[Gameday XI] GM Doug's Cavern of the Sundered Song (Inactive)

Game Master Doug Hahn

I will post RPG Chronicles info here when we're done recruiting. I also have a character macros sheet I ask player to fill out, and a reference slides sheet.

Very much looking forward to this!

Welcome!

Thanks for your interest in this game and posting in the recruitment thread, which is now closed. Very excited to GM for this group!

— Doug

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SIGNING IN

1. Sign in on RPG Chronicles.
2. Add your token & character info on slide 1, and your marching order on slide 2. (I am 99% sure we have at least 6 Glyphs for 2 hero points each.)
3. Fill in the character macros sheet. (There is an example tab for reference.)

Happy to help if you need assistance with any of this.

Please feel free to use the time between now and Sept 11 to chat about builds, coordination, etc.

Got Orin signed up on all the things.

As a quick note on tactics, Orin has Shield Warden and can use his shield to block for adjacent allies.

Quick Shield Block and various other abilities give him an extra reaction to block with each round as well as the ability to block reflex saves as well as attacks.

So being adjacent to him can help improve your safety.

Filled everything out, though I have a little shopping to do before we get started.

I mostly use Snagging Strike to help make things flat-footed and then hit stuff with my flail, in addition to being an excellent dragon.

Got Orin signed up on all the things.

Looks like Orin may need to still fill the macros sheet out. Still plenty of time.

Weird, I think I accidently was editing an offline version, I refreshed my page and it seems to have stuck this time.

Despite Orin's offer of protection, Seggiatore will hang towards the back. He still hasn't mastered the whole armor-wearing thing, though he's close to figuring it out (at level 10, he'll have enough strength to overcome the check penalty).
He has, however, embraced his fey heritage and can fortuitously shift in and out of reality to avoid harmful effects.

And, of course, the bard does typical bard stuff. Lingering composition on the inspire courage is obviously the big one, or inspire heroics now and then for a bigger boost.
He's also good at inspiring competence.

Right, I am also getting some last things sorted out in terms of last minute shopping (and last scenario reporting) before filling in the last details to RPG chronicles. Gotta update the paizo site version of the character sheet before showtime, too.

Oh yeah, shopping. I've got a grand saved up, and can't recall if I was saving it for something in particular. ;)

Oh, I posted in the wrong section...

Nimble was numerically better but then they Errata'd it. Even maxing out my cat's finesse attacks, I didn't feel like I was hitting much at 8th level.

I like the animal companion, it's behind PCs numerically (And fighters make it look doubly bad) but with Mature it's taking an action for free, or you're spending one of yours to give it 2 actions. With the focus healing spell it's not using up resources to stay in combat and can absorb quite a bit of damage as well as being an additional threat/flanking buddy etc.

All that said, it's your character, you should do what you want.

Here is my level 7 Animal Druid from The Slithering who was amazing.

Okay, everything's all updated and money is spent.

Reminder: we'll be starting at 4 PM Pacific this Saturday with character intros! I am so ready to GM this!

See you then,

— Doug

Also spent some money and updated the macro sheet. Let's rock!

Got everything updated on my character writeup on this site, the macro sheet, and the numbers for the RPGChronicles, as well.

Tactical Note:
Chulyin has Recognize Spell and Quick Recognition

◇: Once per Round, first Primal or Arcane spell
↺: First Divine or Occult spell or second Primal or Arcane Spell

Automatic Identification:
Arcane 6th level and lower (roll save bonus on CS but cannot get less than S)
Primal 6th level and lower (roll save bonus on CS but cannot get less than S)
Divine 4th level and lower (roll save bonus on CS but cannot get less than S)
Occult 2nd level and lower (roll save bonus on CS but cannot get less than S)

Wall of text mission briefing is up.

Just a note that generally I assume you won't spend hero points if you crit fail secret recall knowledge checks. Let me know if you want to, though!

I added your tokens, Chulyin. Please adjust your marching order if needed.

Thanks! I meant to do that but was getting frustrated by my add-on that lets me replace avatars but prevents me from right clicking them and forgot.

I'm curious... does 'Convention Hero' apply to this event?
Might be eligible for a third hero point. :D

Unless something changed, I believe it counts!

Convention Hero does count for our PbP Cons!

While I generally memorize blasting spells and healing spells, are there any spells on the Primal list (1-5) that synergizes particularly well with anyone else's abilities or tactics?

Please add your convention hero hero points of you haven't done so already!

We will move ahead shortly. There is some more backstory and I assume you would have coordinated spell prep per Chulyin's question above.

Since bombs are martial weapons, did we give those to the characters who can throw them best?

Anything that lowers saves is nice (beyond Frightened, dirge of doom usually handles that), since most of my offensive stuff requires saves. But that's a pretty niche thing.

And yes, Kohl and Orin might be best with the bombs.

I will note that I have Inspire Competence, so I can easily aid most skill checks. At +20, it's better than 50/50 whether it's +1 or +3 (since I'm a Master in performance).

Happy to take 2 of the bombs. One of each is probably best.

I'm out at the FLGS tonight, so no big updates till tomorrow. In the meantime please absorb the infodumps, and feel free to pester ask Shaine more questions if you can think of any.

Try to have all your loose ends & prep locked in before my morning tomorrow (within the next 16 hours or so).

The Darklands are a dangerous place…

Apologies. When I went to "edit" my sign-up, I discovered that I had forgotten to sign-up!

School Item: Scroll of Fly
Purchases:
Upgrade Staff of Healing to Greater Staff of Healing (380 gp)
Rations (1 week) (4 sp)
Backfire Mantle (45 gp)
Pendant of the Occult (60 gp)
Psychic Warding Bracelet (10 gp)
2 x Scroll of Endure Elements (24 gp)
Scroll of Speak with Animal (12 gp)
Scroll of Water Breathing (12 gp)
Scroll of Neutralize Poison (30 gp)
= 573.4 gp spent

Just checking on the light situation here.

You have two PCs capable of casting Light heightened to level 4+, but seem to be using Wayfinders instead. These only shed 20' bright and 20' dim as a level 1 Light cantrip (to my understanding the cantrip from your Wayfinder does not heighten; the item just casts "a 1st-level Light spell").

I know Yendi is using Goggles of Night. However, Chulyin, his Sarkorian wolf, and Kas are dependent on the level 1 Light cantrips.

Edit looks like Kas will drop a heightened Light cantrip. I think he will post that shortly.

Yendi can certainly provide a higher level light cantrip himself, if someone wants it on one of their possessions. Speaking of cantrips, though, there is one thing that I should bring up early, to not bog things down later. I do have the Infinite Eye Amped version of Guidance, meaning that I can spend a focus point to use Guidance as a reaction to provide a +2 bonus, but the Trigger there is that I can only do this if the +2 would turn a crit fail into a fail, or a regular fail into a success, which does mean that I need to be able to tell when people are barely failing.

The amp costs a focus point, correct?

So, essentially 1-2x per combat with 2 focus points (since you can only recover 1 focus point from refocusing, you're probably going to use 1 focus per combat unless things are looking bad).

I assume you would save it for crit fails for saves / failed diplomatic efforts that would anger NPCs, crit failed escape/grapple attempts, and other things that have negative consequences beyond mere failure. Let me know if you would always use it ASAP on things like missed attacks.

Happy to work with you on this as we move along!

Chulyin has several ways to manage darkness now, but I just started with the simplest.

Apologies for the delay. Animal Companion profile and header are updated.

It also looks like you took Chulyin's data from his profile, which is out of date, and not his header, which is up to date. Working on profile presently.

Great. I'll update when ready. Luckily you both avoided the horrible grossness anyway.

Profile updated.

And... that is gross.

Translation on Chulyin's statement, since not everyone opens the spoilers on other people's successes: these things regenerate, and the regeneration is deactivated by cold.

Tempted to blow my Cone of Cold here even though it's the first fight, so position accordingly. Virulent disease, AOE damage... yuck.

Orin has Robust Recovery to help out with disease treatment later at least. (huge help against virulent)

Will be unable to update till tonight; ~5 hours.

So long to be left to imagine so many gruesome, xenomorphic demises...

Sometimes I will let people who're up at the top of the round go with the people at the bottom, but there is enough going on here that I think it's best to finish out the round.

Also removed the notes about vision from the init block; we all have a handle on it.

For the battle tracker:
Chulyin's HP are 106
The wolf's HP are 96 (and no immunity/weakness)

Sturdy Shield may be broken if my blocking damage is correct. If you’d not rather not let it be broken we can adjust.

You're a lifesaver, Orin. If you want to save the shield, feel free to let that last one smack me.

Math looks right to me, I'll block and let the shield break.

Orin would never value his shield over the health of an ally. He may also own a few shields and can repair later.

Seggiatore: as a heads up the penalty from frightened and stupefied to saves doesn't stack unfortunately. Both provide a status penalty to will saves. I was rather surprised when I learned this.

"Likewise, you use only the worst penalty of each type."

Yarrr. And I had them stack last round against the Calm Emotions. For some reason I thought Stupefied was a circumstance, so that is my mistake. Didn't make a difference anyway.

Thank you, Orin!

Happy if a player wants to redo a turn here. Don't feel pressured though — who knows maybe this Lovecraftian horror failed or crit failed its save anyway.

If you have not guessed it yet, this is a tough encounter!

Yeah. Feeling the need to blow some high level spells on these.

I'll go with it anyway in a few hours, unless I hear otherwise.

Yeah, I will probably need to throw something else of significant level, too (hopefully with different save luck than a 17 and a 20). Cold damage to stop the regeneration is definitely not a thing my divine list is going to contribute, though, unlike mental stuff or patching up whoever is in the worst shape by the time I come back around.