[PFS2, GameDay11] 4-01 Intro: Year of Boundless Wonder (GM Watery Soup) (Inactive)

Game Master Watery Soup

Please only post in the Recruitment thread until you have been specifically informed that you've been accepted into the game.

After you've been invited to post in Discussion, please post:

Player Name (optional):
Character Name (required):
Character PFS# (required):
Character Level (required):
Character Faction (optional):
Downtime Instructions (optional):

If you need help determining any of this information, I can walk you through the steps, just let me know what you need help with.

Hey WaterySoup! Thanks for reserving a spot for me! Much appreciated.

I dotted into the gameplay, I would like to play here with my new and shiny lvl 1 dwarf Gunslinger: Rose Goldenoak

However if the majority of the party will go high tier, I will swap to some lvl 3-4 PC

Player Name: Pirate Rob
Character Name: Snarlfist
Character PFS#: 757-2010
Character Level: 4
Character Faction: VS

Thanks for the opportunity to play this one. I've dotted in as my second level sorcerer for now but if it looks like we need it I can swap to a second level paladin or a third level oracle.

Player Name PaleDim
Character Name Arfsnarf Ah'sneeze
Character PFS# 272301-2001
Character Level 4
Character Faction Horizon Hunters
Downtime Instructions Earn income, task 2 (Fortune-telling Lore, DC16): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8 oof

Player Name (optional): Farol
Character Name (required): Rose Goldenoak
Character PFS# (required): 2359780-2009
Character Level (required): Gunslinger 1
Character Faction (optional): Horizon Hunter
Downtime Instructions (optional): Pathfinder lore, DC14: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22 5cp x 8 = 4sp

I decided to go with Rose, as I like her so far. I think we will be playing up, so I could use some mentor boons ;)

At the same note, I have 1 glyph, but I will wait for others to declare how much do they have. (I think we have enough, but not sure)

Hi Soup! Thanks for letting me play this one.

Player Name (optional): UncleFroggy
Character Name (required): Isaku Beru
Character PFS# (required): 2396852-2001
Character Level (required): Investigator 4
Character Faction (optional): Radiant Oath
Downtime Instructions (optional): Crafting(E): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30

I have 2 glyphs to share. Isaku just leveled up so I'll need to update his statblock. Investigator with Psychic Dedication. Should be fun :)

Thank you for having me in your game. I just checked out the Recruitment thread in which I found I am included. I will post the character that will play for this game.

Player Name: Frozen Frost
Character Name: Avery Wings
Character PFS#: 2403787-2002
Character Level: 2
Character Faction: Radiant Oath
Downtime Instructions: DC 14 Circus Lore to Earn Income: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

I apologize for not having everything set up already, I went to an Indigo Girls concert last night (hehe :D) so my week got super compressed. We will be ready to go on Sunday.

I'm assuming Snarlfist has at least some glyphs. I see 3 so far.

Have any of your PCs played Intro 1 (Second Confirmation) or Intro 2 (United in Purpose)?

3 Glyphs, no intro credit.

This PC has not played the two intros.

Neither of the intros here.

No intros here! Rose has only 1 chronicle assigned (GM chronicle)

Intro 2 (99-02) for me.

Aight, we have 6 collective glyphs, so everyone starts with 2 Hero Points.

Challenge Points = 6+6+6+3+3+2 = 26, so this is high tier - Rose will get a Level Bump, and if anyone has any mentor boons to offer, now would be the time.

Slides are up, please fill in your Perception, Initiative, and put your icons in the marching order slide (for this scenario, there will be no marching, so the order doesn't matter).

I've got a Protective Mentor Boon - HP increases by 10 or 10%, whichever is higher.

I've got a Protective Mentor Boon - HP increases by 10 or 10%, whichever is higher.

That is not what Protective Mentor does. That's what the normal level bump does.

Increase every DC the PC has by 1.

Increase the attack modifiers, attack damage, spell damage, saving throw modifiers, skill modifiers, Perception modifiers, and AC of the PC by 1.
Increase the Hit Point totals of the PC by 10 or by 10%, whichever is higher.

Do note that it increases damage rolls in addition to almost everything that uses a d20, a slightly weird and easily forgotten tidbit.

Protective Mentor gives an extra 3hp per reputation tier.

20-59 = Liked = Tier 1 (3hp)
60-119 = Admired = Tier 2 (6hp)
120+ = Revered = Tier 3 (9hp)

Level 4 is almost certainty Liked for +3 HP.

Snarlfist is Vigilant Seal and has the Combat Mentor Boon that gives an extra +1 to attack rolls.

Mentor Boons

Have any of your PCs played Intro 1 (Second Confirmation) or Intro 2 (United in Purpose)?

I have played those on other characters but not on Zaza.

Player Name: Halgur
Character Name: Zaza the Measure
Character PFS#: 35206-2008
Character Level: 2
Character Faction: Vigilant Seal
Downtime Instructions: Earn Income, Underworld Lore: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12 Failure 12 copper-Zaza is Field Commissioned so 12 days downtime.

Isaku Beru wrote:

Protective Mentor gives an extra 3hp per reputation tier.

20-59 = Liked = Tier 1 (3hp)
60-119 = Admired = Tier 2 (6hp)
120+ = Revered = Tier 3 (9hp)

Level 4 is almost certainty Liked for +3 HP.

Snarlfist is Vigilant Seal and has the Combat Mentor Boon that gives an extra +1 to attack rolls.

Mentor Boons

So Protective Mentor gives me the extra hp or the player I'm giving it to?

btw, Isaku has Risky Surgery but with Assurance Medicine. Either way, he can treat wounds, as well as whip up elixirs of life.

Also for full disclosure, I have read the scenario as I'm planning to run it myself in October.

So Protective Mentor gives me the extra hp or the player I'm giving it to?

The player you're giving it too. All the mentor boons benefit the low level person being mentored.

What building is that from -- the background with Rain and the archivist?

The photo tags say Natural History Museum of London.

cool! never been there, though :)

I knew "Ceti Alpha V" sounded familiar...

"THIS IS CETI ALPHA V!"

Good thing the wizard left before Ceti Alpha VI exploded.

Reference for those of you who aren't huge nerds.

Ok, So Rose have only two options so she takes both :)
- Protective Mentor - gives extra +3 HP
- Combat Mentor - gives extra +1 to attack rolls

I changed my tagline to include the level bump values

And nice reference to Star Trek, kudos!

I am curious about Assurance. When should I consider taking the feat for a character? Like what do I need to know to fully utilize it? It seems useful, as I usually see it to give auto-success to skill checks.

Assurance doesn't add your ability modifier or item bonuses, only proficiency and level. So it's best used for static DCs, such as Medicine (DC 15/20/30/40 for Treat Wounds/Battle Medicine). Others I've seen are Assurance (Athletics) [Assurance won't add to your MAP, but typically won't beat DCs of anything but low level creatures] and Assurance (Survival) [for foraging stuff].

At Level 3, someone Trained will have an Assurance of 15. At Level 6, someone Expert will have an Assurance of 20.

I take Assurance (Medicine) a lot for my characters. I usually take it at Level 4 if I have a decent Wisdom modifier (and can hit the DC 15 reasonably often at Level 3), or at Level 2 if I don't (and have Assurance 14 be useless at Level 2). I think on my -2001 character I took it at Level 3, using my General Feat, but since then, I've come to the opinion that other General Feats are more valuable than an extra level of Assurance.

If Assurance doesn't add your ability mod, does the bonus for Risky Surgery apply (it's not an ability bonus). At lower levels the +2 doesn't change anything. But if you have the medic dedication at Lvl 4 (Assurance Medicine is now 18), does the +2 apply?

TLDR; Assurance can be useful, if you do the math;)

If Assurance doesn't add your ability mod, does the bonus for Risky Surgery apply (it's not an ability bonus). At lower levels the +2 doesn't change anything. But if you have the medic dedication at Lvl 4 (Assurance Medicine is now 18), does the +2 apply?

Assurance says:

'10 + your proficiency bonus (do not apply any other bonuses, penalties, or modifiers)'

So no other bonuses (neither Risky Surgery, nor healing gloves or any other advanced toolkits).

Risky surgery I find it to be more RP heavy than actually useful. There is some mechanics: You always deal 1d8 dmg, but your success is upgraded to Crit success giving 4d8 HP. But Crit failure makes it 2d8 dmg.

==================

I heard stories of people taking Assurance on Athletics for melee characters to effectively do: Trips/Shoves as a third attack (as MAP is not included when you use assurance). But the math is still tricky: you don't get a bonus from STR, items etc. but you also don't get -10 MAP for the third attack. The result of Athletics Assurance could be enough that you could reliably trip but lower lvl enemies (so it is not really useful when fighting bosses, but more groups of monsters that are lower lvl than you).

If you have time, there was someone who did the math analysis on when Assurance can be useful: Guide to assurance

Another option of using Assurance could be for Crafting when you have melee characters with low INT that need to repair their shield, at some levels you can hit the crafting DC to fix your shield so it is a matter of time and not chances.

True, though with Assurance, Risky Surgery is net 3d8 healing (assuming the damage is maxed). When you get to Lvl 6 and have expert medicine it's net 3d8+5 as you'll hit the DC 20 level.

Yellow fights back at Rufus.

Eek ... sorry.

Heh. Rufus did exactly what he was supposed to do, keep the bad guys off of Zaza. Zaza is very practical about her guard dogs. She treats them well and won't sacrifice them needlessly but they have a job to do. If they perish doing that then so be it. That's why she didn't order him back after a single attack.

I play Zaza as a contrast to Meadow who sees her owl, Silence, as her very best friend and who tends to order hit and run attacks so that he won't get hurt.

Just wanted to check, does the rat have reach? The size rules say most large quadrapends have 5ft reach. (Critter could be weird though)

Either way Snarlfist will take the same set of actions, but it might need to be a square closer and not have the last attack.[/ooc]

The size rule is correct, they don't usually have reach; however, these specific rats do have reach, per scenario-specific instructions.

oh you used those. Without reading up on it I was wondering which ones you used...

Awesome, sorry to even bring it up and thanks for the clarification. I've GMed this twice but have largely forgotten how it works.

Sorry for the delay, folks. I got a COVID booster yesterday and felt blech for the rest of the day.

No worries. The shot always does me in for a day too (still worth it).

I lucked out on the most recent one and was totally fine.

The previous one I couldn't get out of bed and the water was on the left side of the bed and my shoulder was too sore to roll over on to that side. I had to txt my partner to come help. Was not a functioning human being that day.

Sorry for the delay, folks. I got a COVID booster yesterday and felt blech for the rest of the day.

No worries, I am glad that you feel better

Down with a flu so I’m really miserable…

Both times the COVID vaccine and booster just felt like I got punched in the arm.

Isaku, using a Hero Point on Devise a Strategem is not allowed; Devising has the Fortune tag, and Fortune effects cannot be rerolled.

Never knew that! I've done it at least twice with both my investigators and nobody's ever called me on that. Learn something every day. :)

I only know it because I love investigators and I was rather shocked the first time someone told me. :(

That's all folks!

You're free to continue roleplaying, as well as asking any questions about the plot or life in general if you want.

Primary Objective: Defeat Aslynn's manifestation.
Secondary Objective: none
Treasure Bundles:
[X][X][X][X] Explore the Vault
[X][X] Defeat Rain's nightmares
[X][X] Meet Biglock
[X][X] Defeat Aslynn's manifestation

Your Chronicles are HERE. Please let me know if anything needs to be updated.

Chronicle looks good! Thanks Soup! Now I can run this myself!

Woo, was nice to get to play this for a change, thanks.

As a note things have picked way back up at VPC recently, we picked up about 10 new players over the last month or so and are back up to 2-4 tables every week now and you're always welcome to come back up and join us, I could probably even rustle up some bribery if you want to come GM :)

I will be back someday. The main barrier is my schedule, Thu nights aren't great. I still check the Warhorn regularly.

I'm always open to GMing but I prefer playing before I GM, so I don't often volunteer to run "first run" scenarios. Every once in a while I see reruns and have considered signing up.