You're not sure. You've been focused more on Slag Whiskers and the sheep heads, and the shots don't leave an observable mark on the mushroom tops.
Hey y'all.
A big part of why my posting has been spotty is that my laptop no longer charges. I primarily post on my break at work from my laptop; I am usually busy with my few outsode-work hours, and posting via phone is very difficult. (Nevermind trying to move tokens on maps!) My posting will continue to be spotty until I can sort out a fix for my laptop. Feel free to bot me as needed to keep things moving. Thanks in advance for your patience.
That is incredibly frustrating! Totally understandable that you're not able to post given that. Phone posting is indeed super frustrating, Paizo's forum is not really mobile-friendly to begin with and then there's all the formatting that PbP calls for... yeah. Hope you're able to get the machine fixed soon! Remember to consider that your device may be under warranty which may make a repair more accessible.
I have also added botting instructions for Halanestra, should I similarly be unable to post for an extended period.
Thanks for letting us know, Batsu, and I hope you can get the laptop fixed soon. I'm sure that would drive me batty.
Just to clarify as I'm learning the game as well. The Zombie had to step in order to reach Korox correct? Standard Zombies are permanently slowed so they would only get one action, hence not have the ability to take the second attack. Is this true, or are these some kind of different zombie that's not slowed? Okay with the way things are... just didn't make any more Recall Knowledge rolls due to your statement that we'd already discovered what was available about them.
Step is action 1, and Strike is action 2. Zombies are Slowed, yes, so they have 2 actions instead of 3.
So it looks like it stepped and swung twice.
Also, Korox spent a Hero point and rolled a 20. Is he still affected???
grmbl. I was really looking forward to having a flanking buddy, too!
I find it amusing that on the 11 dice I rolled this morning, I rolled 7 ones.
It is rather amusing, yes :) Also, I think this round is a great illustration of the value of defensive actions. If I wasn't so diligent about parrying, that attack wouldn't have crit failed. It puts my AC equal to Dyrm's before he raises his shield, which is pretty significant.
Is the round up a house rule?
By RAW you always round down unless spcified otherwise.
Round down
In Pathfinder 2e, always round down unless otherwise specified. For example, if a spell deals 7 damage and a creature takes half damage from it, that creature takes 3 damage When dividing numbers, always round down unless a piece of text specifically says otherwise2. Occasionally the rules ask you to round a result or value, and unless otherwise stated, always round down
Ok, I was wrong. You always round down.
Had a few free minutes this morning so I figured I'd catch up and drop a post. Lots happened, holy mackerel! This is a pretty neat fight.
Still waiting on a power supply. It might not be here until the beginning of April (YUCK) but hopefully it will be here sooner. Thank you so much for your patience y'all (but especially you, GM!)
Is Skibrelon a large creature, occupying the four squares adjacent to the intersection of the axes where its token is? I want to move to flank with Zothan so I want to make sure I'm moving into the right space without moving into Skibrelon's.
We'll be waiting for you when you get back Batsu. Hopefully soon.
As for Skibrellon, no, he's small, but he'll be going before you next go, so I'll try and line him up better.
Loving that fighter accuracy! Makes me want to roll one myself. Maybe then the dice would stop hating me :) Also, yay, flanking buddy!
Oh I assure you, class is NO protection when the dice are out to get you.
:)
You're doing great ( given the rolls you got)
I think the fight went pretty well, considering that it was the group's first real fight. I did think there was a little tentativeness at the start, and that makes total sense since it was the first real fight.
Korox was the secret MVP. His suggestion to make the stairs with magic and not go down the ramp did two things:
1. It bypassed a slime fight on the bridge.
2. You started toward the house and corridor from farther away, so that when the shrieker altered the enemies, you were out of seed pod range, but the mindless things still shot, so you effectively negated a major danger.
In all, you fought 2 level 1 zombies, two level 2 sheep heads, a level 3 myceloid, a level 4 rust monster, and a level 4 caster, with the support of a level 2 hazard. Even with 6 of you, and Korhan, the fight was not a simple one. You did a good job of supporting one another, and husbanding resources, even with Batsu's IRL issues limiting his posts/effectiveness.
Jaxi's Glitterdust late in the fight also showed off what I think a lot of people forget about the power of casters in 2E - status effects. While the first two rounds Skibrellon was under the effects of it did nothing, as he was using non-targeted abilities, it did steal two actions and two attacks from him.
There was a potentially significant movement error that I want to point out as a teaching moment since it could be something that hurts in the future.
After Skibrellon (who I wish was a more significant villain, the anti-vegetarian leshy caster-terrorist is just a cool villain concept) hit Zothan and Halanestra with Grim Tendrils Dyrm moved to give a three-person line rather than set up flanking on the second Zombie. While it did not matter for the zombie kill, if Skibrellon had a second line attack, it would have been a bad thing for the group.
In this case, he was out of spells that mattered, but that won't always be the case. When facing enemy casters, and you see that they have some sort of area effects, keep those in mind when moving.
Woot, go Korox!
Ugh. I need to work on my tactics I see
To be honest, I knew Glitterdust was good in 1st Edition, so I figured it would be good in 2e. Glad to see it was. Even though Jaxi somehow managed to hit almost every Ray of Frost in that fight, glad to see she also managed as a team player.
Dazzled is a condition that is easy to overlook. Most of the time it won't do much, but when it does, it's huge.
The Remastered version of Glitterdust is Revealing Light.
It's close to the same but slightly buffed as it dazzles for two rounds on a success, though it loses the Blind on a crit fail. It also does a better job of emphasizing that the key aspect of the spell is invisibility negating, but as shown here, it's useful outside of that.
That brings me to something else. If people want to change a spell they use/know to the Remaster version you freely can, but the version you use needs to stay consistent.
As you say above, GM Lia, conditions are quite powerful in PF2; I've been spending more time browsing the condition reference through this fight than I have in probably any other, regardless of whether I was new to the system or not. This is not because they're that complex; they're not. But very useful! Those low level spells that give you access to conditions are staples for a reason.
Bravo for everyone for surviving the fight! It was really rather fun for me, despite all my complaints about the dice ;) I'm still getting used to all the options I have as a rogue--it's far more than I'm used to from first edition, that's for sure. Hooray three action economy! I specifically want to call out the demoralize on Skibrellon; I was going to do so myself but Zothan got to it first. I think we may want to focus on that tactic going forward: frightened is another strong condition, and we have several characters with the skill to apply it regularly.
Speaking of, that seemed like a pretty nasty encounter; I'm still very new to doing the math for this, but looks like it was a 280 XP encounter? The two zombies are 20 each (2 * 20 = 40), the sheep heads are 30 each (40 + 2 * 30 = 100), the myceloid is 40 (100 + 40 = 140), the rust monster is 60 (140 + 60 = 200), Skibrellon is 60 (200 + 60 = 260), and the cannon is 20 (260 + 20 = 280). Adjusting for our large party, an extreme encounter is 240 XP, so this was even beyond that. Am I doing the math right? Definitely not saying there was a problem, to be clear, but I definitely got the impression this was a hard fight and I'm trying to do the math to figure out just how hard, in a mechanical sense.
I think that someone who's skilled in diplomacy should keep the badge, at the very least. I was expecting to take it, but it seems we've got a surfeit of diplomats in the group, and I'm not even the best! I love how PF2e gives everyone ways to be useful both in and out of combat without resorting to the five minute adventuring day.
I specifically want to call out the demoralize on Skibrellon; I was going to do so myself but Zothan got to it first. I think we may want to focus on that tactic going forward: frightened is another strong condition, and we have several characters with the skill to apply it regularly.
Way ahead of you on that front. As you may already have noticed, Zothan is a very social creature and great with all three social skills. In combat, he's going to make ample use of Demoralize. He already has Intimidating Glare, so he does not get penalties for language barriers and next level, he gains Tut-Tut, which lets him Demoralize every enemy within 30 ft.
I think that someone who's skilled in diplomacy should keep the badge, at the very least. I was expecting to take it, but it seems we've got a surfeit of diplomats in the group, and I'm not even the best!
Zothan definitely has his eye on the badge. Only drawback is that he already gets an item bonus from his regalia implement, so that won't stack.
So who wants to take what? The Diplomat's Badge probably should go to someone who has good knowledge alongside diplomacy. Which sadly isn't Jaxi.
The Rituals I think only Jaxi can actually use? If they're Primal based that is. I don't know how Rituals really work.
Well, I think the climbing bolt is of interest to Dyrm as he has a crossbow. The Grimsand glass sounds scary useful in combat.
But he isn't going to insist on either if others need/want them.
Yes, the fight is on the tougher side, but it's also one where enemies come in piecemeal if triggered from outside, so it's balanced in that way.
re: Tut-tut. That feat also has Firebrands access required and is an uncommon feat, so I will have to think about it, and Zothan may need to make contact with the Firebrands to learn it, which is certainly not impossible.
Frightened can be a great condition, but like every condition it's not a guarantee. Paizo has done a good job of giving a wide variety of monsters and some conditions don't work well on some monsters. That's good, as it keeps combat dynamic instead of players just having an MMO-style rotation to use.
Rituals are a very interesting part of PF2E. Once you have access to a ritual, you can use it. You can cast it from the source material, and you can also learn it to use it away from the source material.
Each ritual has three components:
a. Cost. This is the material cost for the components that are part of it;
b. Primary Caster. This will typically need to be a spellcaster who knows the tradition of the ritual, and who will make the key dice roll for it; and
c. Secondary Casters. These can be any person who has any of the necessary skills listed by the ritual. The Secondary Casters roll first, and no matter how good or poorly they roll, the ritual proceeds. What they do is give bonuses or penalties to the Primary Caster. Then the Primary Caster Rolls to determine the result.
So, let me show you this in action. Assume you all wanted to make yourself a Mycogaurdian.
You would need to set aside one day for the casting time, and the cost would be variable based on how powerful of a guardian you wanted, with a level capped at your level. As you are all level 3, a level 3 guardian would require 180 gold of rare fungi.
One of you, who would need Nature at Expert or Fungus Lore at Trained would be the Primary Caster, and in this case, would not need to be a spellcaster at all.
The Ritual allows for 1 Secondary Caster (some allow for a lot), with the same skill requirements and training level. (This is not always the case, the Secondary Casters sometimes have a large variety of skills that can be used.)
After the day-long cast, the Secondary Caster would roll at (in this case) a DC of 22, and their result would give a bonus or penalty for the Primary Caster, who would then roll with a DC of 27, and then I'd let you know how it played out.
Yes, the fight is on the tougher side, but it's also one where enemies come in piecemeal if triggered from outside, so it's balanced in that way.
That makes sense, thank you for confirming my understanding and the clarification about how the enemies join the fight. :)
c. Secondary Casters. These can be any person who has any of the necessary skills listed by the ritual. The Secondary Casters roll first, and no matter how good or poorly they roll, the ritual proceeds. What they do is give bonuses or penalties to the Primary Caster. Then the Primary Caster Rolls to determine the result.
We've definitely got enough folks with skills! I'm a graduate of Starfleet Pathfinder Academy, I know many things :) More seriously, I do really like how this works, it's another bit of smart design that lets more people participate while protecting specialization.
Zothan definitely has his eye on the badge. Only drawback is that he already gets an item bonus from his regalia implement, so that won't stack.
Yup, that's a good point. Probably better to give it to someone who won't have conflicting bonuses.
So who wants to take what? The Diplomat's Badge probably should go to someone who has good knowledge alongside diplomacy. Which sadly isn't Jaxi.
I was figuring you'd want it, Jaxi, since you've got the higher skill.
But in the interest of making a decision so we're not spending a week saying "no, you take it", I'll claim it. Krohan says it's important so I'm hopeful we'll have a chance to use it :)
As for the jade cat we've again got several folks trained in acrobatics. We can always have one person take it and pass it off if someone else knows they're going to need it. I may even buy one myself if someone else takes it; it's common and below our level, so AFAIK I should be able to just buy it. The other items are far more general purpose. If anything, I'd suggest Dyrm or Korox take the Sandglass; my strategy in RPGs is to give frontliners and healers defensive items. Halanestra isn't sure she's comfortable using it in its offensive capacity; necromancy gives her the ick.
In regards to Rituals, it also pulls more powerful spells out of the being useable in combat - like Wish - and allows more storytelling options as well.
For instance, you all now have a way to bring a person back from the dead at level 3, even if you can't control what they come back as.
With shopping, since that was also brought up, shopping in 2E is easy. Anything that is common and below the settlement level is available by default. Things that are uncommon, rare, and/or are above the settlement level might be able to be found and often at a markup.
Highhelm is a level 14 settlement, so any common item level 14 or below is able to be bought if you have the money. Highhelm has two additional caveats. The first is that uncommon items with the Dwarf trait are considered common, and the second is that due to the high numbers of smiths, armor and weapons of up to level 17 are readily available.
re: Tut-tut. That feat also has Firebrands access required and is an uncommon feat, so I will have to think about it, and Zothan may need to make contact with the Firebrands to learn it, which is certainly not impossible.
I think you mentioned this once before. From what little I know of the Firebrands, they sound like just the type of organization Zoltan would naturally gravitate towards.
In case we don't run into any Firebrand members before we hit level 4, I think we could safely assume that Zolthan has already had some off-screen contact with them. He may even have declared himself a member.
Anyone can declare themselves a Firebrand. However, Rank 2 access comes when the Firebrands agree that you are one. Firebrands are very rare in Highhelm because it doesn't have the causes - freeing slaves and fighting tyranny - that they focus on.
It's unlikely he has met one previously, or at least one with the ability to promote him.
However, that can be worked around. The timing between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 is fluid. It's certainly possible to toss in a side quest for the group where a meeting with the Firebrands is possible to help Zothan out.
If any of the rest of you have any goals that could also be worked into such a side quest, let me know, so that I can plan.
Hey all! Just checking in. Can't stay to post sadly but wanted to update you. Power supply for the laptop is probably not getting here until April 1st or 2nd, which sucks. I was hoping for the earlier date estimate but apparently it hasn't even left the warehouse yet (BOOO). I will keep you posted, and I'll try to find time tonight to catch up and drop a post.
As to any items, you can ignore Batsu for dispersal for now. And don't forget, if there's no obvious choice for someone to take an item, we can always just throw it onto the loot sheet for later!
Sorry to hear about your continued laptop troubles, Batsu, but it is just a few more days :) And thank you for reminding me about the loot sheet!
I want to be clear that I am fine with continuing. Halanestra is feeling pretty miserable, though, and may grumble at whoever wakes her up :) All in the spirit of fun roleplay!
Sorry for jumping ahead a little if people wanted to discuss plans more.
Sometimes we need a boot in the rump
Halanestra was going to wait for everyone else's input, but it seems very in character for Jaxi to just jump in :) No worries here!
It can be very good both around a table and in PbP for someone to just do something, or you can spend a long time doing nothing.
Bad news. I finally got the power supply and it's the wrong kind (power output too low). And even if it had been the right kind, it came with almost two dozen port adapters, none of which fit my laptop. So that's $35 wasted.
Out of curiosity, is anyone here hardware-savvy? I'm like 60% sure it's not the battery, since if it's a battery issue, you can usually get around that by leaving it plugged in. My laptop doesn't even recognize that the power supply is plugged in, hence why I wanted to try a new power supply first. But now that I know the one I bought is worthless, I don't know what to do next.
I had something like that with a pair of headphones, and I ended up getting new ones. I'd not suggest that with a laptop, but I would suggest looking for local repair people and talking to them.
Second the suggestion for local repair shops (or contacting your machine's manufacturer directly); they have diagnostic equipment (e.g. multimeters) and spare parts to properly diagnose the issue. Definitely look at returning the power supply. If you can, I would also recommend contacting the OEM's support for a replacement AC adapter. Buying direct from the manufacturer should get you something that's guaranteed to work. Alternately, looking up the specs for your machine will provide you with the information you need to find something that works.
I don't think you can say it's not the battery at this point; if the charging cable that you have isn't charging it due to insufficient power, then the machine won't be able to run from it. Again, taking the machine in for repair is the best option, as a repair shop will be able to determine this for you.
Hey y'all! Another quick update before I pass out.
Turns out I am an obliviot. That is a portmanteau of oblivious and idiot, because I am both, and I like portmanteaus.
The problem with my power supply was literally right in front of my face. My beloved hellion of a puppy chewed the power cord when I wasn't looking, and then the velcro strap that holds the cords bound together slid down over the chewed spot. Had I done my due diligence and checked the cords first, I probably would have found it MUCH sooner.
Anyway, I have a new power supply on the way (and the right wattage this time!) so I should have my laptop back up and running by Wednesday. In the meantime, I'll try to get a post or two in this weekend.
Glad to hear that it was something minor!
Ah, the dreaded P.U.P.-error (Puppy-induced Unreliable Powersupply). A classic bane of IT equiment everywhere.
Oh dear. That's kind of adorable
ohmygoodness that's absolutely adorable but also frustrating and I totally empathize, I've made mistakes like that too. Looking forward to having you around again, Batsu, we've not gotten a chance to properly interact yet!
So. I double checked Jaxi's spell list to see if I picked up Read Aura. Turns out I didn't pick up Read Aura or Detect Matic. I had confused her for a different character. So uh, she doesn't notice the rock. Sorry!
Hey, folks. I'd like to start running PF2 games, and I'm prepping the Beginner Box as my first game. I'd like to run it here on the forums and would love to have some of you join me! To celebrate the remaster, I thought it would be silly / fun to have all of the allied NPCs be orcs :). So you play orcs, the friendly NPCs in the town are orcs, all that. Otherwise I plan to run it as written. I already have a player I was in another game with who's interested, and would love to offer anyone who's interested a spot before I make a general recruitment post. Given that this is my first time running something for Pathfinder 2, and my first time running something in many years, I'd like to stick to a four member party, though in terms of character creation I'm open to people playing anything in Player Core 1.
Please PM me if you're interested :) I would like to get started next weekend. If I don't have enough players by then, I'll post a general recruitment thread.
There were quite a few ways to get around it without a trigger.
If someone had laid down and looked under it, they could have seen the Glyph.
If, after Korox had used Read Aura to find that there was magic, if any (or all) of you had spent 10 minutes to Identify Magic, any success would have also identified the glyph.
In either of those cases, a Thievery check could have been made to scratch out the Gylph which would have rendered it harmless.
A Dispel Magic, which is Rank 2, not 3, in PF2 also could have negated it.
In case anyone does not know, if PF2, there is no Identify spell. To see what a magic item is, or what a magic effect does, you study it for 10 minutes, then roll one of Arcana, Nature, Occult, or Religion. Very very rarely are you allowed to not roll any of them, if an effect has one or more of the traits then those are the only ones that can be rolled.
If you fail, you can't try again for an hour, which is why I basically tell you what at level magic items are, just to save on those dice rolls.
Thank you for the explanation. In this case, we were clearly a bit confused by the size and position of the rock and what options we had available. But we also rolled poorly on our Lore rolls.
As it is, we've certainly added a bit of danger and excitement to the adventure. That's not a bad thing in my book.