Zoomba's Trapping the Hag's Claw [Low tier] (Inactive)

Game Master Zoomba

Isn't trying to get rid of a condition, like bleed, an action? If so, does that mean that she does that instead of hitting Zabu the last time?

The Flat Check to get rid of persistent damage is a free action at the end of Aslynn's turn, right after she takes the damage.

Sinking back down into her customary hunch, she casts Malicious Shadow on Aslynn with a crude gesture. Aslynn's shadow rips itself free and writhes into a seething mass of occult runes that lashes out to slice through her tough hide.

Malicious Shadow: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32
Slashing damage: 3d10 ⇒ (4, 2, 8) = 14

Itka: where is that spell's damage being 3d10 from? In both the APG and Player Core I'm seeing it listed as 1d10 + your casting mod which is odd to remain in its own way but that's another topic, and heightening every 2 spell ranks. So wouldn't a 4th rank Malicious Shadow be just 1d10+4? (+1 from Inspire Courage atm) Or am I missing something?

Isn't trying to get rid of a condition, like bleed, an action? If so, does that mean that she does that instead of hitting Zabu the last time?

Manny is correct: while you can take an action to try and get rid of persistent damage like Fire or Bleeding earlier, at the end of each turn anyone afflicted by persistent damage has a free Flat check chance to end it on its own the fire peters out, your blood coagulates a bit, etc

Exceptions would be if the source specifically says the persistent damage cannot automatically end (a failed Spellwrack being one example)

You may be thinking of the sickened condition, which does continue indefinitely until the affected creature succeeds on an action to get it out of their system.

Thank you for the clarification.

"Itka wrote:

Sinking back down into her customary hunch, she casts Malicious Shadow on Aslynn with a crude gesture. Aslynn's shadow rips itself free and writhes into a seething mass of occult runes that lashes out to slice through her tough hide.

Malicious Shadow: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32
Slashing damage: 3d10 ⇒ (4, 2, 8) = 14

Itka: where is that spell's damage being 3d10 from? In both the APG and Player Core I'm seeing it listed as 1d10 + your casting mod which is odd to remain in its own way but that's another topic, and heightening every 2 spell ranks. So wouldn't a 4th rank Malicious Shadow be just 1d10+4? (+1 from Inspire Courage atm) Or am I missing something?

D'oh! I understood that as increasing every two levels, instead of ranks. My mistake.

GM Zoomba wrote:

"Itka wrote:

Sinking back down into her customary hunch, she casts Malicious Shadow on Aslynn with a crude gesture. Aslynn's shadow rips itself free and writhes into a seething mass of occult runes that lashes out to slice through her tough hide.

Malicious Shadow: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32
Slashing damage: 3d10 ⇒ (4, 2, 8) = 14

Itka: where is that spell's damage being 3d10 from? In both the APG and Player Core I'm seeing it listed as 1d10 + your casting mod which is odd to remain in its own way but that's another topic, and heightening every 2 spell ranks. So wouldn't a 4th rank Malicious Shadow be just 1d10+4? (+1 from Inspire Courage atm) Or am I missing something?

D'oh! I understood that as increasing every two levels, instead of ranks. My mistake.

Not a problem. The kineticist class (whose powers do have the +X referring to level instead of spell rank) does make it more complicated than it used to.

Practical Question:
I have not yet rebuilt her for the Remaster. When I do should I just make her a healing cleric instead of versatile font? The harm spell isn't all that and a ham sandwich and having the extra heals might be more helpful for society play. Calistria does not require sanctification does she?

So how many hit points did she finally take?

i was wondering that as well.

She had 180 HP. And was dropped this round thanks to Inspire Courage causing those two claw attacks from Zabu to actually connect exactly (AC of 29, pre any debuffs)

That was a really tough fight!

If I am reading sanctification correctly, it is not necessary for every cleric to do so, even if it is an option that the deity provides, correct?

Yeah, I realized we needed a to hit bonus more than defense. Might have ended a round earlier had we started with that.

Every +1 matters!

I love Pathfinder 2's encounter design.

That was one of the toughest fights I have been in and I am almost done with the Abomination Vaults!

1 enemy a few levels higher than the party is quite impressive. +23 to attack means she's guaranteed to hit us and crit 50% of the time.

But she only gets 3 actions vs our 15, so we have more chances to debuff her, buff ourselves and get hits in.

Has anyone had the chance to think about the questions I asked yesterday>

Practical Question:
I have not yet rebuilt her for the Remaster. When I do should I just make her a healing cleric instead of versatile font? The harm spell isn't all that and a ham sandwich and having the extra heals might be more helpful for society play. Calistria does not require sanctification does she?

If I am reading sanctification correctly, it is not necessary for every cleric to do so, even if it is an option that the deity provides, correct?

I would really appreciate your insights into these queries.

Calistria: Divine Sanctification can choose holy or unholy

So you don't have to choose either sanctification. If you decide to, you can choose either holy or unholy. So she does not require sanctification. Compare and contrast with Iomedae, where clerics must choose holy (so they don't have a choice.)

As for dedicated healing or not, eh, it's your opinion. This was a very difficult battle compared to other PFS games. You could memorize Heal in your normal slots as emergency healing. Really it depends on how often you plan to use Harm (the 2 action version), or if you plan to take other feats that use the Harm spell, like Channel Smite, Cast Down, or Ebb and Flow (that's level 14, though- out of PFS range.)

If you want to keep Versatile Font, I'd memorize more Heal spells in your normal slots.

Re. Remaster: As Manny says Calistria can still go either way. As far as Heal v Harm font, that depends a lot on what your build and style is aiming to do. My personal thoughts are unless you're a Warpriest/built to Harm then Healing Fonts are more generally useful, but take that with a grain of salt as I've never yet played a 2e cleric.

As far as the scenario goes, you all have finished it! Huzzah!

I'll have chronicles out shortly. If you have a Day Job you'd like to roll here than feel free to do so and I'll try to include it (if not, no problem: Downtime can be handled by yourselves now if you'd rather or if you're not sure what you want to do with it just right now.

Also if you have any lingering questions about the scenario/one of the encounters or aspects specifically/etc, feel free to ask them here.

And also if you liked it, hated it, or even were neutral, if you have the time toss together a review. It may help the authors and Paizo see what the players think works and doesn't work

Perform: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (3) + 15 = 18

Manny gets a little too rowdy during the festivities.

Academic Lore 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

Performance: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20

Scenario review:

The beginning seemed to drag and didn't feel like it was integrated into the rest of the scenario. Gathering info from each of the Society's allies makes sense, but I would have liked them to have more interaction with the PCs after the initial fight with 'Aslynn'. They're really interesting individuals, and it seems a shame to relegate them to the background after they've handed out the info at the beginning. Maybe they could show special interest in the results of the first skirmish and come to offer additional insight/send a helpful message before the PCs enter Zarta's dreamscape.

I absolutely loved how wily Aslynn was. It makes sense that she'd be able to outsmart the traps, considering how long she's been hacking away at the Society and studying its ranking members' minds. I was surprised that she didn't do more to interfere with us waking Zarta in the dreamscape, and that a bunch of 7-ish level PCs were able to kill her. With all the magical power she has, why didn't she cast a bunch of AOEs on us in the last fight? We were bunched up together because of the difficult terrain all around us--it was perfect!

By the way, you did great with the rhyming/not rhyming, GM Zoomba. I don't know how long it took you to compose some of those, but you deserve serious kudos.

----------------------------

And now it is time to listen to a grouchy ol' half orc lecture about drone on about the Shadow Plane.

Earn Income; Shadow Plane Lore; DC 20: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16
Failure for 16 sp

Hmp. Fools can't understand anything.

Calistria: Divine Sanctification can choose holy or unholy

So you don't have to choose either sanctification. If you decide to, you can choose either holy or unholy. So she does not require sanctification. Compare and contrast with Iomedae, where clerics must choose holy (so they don't have a choice.)

As for dedicated healing or not, eh, it's your opinion. This was a very difficult battle compared to other PFS games. You could memorize Heal in your normal slots as emergency healing. Really it depends on how often you plan to use Harm (the 2 action version), or if you plan to take other feats that use the Harm spell, like Channel Smite, Cast Down, or Ebb and Flow (that's level 14, though- out of PFS range.)

If you want to keep Versatile Font, I'd memorize more Heal spells in your normal slots.

Her name is Atae, which is the Roman goddess of Vengence. The harm spell is pretty spiffy but the scaling is different than the heal version. If I am reading the spell description correctly, a heal will do d8 per level the spell so her 4th level harm will do 4d8 damage correct? Hmm, thinking about that, that is no more or less different from other damage dealing spells correct?

I think that she needs more wands or scrolls to help overcome the limited number of spells that she has. I think that once she can get a higher level healing staff that might be helpful.

Re. Remaster: As Manny says Calistria can still go either way. As far as Heal v Harm font, that depends a lot on what your build and style is aiming to do. My personal thoughts are unless you're a Warpriest/built to Harm then Healing Fonts are more generally useful, but take that with a grain of salt as I've never yet played a 2e cleric.

As far as the scenario goes, you all have finished it! Huzzah!

I'll have chronicles out shortly. If you have a Day Job you'd like to roll here than feel free to do so and I'll try to include it (if not, no problem: Downtime can be handled by yourselves now if you'd rather or if you're not sure what you want to do with it just right now.

Also if you have any lingering questions about the scenario/one of the encounters or aspects specifically/etc, feel free to ask them here.

And also if you liked it, hated it, or even were neutral, if you have the time toss together a review. It may help the authors and Paizo see what the players think works and doesn't work

Warpreists certainly have advantages with the harm font. They can channel through their weapons IIRC. She is built more for the Passion domain but also has levels in the Captivator archetype, which I wish that they would have started at 2nd level rather than 4th.

Are there any magic items she should invest in purchasing?

The Harm spell works well for forcing Fort Saves. The AoE burst is also great if you're surrounded. Like you said, you'd get 4d8 damage, you don't get a static bonus for the ranged version (I had run it that way, it's quite powerful.)

If you decide to lean into the Harm spell I'd tilt into more of the harm feats.

You seem to be mostly casting spells, so I'd suggest getting wands of Heal.

Scenario review:

The beginning seemed to drag and didn't feel like it was integrated into the rest of the scenario. Gathering info from each of the Society's allies makes sense, but I would have liked them to have more interaction with the PCs after the initial fight with 'Aslynn'. They're really interesting individuals, and it seems a shame to relegate them to the background after they've handed out the info at the beginning. Maybe they could show special interest in the results of the first skirmish and come to offer additional insight/send a helpful message before the PCs enter Zarta's dreamscape.

I absolutely loved how wily Aslynn was. It makes sense that she'd be able to outsmart the traps, considering how long she's been hacking away at the Society and studying its ranking members' minds. I was surprised that she didn't do more to interfere with us waking Zarta in the dreamscape, and that a bunch of 7-ish level PCs were able to kill her. With all the magical power she has, why didn't she cast a bunch of AOEs on us in the last fight? We were bunched up together because of the difficult terrain all around us--it was perfect!

By the way, you did great with the rhyming/not rhyming, GM Zoomba. I don't know how long it took you to compose some of those, but you deserve serious kudos.

I had meant to drop thoughts/reviews on the Scbwario page, but here works too I suppose :)

As for the points about Aslynn’s scheme/prowess, I agree she’s unexpectedly passive herself in the minds ape - beyond having brought a bunch of minions to harass you - but can chalk that up in my head to being due to a) she’s cocky as hell, b) she’s exerting a lot of her attention into subverting Zarta’s mind and soul at the time, and c) Zarta’s mental defenses held enough that she’s still somewhat restrained. All these could be considered ‘No-Prize’ logic, but that’s where I’m at very much not having insight into the actual writing or development of this

As for you being able to kill her at the end, true. Take it as an example of Zarta and Waterfall’s plan actually working! Normally she’d’ve been definitely out of your league, but having been hurt by two separate levels of traps designed specifically to weaken her (even if she did avoid the first layer - hence why it’s always good to have unexpected redundancies!) brought her down from her peak.

Also lucky for you she was weakened enough to only have the one big AoE spell at this level which you all rolled phenomenally against. High tier she has a second Phantasmal Calamity on tap, and that plus some slightly less high rolls on the PCs’ end can spell a rough starting position. Her invisibility being thwarted by Faerie Fire certainly also threw off some of her possible tactics :p

With the rhymes, any of those in the bigger ‘box-text’/‘cut-sceney’ ones you can give the full kudos to the author. I merely had to come up with mostly the battle comments and quips, and her responses to your chalk conversation.

Oh, and a key aspect I realize I think I forgot to point out: the Dream Ripper’s crash is only because you succeeded at influencing and helping Revecka enough at the start. If you hadn’t, it’s a hazard constantly bombarding you with cannon fire throughout the whole fight. It is also taken care of if you fully Influence Star but not Revecka, though in that case Star’s kaiju-smashing it also deactivated themselves

Ah, I had suspected Star would just smash the Dream Ripper. The cannon fire bombardment makes this encounter even nastier.

It's rare that PFS scenarios end with a single boss character, so this was very fun. It's not immediately clear that fully influencing the NPCs will defeat the Dream Ripper, but eh, it might be too gamey to tell us that off the bat.

Day Job - Legal Lore: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

Thanks for the insight, GM Zoomba. I always enjoy peeking behind the curtain at the end. :)

Happy to provide it!

All right, chronicles can be found HERE. Please let me know if there are any errors.

And thank you all for playing! This was a solid cast of characters and I had a nice time running for you all. I hope you enjoyed the game, and if so I'm sure I'll see you all around the boards!

And if you are curious about what the boon listed and you get from this does:

Thanks for running.

Ooo! Itka already has access to that from another scenario, but who knows? Perhaps one of her long-lost daughters will become a witch. Wouldn't that be something?

Chronicle looks good. Thanks again, GM Zoomba.

As always, it was a pleasure playing with you guys. Hope to see you around the boards!

Don't know if I already rolled this at the start..

EIC: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

Phenomenal job, GM. Really really well done. I second the kudos on the rhyming hag.

I forgot to say it, but this was a really good group and GM Zoomba, you did a great job, as always. I look forward to joining your games any time I see them.

The chronicles look great. Thanks for running multiple tables GM. I hope the other table did well.

Thanks for putting up with Manny, everyone. It's always a blast to hang out with ya.

Alright, time to Remaster this bad boy.

Chronicle looks good. I liked the clip art you provided!

Thanks to the GM and my fellow players for a great time.