have Warped Terrain a focus spell from the illusion school. Hallucinatory Terrain is a regular spell. It looks like the warped terrain focus spell is no longer in the remaster list.

I had a look at the curriculums. No straight comparison to the illusion school, but mentalist is close-ish in theme. I have only a few matching spells on any of the lists for Kvit.

Mentalist, The Boundary, and Civic Wizardry each have two spells that match what are on Kvit's list currently.

Mentalist: Of spells Kvit currently has in his book, Mentalist has Figment (ghost sound, combined with a visual option now) dizzying colors (Color Spray) and illusory creature. The focus spell is Charming Push which doesn't that great or seem to fit. Neither of the Rank 3 spells seems particularly useful. The Charming Push focus spell seems okay, but only for things that are directly attacking Kvit which I intend to limit as much as possible...

The Boundary: Of spells Kvit currently has in his book, The Boundary has none. But the fortify summoning focus spell seems nice. And the general theme fits with his foray into more of the Eldritch Researcher Archetype. Fortify Summoning seems like a useful spell.

Civic Wizardry Of spells Kvit currently has in his book, Civic Wizardry has Hydraulic Push, Summon Construct, and Safe Passage. The focus spell, Earthworks appears to be nearly identical in function to warped terrain but is physical instead of an illusion.

Civic Wizardry doesn't sound like Kvit at first but it technically fits his current repitoire the most. He has used summon construct to great effect a few times. Though Earthworks (Warped Terrain) hasn't really been useful due to such close quarters. Adding areas of difficult terrain hasn't been tactically advantageous.

I am still debating slightly, but I am leaning towards The Boundary as Kvit's curriculum.

Cherry doesn't change much, but that's more because Cherry was a pretty vanilla Cloistered Cleric to begin with, and that didn't get a lot of changes.

I no longer technically need all of Cherry's charisma since it no longer determines how many 'free' heal spells I get a day. (That I have the same number of heals before and after is largely coincidence.)

Cherry would definitely take Holy Sanctification.

I am presuming that there would be a lot of spell changes, I know the cantrips all got bumped, but I haven't had a chance to look into those.

I have Warped Terrain a focus spell from the illusion school. Hallucinatory Terrain is a regular spell. It looks like the warped terrain focus spell is no longer in the remaster list.

(...)
The focus spell, Earthworks appears to be nearly identical in function to warped terrain but is physical instead of an illusion.

Ah, that's the one I meant, not Hallucinatory Terrain.

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Most of the changes in spells are mainly cantrips becoming 2d4, rather than 1d4+mod. Other than that, a lot of name changes and some slight tweaks in spells, but nothing major, I think.

...and then a Bless I'll expand throughout the fight.

Check out the new range for remastered Bless!

Well, one of the bright sides to the remastered wizard is that it's super easy to just homebrew your own curricula. I made two for my homebrew setting already! I did have to write new school spells for one of them, so those might need some playtesting, but the spell lists were easy.

Anyway you could just have a "school of figments" or something similar that's basically a re-skinned illusionist from pre-remaster. You could even keep the same school spells! Most of the pre-remaster stuff works just fine with the remastered rules.

Also bless is so much better now! Bane too, though it's slightly less pronounced, but even so. Great spells, especially if you don't have a bard to cast courageous anthem every round. (I think they're both status bonuses?)

Speaking of bards, I think my backup character will be a warrior muse bard! It certainly doesn't seem like I'll need it the way we've been kicking butt, but it doesn't hurt to have an idea kicking around just in case!

...

Also, if you're happier with your old Wizard, you definitely don't have to switch. I'm fine with people staying as they are right now. I was mainly asking if people wanted to switch over.

Oh, I'm fine with switching, just weighing the options. I'm leaning towards The Boundary as it fits thematically with the adventure and the Eldritch Researcher Archetype.

Though I might look at a "Figment" Curriculum like Fuìn suggested and propose something there.

Happy Thanksgiving (USA) or Thursday (International) folks,

One month heads up: I will be traveling December 20th to 27th, so my posting may be spotty during that time. If I am GMing for you, expect more minimal than usual posts (perhaps a pause if there is consensus), if I am a Player I will try and make sure my characters have sufficient Botting instructions and will try and check in every two days or so (perhaps more), but may need assistance with Maps and other technicals.

Cheers!

I forgot to make it clear that because of her Dread Striker feat, a frightened opponent is also flat-footed to Kka, so in addition to the -1 status penalty to AC from Frightened 1, the hydra also suffers a -2 circumstance penalty to AC from Flat-Footed for a total of -3 to AC from Kka's attack. Plus, she gets her sneak attack damage on top of it all.

I also just noticed from the Initiative rolls that the Hydra has a hefty Perception, so Feinting and attacking from Hidden are not ways likely to lead to flat-footed success for Kka. Tumble Through/Behind vs Reflex and Demoralize vs Will are the way to go. She has slightly better Acrobatics than Intimidation (by 1 point), so that's the best approach if Will > Reflex, otherwise Demoralize is better. You only get to Demoralize once per encounter though, so it's Tumble Through/Behind from hereon out regardless.

Do realise that if you Tumble Through, you're sandwiched in between two hydras. :P

And thanks for linking Dread Striker, that's good to keep in mind.

Do realise that if you Tumble Through, you're sandwiched in between two hydras. :P

Yes. I mentioned that rather unpleasant prospect in my post, but the nice thing about Tumble Through is that despite the name, you can remain on the same side you started on. It's the addition of Tumble Behind that makes them flat-footed.

Kka was one square short of being able to Tumble Through/Behind in one action, so given an extra action was going to be required anyway, I went with Demoralize/Dread Striker hoping that the odds of success weren't too different and with the added benefit of the hydra being Frightened if it worked.

Speaking of which...(checks Gameplay)... it worked! With a crit to boot, making the hydra flat-footed to her on her next turn.

I should point out that everyone can now take advantage of the Frightened 1 status of Red until the end of its next turn.

Also, if Cherry could arrange to move towards the hydra by 2-3 squares, the rest of us could take advantage of their Bless.

GM Kwinten wrote:

Do realise that if you Tumble Through, you're sandwiched in between two hydras. :P

Yes. I mentioned that rather unpleasant prospect in my post,

Yeah, I noticed that after I posted, but I couldn't be bothered to edit my post. I should read all messages before I post, I guess. :P

Do notice though that a sword crit is off guard UNTIL the start of your next turn, so no flat-footed for you.

Do notice though that a sword crit is off guard UNTIL the start of your next turn, so no flat-footed for you.

Shoot! You're right. I have a fighter in a different campaign that gets flat-footed until the end of his next turn on a crit.

If nothing else, the others will be able to take advantage of the flat-footed as I believe it applies to everyone.

In a few short hours I will be catching the first flight in what will be a 24+ hour multi-leg journey back to Spain. I am unlikely to post anything requiring a lot of effort during that time, and may not be able to post at all for the duration.

Safe flight.

Omg 24+ hours flying...

Sorry about the extended absence, but I'm finally back from vacation! Working on getting up to date in my games now.