GM Zoomba's Secluded Tomb Siege (PFS 3-09 & 3-14) (Inactive)

Game Master Zoomba

Anjo Aroh wrote:

Wow..You rolled three 14's in a row.

and two of them wasted! But good to know Cu Sith has reflex DC greater than 29. yikes

yeah, if you're going to triplicate, I highly recommend choosing 20's.

and two of them wasted! But good to know Cu Sith has reflex DC greater than 29. yikes

Spoilers: It was that damned fr-fr-fr-frightened penalty (Ref DC 30, their best save)

Does Manny's heroism give a +1 or +2 to rolls?

+1 status bonus

Well, at least Zenith isn't controlled or confused which actively hurts the party instead of fleeing which just removes them from the party.

I'll try to get my post up soon. It may not be until I get home from work around 5:30 p.m. US mountain time.

Out and about - could someone please move my Skelton token?

Out and about - could someone please move my Skelton token?

Moved Skelly for ya. It took 55' (11 squares) to get there 'cause it had to go around those two statues between Franz & Zenith.

Oh, crap. If Escape has the attack tag, does that mean I take the standard -5 and -10 multiple attack penalties for the subsequent checks?

Correct. Sometimes that makes it better to attack through being grabbed

Good god. Now it's dead and referring to the entry, 190 hit points? What is deal with that Cu Sith? What the heck template did they put on that thing?

I saw online there was some post that this scenario was causing a lot of TPKs and Paizo actually adjusted it. I can't imagine the unadjusted version.

As an aside, I was looking at Anjo's attacks and one of the rounds I used the incorrect MAP on his 3rd and 4th attacks. They missed anyways, so no harm no foul.

Thanks for the peak!

Pathfinder 2e's balance continues to impress.

Manny would love to charge in with his cold iron weaponry, but a low max HP due to the mummy put a nix to that. Also this amulet connected to a ghost means his ghost touch weapons would have been more effective.

rainzax wrote:

Out and about - could someone please move my Skelton token?

Moved Skelly for ya. It took 55' (11 squares) to get there 'cause it had to go around those two statues between Franz & Zenith.

Thx!

We are now essentially in wrap-up mode for this scenario, likely to finish up in the next few days.

If you would like to roll your Downtime here so it will be on the chronicle, feel free to do so (you no longer need to; OPF rules also let you handle that on your own if you're not yet certain how you want to spend it or would just prefer to)

Franzine preaches the words of Iomedae at the local tavern...

Performance DC 19 Earn Income: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
6.40 gp earned.

Itka will spend 4 days retraining her Patron Theme and finally ditch her current patron, @#%$ Zon Kuthon, for Baba Yaga. After that, she'll give a lecture series on the Shadow Plane at the Lodge.

Shadow Plane Lore (4 days), DC 18: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16

Too many "Hmps" go on the audience's nerves. Failure for 32 coppers. Her frown deepens.

Lore: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

First off, thank you to the GM for running a two-fer. Extremely well run and I thoroughly enjoyed it....with some caveats. The swingyness of PF2, particularly because of the propensity of NPCs to crit via +10 on first attacks, isn't really "fun" imho. It makes the game feel a little more like just straight gambling. Higher DCs, mods, and just more hit points isn't so interesting, but I do enjoy more interesting abilities/mechanics that PF2 can some up. Just some of it feel a little heavy handed given the save DCs.

For me, the PF2 Ranger feels competent as a martial. I think I did nearly 80 damage to the Cu Sith and maybe more during the Mummy fight. Certainly taking out that winged-skeleton in the opening round felt critical to avoiding a TPK...along with some timely crits by Franzine and Zenith.

However, I would expect an Archery Fighter would be more impactful. There's nothing I do that feels historically Rangery. Sure, this was indoors, but I don't think being outdoors actually changes anything. If there isn't any opportunity to track, it doesn't matter the setting.

I do feel the focus spells contribute to the Ranger's combat versatility as compared with a Fighter, Rogue, or Barbarian, but then I haven't seen many of those at this level yet. Of course, Ranger's didn't have focus spells at launch and this had to be petitioned for and was begrudgingly provided. Now, imho, it is the main thing that really distinguishes the Ranger from other martials.

I'd also be very curious to hear people's opinions on playing with a Ranger apat from it just being a martial, and their opinions on their own classes?

Performance: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (11) + 15 = 26 Success, 20 gp earned

Hang tight, Anjo. I have a wall of text ready for the Ranger. I think it suffered a lot from the switch from 1e to 2e, but mostly because it's still following 1e's philosophy of "attack constantly to maximize damage". Outwit Rangers are vastly underrated but they are heavily encouraged to use their 3rd action for teamwork.

Two of the three Ranger subclasses focus on maximizing damage (either burst via Precision or reduced MAP via Flurry.) This encourages players to do nothing but max out their raw damage via DPS/DPR calculations.

But Pathfinder 2e focuses more on one strong option, and then figuring out how to use your 3rd action to help the team. I'm a Bard, so that's pretty easy: Inspire Courage all day every day. I can speed up or slow down combat as necessary (especially with Inspire Defense.)

I have a bow ranger who took the Precision subclass and got bored after my 2nd attack. Then I have 2 more actions, what do I do with them? Even worse, I had a longbow so I didn't have to move much. Luckily my ranger a) rides a wolf and b) can afford a shortbow so I usually move around my opponents or try to Intimidate them.

I wish I had your damage output, though. My ranger has 10 Str (he's a Sprite) so I'm missing the static damage. Oh well, level 5 will start to fix that, and my wolf can bite and retreat as needed.

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As I alluded to, I am enjoying bards. Ever since the 3.0 days I've been trying to make this character, a holy whip wielding vampire hunter, with a guardian fairy keeping his zeal and lust in check. I'm pretty satisfied with this class, it thrives in PFS2e with a powerful party buff at level 1. Maestro Bard lets me use Lingering Composition (and Soothe as his muse spell IIRC), so I can conserve actions. I get to attack, buff and defend the team - if only I had more actions!

So many options make each turn dynamic, worthwhile and flexible for me as a bard. It's one my favorites.

I second the thanks to GM Zoomba for running this duo of games. It's always fun to play multiple games with the same group, as it improves the RP possibilities once players and PCs have a chance to get to know each other more.

I'd also be very curious to hear people's opinions on playing with a Ranger apat from it just being a martial, and their opinions on their own classes?

I think that most games don't provide much of a chance for rangers to do ranger-y things, so they do end up being mostly fighters that can use the Hunt Prey action. Kind of a bummer, because I like the idea of a ranger as something distinct from a fighter.

Regarding the witch: Day-to-day it mostly plays like a wizard, because the special spells that you can only get from the witch class aren't always useful or usable in a given situation. Evil Eye sounds great, but is often resisted and can't be cast if Itka doesn't have line of sight on any foes because she's at the back of the group. Once she moves forward, action economy limits its use again. However, I thoroughly enjoy playing this character because she's so fun to RP, especially regarding her complicated relationship with her soon-to-be-former patron.

I also want to thank GM Zoomba for running. This was my first time at your table and I had an absolute blast! Additionally, we started these two scenarios while I was finishing my MBA capstone and then a few weeks later getting married. To say I was stressed is an understatement. This table was my only escape from my capstone project and the last minute wedding planning so while I am always appreciative of playing, it was especially appreciated this time around.

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Downtime - I'll handle on my own. I think this will level up Zenith so I need to think about whether any retraining is in order.

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Also thanks to the whole party, had a lot of fun and we all escaped alive thanks to some great teamwork. Going into 3-14 I only knew that it was a TPK machine pre-errata and I'm glad that we were able to avoid that!

I'd also be very curious to hear people's opinions on playing with a Ranger apat from it just being a martial, and their opinions on their own classes?

I am glad to hear this. If I recall correctly when I ran 1-13 Anjo was level 3 and we had a lvl 5 or 6 fighter which I think was pretty discouraging to you at the time. I definitely appreciated Anjo's damage in these scenarios, especially when Zenith was missing panache and missing strikes. I personally haven't played a ranger but I have GM'ed for a bunch and I enjoy watching them. I'd agree that scenarios don't always afford them the opportunity to do ranger things but as far as combat goes they seem pretty versatile and can do good chunks of damage.

As far as swashbuckler goes, Zenith is a bit odd in that they haven't really invested in swashbuckler feats as I really wanted to RP a swashbuckler who worships the stars. But in general I'd say the gymnast style is a bit weird because of how finishers interact with their ability to gain panache-- once you finish you can't attack again that round so gymnast can only tumble to get panache whereas other swashbuckler styles can still have other options. I'm still enjoying the class overall though and I am enjoying trying to debuff enemies with grapple/trip. My eventual plan for Zenith is to get Derring-Do and then they'll be a grappling/tripping machine.

Moonlight: I'll admit to being just as confused as anyone there for a bit until I realized what you were doing. So this is going to be the origin story for your future skeleton character? If so...well done!

And it was my pleasure to run for all of you! This was a fun group, and it can be great to keep a party together across several scenarios to build a greater group-vibe and narrative.

So this is going to be the origin story for your future skeleton character? If so...well done!

Ah-ha! I knew it! Way cool.

Very awesome game! I, too, really like doing arcs with the same players/PCs. The ending feels even more special. Thank you sooo much GM Zoomba and everyone else!

I'll try to get some more RP in soon.

Origin story, yes. More improvised than premeditated until about the last quarter of that last fight. Thank you guys for just rolling with it!

And to echo everyone's appreciation, @ GM Zoomba, one of the best run scenarios I have had the pleasure to participate in. I can tell you enjoyed yourself in choosing it as well as bringing it to life. Your attention to detail is impressive, your adjudication fair, you got everyone involved, and I also appreciate a stickler for the rules. A particular highlight for me is the banter we had with Glurourchaes during our fight with him. I got "angry" with him even knowing he was an (imaginary) NPC! Good stuff.

@ redeux - Not only getting married, but finishing your degree - nice. Zenith is a wonderful little brute to adventure alongside.

In my own irl, I will be having my first child probably by the end of the month, including taking off time from work to stay home those first two weeks. Going to try and keep a couple PbPs going as well, to break up the day here and there. Wish me luck?

Cheers gang!

@Zenith: Congrats on both!

@rainzax: Good luck! Been there, though some time ago. It's great that you're able to take time off work for those two weeks. BTW, I love that one of Itka's worms is a swollen resident of Wormcaller's torso. Excellent!

Yes: congrats (once again for the wedding part, new for the MBA element) to you Zenith/redeux!

And a pre-emptive congrats to you and yours rainzax/Moonlight!

As for the rest of you Chronicles are once again HERE. Anything I did wrong while tired and that needs fixing let me know! I'll report the session in a day or two to give time to point out any major corrections.

My Chronicle looks good. Thanks again, GM Zoomba, for a well-run and engaging double feature.

Chronicle looks good.

Thank you!

ps And big congrats to Rainzax on new baby!

An excellent chronicle, GM. Thank you.

So many juicy items to buy, especially those armor runes.

Chronicle looks good, Thanks again for running the scenarios!

And yes, congrats Rainzax!