GM supervillan's 5-13 Weapon in the Rift [High Tier, Gameday] (Inactive)

Game Master supervillan

Just to confirm that yes, the prisms need to be loaded at the control console to the east (right) of the map.

The control console is described as being a "platform twenty feet off the ground" so I interpret that as a mezzanine jutting out from the tower wall rather than a solid column.

Would someone please place my token? Any square near the machine so I can load the prism will be fine with me. Thanks so much!

I've moved your token to the square behind Marik if that works for you? (I assume he can reach the console from there?)

Thanks so much, Marik. If that works, it is perfect!

It looks like activating the weapon is going to need us to have some coordination from the perspective of what we are doing and when. So I thought it may be a good idea to pull together everything we know about what we need to do, in one post. Partly to check that my understanding is correct and also to make sure that everyone is on the same page in terms of the plan. Here's my understanding:

What is our job in this fight? Ollysta has told us to focus on activating the weapon, while she and her crusaders hold off the big demon. So it looks like our job is to focus on the tasks necessary to activate the weapon.

Do we need to kill the demons? Ghalcor told us that activating the weapon will subject those who are evil to Iomedae's wrath over a massive area. Which suggests that activating the weapon will not be good for the demons currently in the room. If that's the case then we just need to stop the demons from interfering with us activating the weapon, which could entail killing them, but equally could simply involve doing something to keep them busy. That said, I definitely think the green demon on the platform needs to die as a priority, as it is currently standing in the way of us activating the weapon and has already been badly mauled by Selune.

How is the weapon activated and where do we need to be to do this? We first need to load 4 prisms into the receptacles on the control panel and then we need to fire the weapon by turning two dials at either end of the control panel. The firing dials must be turned at the same time, either by two different people or one person with reach. When arming the weapon, you can make an INT or UMD check to compensate for some of the damage to the weapon (@GM is this done every time someone loads a prism and have I got everything else regarding activating the weapon correct?). All of these activities need to be done from the control panel on the platform to the right of the map. The platform is 20 foot up.

So what are the steps we need to do in order to activate the weapon?

I said in Gameplay that I'd repeat here in Discussion the mechanics of firing the weapon - then I got interrupted by rl.

But here is a recap:

You need to load 4 prisms into their receptacles on the control platform. (You have 5 prisms but the weapon only has 4 receptacles).

Loading a prism is a move action (ordinarily).

Once 4 prisms are loaded, one PC may use the controls to arm the weapon. This is a full-round action and will provoke AoOs.

Once the weapon is armed, the two firing dials may be operated. They are at opposite ends of the control platform and must be operated simultaneously. It is a Standard action to operate one or both firing dials, but you can operate both as a single Standard action if you have 10' or greater reach.

The character arming the weapon may make an INT check or a Use Magic Device check as a free action. Success somewhat mitigates the effect of the damage caused to the weapon by the demons.

It is possible to use Aid Another on the INT or UMD check, but both the PC arming the weapon and the PC using Aid Another must take full-round actions that provoke AoOs.

I agree. I’m actually just waiting for Derpi to dim door us. :-)

Done Xiao. I moved both our tokens.

You'll notice now that the control console is within range of the shemhazian's gaze weapon.

You have four options when facing gaze attacks.

1. act normally, taking whatever saves are appropriate
2. avert your gaze. This grants a 50% chance that you are unaffected, but always gives the Shemhazian concealment against you. In this scenario it also makes loading and firing the weapon slower (see below).
3. close your eyes (or otherwise blindfold yourself). You cannot be affected by the gaze weapon but you suffer all the penalties of blindness.
4. turn your back. This is almost the same as closing your eyes. You're "blind" against anything coming from behind. This can be hard to adjudicate because Pathfinder has no "facing" rules. You would need to be able to have your back to the shemhazian for the whole of your turn, so this option is dependent on what you're trying to accomplish. Given that turning your back is listed in the same option as closing your eyes, if there's any doubt then it will be as restrictive as closing your eyes.

And, as noted above, if you're taking any of the options other than acting normally, loading, arming and firing the weapon are slower: a move action becomes a standard, a standard becomes a full-round, and a full-round becomes 2 full-round actions. Ashwell got a pass because he's just out of the range of the gaze but the rest of the prisms need to be loaded into receptacles further along the console (ie closer to the shemhazian).

Ah, so if we also need someone to arm the weapon there may be some advantage in dimension dooring with more people, so they can get started on that as soon as the prisms are loaded.

One other thing which can help with gaze attacks is smoked goggles.

In terms of the target location for the Dimension Door, if we can kill the green demon there will hopefully be more options for where to land.

Ash calls out to the others. ”I’ll fly to get your prism and put it in the device. Let me know who wants to give me a handoff,” he yells as he waits for an answer.

Delay to find someone who I can take a prism from.

One thing to bear in mind if Ash helps Derpi with loading a prism is that, I think, Derpi would need to land within a 5 foot step of Ash. Otherwise Ash would need to use a move to get to Derpi and then use a move action to to take the prism from Derpi. With the net result being that Ash was left holding the prism at the end of the round rather than Derpi which wouldn’t really move our situation forward.

If Ash has any damage spells it may also be worth him waiting to see if Selune manages to finish off the green demon or not. As that will definitely need killing or disabling if it is still alive after Selune’s go.

...actually, thinking about it, another good option for Ash (if Selune is able to kill the green demon) could be to stay flying out of range of the big demon's gaze ability. That way once all of the prisms are loaded, he would be in the perfect position to help with the next stages of activating the weapon. As he is flying, he's got an advantage over Xiao and Derpi because he can access the console from his current position without being affected by the gaze ability, so he would be able to carry out the tasks much quicker from there which would be incredibly useful.

@GM I assume Ash would be able to access one of the firing dials from there? Would he also be able to arm the weapon from that position?

If Ash is able to arm the weapon from where he is, then the rest of us can focus on turning the firing dials once he's done that. If not, then it's probably worth Marik arming the weapon as he has the best chance of not being affected by the big demon's gaze and Ash would be well positioned to turn the firing dial at his end of the console.

Following the scenario text, I will have to rule that Ash can neither arm nor fire the weapon from his current position. There's a clear intent that these tasks will need to be performed within the shemhazian's gaze.

I may have been a little generous allowing Ash to load a prism, but that will stand.

One follow-up question on the gaze attack... Assuming it's a standard gaze attack where you need to make a save if you start your turn in range, but not on the round you move into range. Would I be correct in thinking that someone starting outside of the range would be able to move into range without averting their gaze and act normally that round but would then need to make a Fort save at the start of their next round. So, for example if Ash wanted to use one of the firing dials as a standard action, he could start from his current position outside of the gaze range, fly into range as a move action, use the firing dial as a standard action and hopefully that would activate the weapon before he needed to make the Fortitude save (assuming someone turned the other dial)?

If this is the case then its definitely worth Ash staying out of range of the demon's gaze attack until we are ready to fire the weapon, as having Ash ready to swoop in and turn the dial to fire the weapon as a standard action would be a massive help.

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Thinking about the next steps, I'm guessing next round Derpi will spend an action to avoid the big demons gaze and insert the final prism into the weapon and at that point we will be able to start arming the weapon.

Avoiding the gaze while arming the weapon would make the arming process take an extra round, so I think it would be worth Marik waiting until Derpi has inserted the prism and then starting the arming process without trying to avert his gaze as he has a pretty decent Fortitude save which should help with that.

If I understand correctly (@GM correct me if I'm wrong here), until the weapon is armed it is not possible to start any activities related to firing the weapon. i.e. on that round everyone else currently on the platform (and not flying) may as well spend the round either helping arm the weapon, or doing something else useful that they can think of?

Then (assuming it works) we can spend the following round firing the weapon. Ideally trying to do it without averting our gaze so that we can do it as a standard action rather than a full round action (and if my assumption up top is correct, with Ash swooping in from outside of gaze range to turn the remaining dial and fire the weapon).

Each of you can decide what precautions to take against the gaze weapon (if any) at the start of your turns. You only need to save against the shemhazian's gaze if you are within 30' of it at the start of your turn.

Arming the weapon is a full-round action (assuming no precautions against the shemhazian's gaze). But not a 1 round action. So this action can be completed during the same round that the fourth prism is loaded.

(In fact, in optimal circumstances the entire firing sequence could be completed in 1 round if at leat 5 PCs started the round in position and all saved against the demon gaze).

So, if one PC arms the weapon with a full-round action, other PCs acting after them in the same round may activate the firing dials.

Conveniently you are now all in the same initiative block.

Fantastic. So, in that case, assuming Derpi loads the prism this round and Marik arms the weapon, Xiao and Ash should be able to just wait until after Marik and fire it.

So every prism needs to be armed. Got it.

Every prism needs to be loaded (so Derpi just needs to load her one now), and then the weapon as a whole needs to be armed once, which can be done by one person.

Once that is done the two firing dials at either end of the console need to be turned to fire the weapon.

So, it looks like the order of action this turn should be...
1. Derpi loads the last prism while keeping back to the demon to avoid the fort save.
2. Marik arms the weapon.
3. Xiao turns the firing dial as a full round action with back to demon.
4. Ash flies to the other firing dial and turns that as a standard action.

After that hopefully the weapon should activate.

GM, just checking here…Myth ran to his current spot to fire back at red…his eyes would still be focusing to the west on red as it’s still up. I could be wrong, but don’t you have to be looking into the creatures eyes on a gaze attack?

As always, you know the rules far better than I, my friend, so I’m good with whatever you rule…I’ll wait till I hear back before posting…

Marik has the sequence correct.

Gaze weapons can be finicky to adjudicate because Pathfinder lacks facing rules - then says that you can avoid a save by "turning your back". But it is clear enough that a PC is be affected by a gaze weapon if within range unless taking one of the few prescribed precautions (or passing a save, if allowed).

I think because a combat round lasts 6 seconds and its assumed that there's a degree of movement going on (even if you don't leave your starting square) then your attention will be drawn to the gaze-attacker. And that feels pretty reasonable when the gaze-attacker is a gargantuan demon breaking your walls down.

A creature with a gaze weapon can also employ it against a single target within range, as a standard action. The stated precautions work against this as well.

So the prescribed precautions again are:

Mun has pm'd me.

I'll get a closing gameplay post up later.

Success Conditions

Success is partly measured by how many charges you fire the weapon with. Charges loaded in the prisms are reduced by 1 for each round that the wrecker demons are allowed to smash things up, starting from when Ghalcor's spirit (the good one) vanishes. Effective charges are increased by 1 if you pass the INT or UMD check, and a further 1 for every 5 points by which you beat the DC (INT DC15, UMD DC20).

You fired the weapon with 30 effective charges - that wand of Prot. Evil was very handy :)

Your primary success is achieved by firing the weapon with at least 14 charges. This earns you 1PP and a couple of boons on the chronicle sheet.

The secondary success condition requires you to fire the weapon with at least 17 charges and prevent Ollysta Zadrian's death (the shemhazian will kill her eventually). Your mission is therefore a full success!

Silver Crusade characters can potentially earn a faction boon, requiring them to fulfil 2 out of 4 conditions (tested per character): resolve the archon encounter nonviolently; directly aid Ollysta Zadrian against the shemhazian demon (assessed against specific criteria); fire the weapon within 4 rounds; fire the weapon with at least 22 effective charges. The first and fourth condition are met for everyone, so our Silver Crusaders earn the faction boon.

Condition removal

Riddywhipple sadly perished. Derpi can bring him back with a Raise Animal Companion spell at a cost of 1450gp. Please confirm that you wish to do so Derpi. As a named NPC familiar, Riddywhipple can't be recruited more than once by the same PC.

Mun had his two evil items destroyed by the weapon. They can be restored with Make Whole or Greater Make Whole spells, total cost 660gp.

ETA: damage to bows will be fixed by Mun's Mending spell, so no costs there.

I expect to be able to get chronicles done by the end of this weekend.

Looks like she has the gold for it so yes, she will have it done.

Looks like she has the gold for it so yes, she will have it done.

Derpi, do you also want to clear the two permanent negative levels that being raised will leave Riddywhipple with?

1280gp OR 4 Prestige each.

Gold costs can be deducted from your chronicle sheet rewards (5481gp plus day job).

She'll spend gold for the first one and pp for the second. And she still has pre-adventure gold left over - enough for quite a few muffin ingredients :)

Chronicles are here!

Let me know if there are any issues.

Thanks GM! That was a tricky scenario and you did a great job running it. Much appreciated!

Mine looks good, GM! Awesome job running this, as always, and I enjoyed playing with everyone!

Same here. Chronicle logged and filed. Thank you everyone.

Thanks for everything!!

Thanks everyone. Chronicle looks good from my perspective.