GM Peachbottom's War for the Crown

Game Master Peachbottom

Gotcha

Xallis, I see you have a +2 mithral chain shirt now. Since you now are wearing armor, mage armor doesn't stack with it. The mithral armor gives a +6 bonus which is higher than the +4 from mage armor, so the mage armor doesn't add anything extra.

Hey GM, does the surprise round count as a round for painful stare's 1/round limitation? If so, Henrika will add 5 damage to Tychus's second attack against purple (she didn't have hypnotic stare active for his first attack).

Also, Jack drank a potion of barkskin before battle began. It doesn't look like it would have changed anything about who hit and damaged him, though.

Yes, I'll add 5 painful stare damage to Tychus' damage.

Yeah, if it's a +2 AC barkskin, it doesn't change anything, but I'll add it to my spell tracker so I remember for future attacks.

Xallis, I see you have a +2 mithral chain shirt now. Since you now are wearing armor, mage armor doesn't stack with it. The mithral armor gives a +6 bonus which is higher than the +4 from mage armor, so the mage armor doesn't add anything extra.

Yeah. At this point mage armor is just for Navia.

Ohhhh I see the misunderstanding. The +4 in Xallis' AC is because barkskin upgraded to a +4 bonus at caster level 9th.

Oh. I guess I missed that Xallis had barkskin too. Those attacks will miss Xallis with a 23 AC. I'll revise his hp.

Tychus, isn’t the first attack a critical threat?

GM, Jack’s barkskin would have protected him from that second attack, right?

Yes, I know he had the barkskin but I made a mistake when looking at his character sheet. It should be a miss.

Tychus, isn’t the first attack a critical threat?

Woops. I don't know how I missed that...

Been having internet issues at home. Brief delay on posting while I get that sorted.

Malphene, Henrika added damage to the attack you made last round, not this one. Since she didn't attack (she was casting confusion) and she had her hypnotic stare on yellow, she could add a bit of psychic damage to Malphene's strike. I hadn't intended to dictate what Malphene does this round!

Likewise, because Ichabod goes before her in the initiative order, if he also deals damage to yellow she can add to it because she can use her painful stare twice each round.

Oh. No problem. Nevermind. I'll remove the additional 5 damage.

Also, Malphene gets another attack at -5, right? Because her BAB is over +6?

I believe my Ring of Evasion would cause me to take no damage from the Lightning Bolt.

Yes. I missed that you had that.

Henrika rolled Painful Stare for all three attacks, but she can only trigger it twice with Manifold Stare, correct? Henrika hits High Cultist (Red) three times for a total of 92 damage, killing him twice over.

Yes, she can only use painful stare twice in a round. Henrika's first attack was a 1 on the die, but I left the painful stare roll there. I should have deleted it and moved the roll down. :)

Oh was it a 1? I didn't even notice. It doesn't matter.

Aw, bummer, neither Henrika's nor Jack's crits actually happened! :)

GM, is there any chance that the scion's dagger could be reforged into another weapon shape? For example, if it were a rapier, Icabhod could use it effectively without having to retrain feats. Perhaps in exchange he'd be willing to give up the subtle mask to someone else who could use it more effectively, like Xallis? (Xallis has the standard of conquest, but it is really more of a party benefit than something specifically boosting him, so I don't think anyone would begrudge him using two relics...)

Yes, I'll let you reforge the dagger. It would have to be a bladed weapon at least though. But a rapier would be acceptable.

There are now more relics then players so you'll start doubling up. There's actually only 2 more relics left to find in other chapters, so by the end, 3 of you will potentially have 2 relics.

How you distribute them is up to you.

I love my rapier

(Xallis has the standard of conquest, but it is really more of a party benefit than something specifically boosting him, so I don't think anyone would begrudge him using two relics...)

I mean, for what its worth, a summoner's best kind of relic is a party buff that would also apply to his summons. But if the party is every at a surplus of relics, we can figure something out. If nothing else, one of our cohorts could make use of a spare weapon.

I’m just thinking that a +3 ghost touch weapon with a built in status effect should go to someone who is attacking often. Jack’s focused on his falchion, obviously, and there isn’t much synergy for him with the dagger’s powers. Juliana and Malphene, too, are Str-focused, so a light blade is less effective for them. Icabhod attacks regularly, and the idea that he might treat some of his companions as bodyguards kind of rings true. He certainly attacks as often as Trevor, and Trevor already has a nice weapon. As far as who should wear the mask, I think it should instead go to someone who is Cha-focused, and who doesn’t have an item in their head slot. That could be Xallis, or it could be Trevor. Both would benefit, but the powers of Trevor’s ring overlap a bit with the mask. (Comprehend languages for days!) But a big benefit of the mask is that the wearer can also wear an item in the headband slot, and thus boost both Cha and something else without having to invest in the much more expensive dual headbands. That does seem ideal for Trevor, since he wants both Wis and Cha. Maybe swap the ring too, as long as we are moving things around? To Xallis maybe? Trevor does love Diplomacy…

Trevor's not in a hurry to accumulate magic items. He's very happy with The Godspike and the envoy ring. His player is enjoying the campaign as a whole, and does feel like he needs lots of magical items to continue to enjoy it. Know what I mean?

I’m thinking we start with E, since the other rooms sound like they are too busy to come running to the sounds of combat. Henrika whispers this to the group so that we can plan our entrance and be ready to attack as soon as we see the enemy.

E. is a good place to start.

As far as I can tell, Icabhod just has a regular +2 rapier, so a +3 ghost-touch rapier would definitely be an upgrade. But if he doesn't want it, that's up to him.

You'll need downtime before you can reforge it to a different weapon from dagger though.

I might have an idea of what to do with the dagger, but it's a... surprise. Xallis will bring it up the next time the party has a smidge of downtime.

Henrika's also got electricity resistance 10, so she only takes 4 damage. Also, if anyone else hits this round, Henrika uses painful stare a second time for 5 additional damage, since the first didn't hit the mesmerist.

Yes, I meant to take off 10.

its a crazy day at work. I'll get a post in when i get home later.

BTW, if anyone has a hero point reroll, you can use them to reroll failed saving throws if anyone ever wants to.

Does remove fear have any effect against Demoralizing Stare? Since it imposes a fear condition, it feels to me like it should at least add 4 to her defense. What do you think? EDIT: Never mind, I see that even with a +4 to the DC, Vaddrigan still would have succeeded on his Intimidation roll. Seems like he really can't fail!

Yes, Vaddrigan will still succeed against Henrika even with a +4, but I agree that remove fear will apply against Demoralize, since the Shaken status is a fear effect, for future reference. Did Henrika have remove fear cast on her? I didn't see it.

Did Henrika have remove fear cast on her? I didn't see it.

She cast it in this post. It has a duration of 10m, and I've been deducting minutes when you tell us that an action took a certain amount of time-- but I suppose it's possible I missed something if you think it's been longer than that since we entered.

Also, I tried to use a hero point to reroll Henrika's first attack. I'm pretty sure that roll would hit, so maybe you missed it? If it's too late to amend it, I'll keep the hero point.

Also also, this mind-affecting effect seems like a perfect opportunity for her to activate the pink gem on Koriana's blade.

Oh, I missed a few spells! Sheesh, my bad.

Well, since my tracking is showing the 90 minute spells at 80 minutes remaining, 10 minutes did pass.

But I also missed enchantment foil and see invisibility.

The unadulterated loathing is an enchantment spell, but the +4 isn't enough. You can use Koriana's Blade to negate it though.

See Invisibility is important! Because Henrika can see that High Cultist (Yellow) isn't dead. It's another trick. It looks like the cultist's body is on the ground, but Henrika also sees the same cultist standing invisible in the same spot. The cultist got stunned by Vaddrigan's synaptic pulse so hasn't moved from that spot yet.

We must have been posting at the same time, because I didn't see the edit at the time. Yes, I'll update so that Henrika can hit with the reroll. It won't kill Vaddrigan, so I'll just add on the damage.

Did the spiritual ally destroy Vaddrigan's last mirror image?

No, it wasn't within 5.

Will save for going into peril: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

If that is sufficient for him to shake off the enchantment, does that mean he now has a standard action?

25 is a pass, so Jack removed the unadulterated loathing and the nauseated effect. I guess it makes sense that he'd be able to take the standard action afterwards. He can use his dirty trick maneuver.

This is working under the assumption that temporary hit points aren't effected by the Cursed Wounds debuff

Yes, I suppose temporary hit points would be a creative work around to the problem. It will work.

Just a heads up, I’m going away for a week, and though I have my computer, I may be slower than usual to contribute.

Henrika activates the first power of Koriana’s blade as an immediate action: “the sword’s wielder can absorb and negate all darts targeting her from a magic missile spell, 1/day”. Also, since Jack didn’t use his move action, can I add that he takes off his robes too? He’s been using them to try and entangle the golem, but I realized I didn’t include it explicitly. It probably provokes.

That sword does that too? I guess it does. Korianna's Blade is pretty crazy.

As for Jack, I extrapolated that the robe was probably off. I'll be kind and let it not provoke.

FYI: I am going on a weekend vacation this coming weekend from Friday through Sunday. I can probably do a short post to respond to a question or something but I won't be able to do a full post during that time.

No attempts at confirming her identity? We already had to deal with beings like the Divs and we find another shapeshifter?

I'll let you make any attempt you want.

A was going to wait another day or two to have you level because there is actually one more encounter before this chapter closes. But since I'm going to be leaving on vacation tomorrow morning, my next post might not be until Monday. So, I'll give you this time to work on leveling up to 10 while I am awhile. So go ahead and level to 10 when you have time.

I updated Henrika and Jack.

Henrika level 10:
+1 BAB (+7)
+1 Reflex
+1 Will
+9 hp
+11 skills
+1 4th level spell slot
+1 2nd level spell known (focused scrutiny)
+2 4th level spells known (battlemind link, freedom of movement)
mental potency +2
mesmerist trick (Astounding Avoidance)
painful stare +7
Greater Mesmerizing Feint* feat

Jack level 8:
+1 Str
+1 BAB (+8)
+1 Fortitude
+9 hp
+6 skills
Improved Critical* (falchion) feat

I was looking at the treasure and what things we should sell. I suggest we sell Scofflaw Hunter, since it was basically a reward from the church of Abadar and Tychus already has a much nicer crossbow.

It looks like we'll each have approximately 8,800 gp as our share of the treasure. Would Xallis be willing to craft Henrika a headband of alluring charisma +4 for 8,000 gp? If I sell Henrika's headband of alluring charisma +2 I think I would be able to increase the enchantment on Jack's armor to +2 with the remainder (and the Yanmass discount).

If you are going to sell Scoflaw, best do it in another town since it would be considered the height of bad taste methinks.

FYI, leveling and Personas will be posted this weekend. Too tired from work to do it now, maybe after work tomorrow.

Ohhhh... level 10. Rime for the big boy spells, and my favorite summonwr ability!

Between the Agents phase, shopping, flavor text for 10, and [redacted] I got a lot to post. I'll get to work on it tonight qhen I get home.

And yeah Henrika Xallis can work on that for you

If you are going to sell Scoflaw, best do it in another town since it would be considered the height of bad taste methinks.

Maybe when it was just lent to us, but now it's a gift. It's not much of a reward if it's not ours to sell as we like. And it seems a waste to carry it around if we're not going to use it.

Realistically, I guess the priest might get upset, but it's just a game. Go ahead and sell it if no one wants it.

Ok, selling all the stuff checked off, the 5 of you each get 10,884 gold.