Mummy's Mask

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

2d6+1

There's one available, but it's rather popular. It'll cost the full 4,000gp to win it.

It looks like we have the cash for it along with the armor and shield, so why not? Aerith any requests?

I need to save for the Agile enchantment (at lvl 5) and eventually Wild enchantment.

With both, her turning into her dragon form will be really good. It’ll make her into a serious front line combatant. But at lvl4? I’d rather save up for those 2 purchases. So until then…nothing for her, more than happy to support purchases for others. :)

Placed on the map. Are we up for round 1, or just being placed down?

You're up for round one as well. Zombie horde's Round 1 was breaking down the doors and entering the building. If you'd won initiative, you would have had the round to prebuff. :-)

I'm assuming the four of us were sitting in the chairs there, so I put Mahmoud on the other side of the row.

GM throws zombies at us. My dice? Suddenly pure fire.

How close are we to getting the 'trapped' women out? Rory's first round as two move actions. Epperson's first round he moved stuff. The second round Rory moved stuff (50lbs worth) I can't tell if Epperson was still moving stuff or not.

Can we defend the women while we or they are in the rubble? Is the rubble filled area 'rough terrain' or is it impassible?

You've cleared away 305 pounds of rubble, so about 75% of the way toward rescuing one of the women. The rubble-filled area is considered difficult terrain until everything is cleared, but you can move on it to defend the women if so desired.

Epperson, you doing ok?

Hello everyone.

I need to take a break from my gaming activities so I can focus on other important things in my life.

I know this comes as a shock and a bit of a surprise. I apologise for that.

I will be not continuing this game; I thank you all for playing alongside me. I've enjoyed it greatly.

I wish you all well.

-Dink

Wow, sorry to hear you're leaving, dinketry. We've all been there and understand, RL has to come first.

What do you think YBD? It feels like we have three options: stay with three players as the are and tough it out, stay with three players and go gestalt, or add another player or two. I'd prefer not adding, but if that's the direction you want to go can we invite someone from one of your other games? Wyshart seems super active right now, would they fit in?

Of course, taking Tribim gestalt would be a ton of fun :)

Edit:
As my brain wandered to gestalt, has anyone ever started a character and then added gestalt at a higher level? So it was X amount of original class, and then gestalt from then on? I don't even know if it would work, but it would be an interesting experiment...

I’m sorry to hear it. It was a pleasure gaming with you, and I hope that whatever you are going through becomes easier. I wish you the best.

I'm sorry to see you go. Epperson's been a fun character, and if life calms down at a later date, feel free to let me know. Best of luck.
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Moving forward, I'd prefer to avoid gestalt. As you've seen, it's a pretty significant increase in both power and versatility, so I tend to limit it to solo or duo games. From what I've seen thus far, the three of you are pretty well-rounded. Everyone has at least decent AC, most Knowledges are covered, and everyone's very capable of dealing damage. In addition, everyone's at least 3/4 BAB and d8 hit die. The main potential weakness is that Aerith's the only one with healing and condition removal, but that's manageable with consumables and spending Hit Dice while resting.

Sorry to see you go, dinketry! Our shadows are diminished to three.

I'm willing to continue with only the three of us, but it would be nice to pick up another fourth at some point who can act as the heavy armor person, and/or the debuffer/anvil, both roles I think we will miss without Epperson.

Moving forward, I'd prefer to avoid gestalt. As you've seen, it's a pretty significant increase in both power and versatility, so I tend to limit it to solo or duo games. From what I've seen thus far, the three of you are pretty well-rounded. Everyone has at least decent AC, most Knowledges are covered, and everyone's very capable of dealing damage. In addition, everyone's at least 3/4 BAB and d8 hit die. The main potential weakness is that Aerith's the only one with healing and condition removal, but that's manageable with consumables and spending Hit Dice while resting.

..., but it would be nice to pick up another fourth at some point who can act as the heavy armor person, and/or the debuffer/anvil, both roles I think we will miss without Epperson.

Mahmoud, you've got an excellent range attack, but if push comes to shove, won't the fighter class permit you to put on heavier armor? With a few tweaks it woudldn't be that hard for you to fill the roll of 'anvil' if we needed it.

We actually just dropped much of our gold on Epperson's shield and armor. Would it be possible to get something else for the coin, given that he won't be with us?

That's a good point. I'm fine with issuing a refund. :-)

Mahmoud could wear heavy armor, but there's no benefit to him doing so, since his primary ability is Dexterity. He would quickly hit the maximum bonus, I think. And while I do have a couple of debuffy talents planned and Mahmoud can do things like combat maneuvers to try and control the battlefield, like all of us he is primarily built for dealing damage rather than limiting the damage that the enemy can deal to us. I think we'll miss Epperson's curses keenly going forward.

A question I have is whether or not anyone wants to make any tweaks to their character build. As Mahmoud alluded to, while the party's pretty well-covered for skills and knowledges and whatnot, in combat, you have three Hammers and no real Anvils or Arms.

EDIT: Epperson will stay present until the end of this scene but will keep to a background role. He'll keep the various NPCs protected, clear away the rest of the rubble, and remove the mummy's curse if needed.

That's a good point. I'm fine with issuing a refund. :-)

Yay. :)

Any suggestions on what to buy with it? We could also just save it. I know that Aerith really wants to save up for her agile + wild enchantments so she can go into her dragon form. But if there is anything someone else wants, now would be a good time.

Heavy Armor

Really isn't needed. Thinking things through though...maybe I have a way for Aerith to use her transformation + telekinesis together so that she can fulfill this role:

When using your telekinesis to lift a shield, you may apply its shield bonus to the armor class of anything in its square, though this does not stack with any shield bonus they already possess. A shield sustained with Sustained Force still grants its shield bonus, and may be directed to follow a given individual or target. If you possess the Orbit talent, you may choose a single shield in orbit of you and add its shield bonus to your armor class. If you possess the Dancing Weapon talent, you may apply shield related feats and combat talents (such as Shield Focus) to any shield you are lifting.

Author's Note: The floating shield talent does not count as wielding a shield for any purpose, positive or negative (including ACP, maximum Dexterity, etc, but also magical qualities). This means it can grant a shield bonus to someone benefiting from the monk's AC bonus class feature without penalizing them, but also cannot be used as a shield to perform shield bashes, utilize most abilities from the Shield sphere, etc.

My reading of this is...

(1) 1 spell point for sustained force to use the shield without concentrating for 1 minute per level. This should work when transformed into dragon form. And because it doesn't count as "wielding" the shield for any purpose, positive or negative, she doesn't need to be proficient in it.

(2) Dragon Form adds natural armor, which doesn't stack with unarmored style. Wild enchantment adds both. Put that together with floating shield, and Aerith's AC will easily become main tank worthy.

(3) Dragon Form with agile will let her do full attacks using her dexterity for hit and damage. While by itself not the best, it is good enough.

So if you squint...in a way, Aerith can fulfill the role of heavy armored tank with shield. It's just that. Heavy armor (scales) with shield (floating).

Example at lvl 5 if she has both enchantments:

AC: 10 (base) + 4 (Dex) + 5 (Natural Armor) + 2 (Heavy Shield) + 5 (unarmored training with attunement) = AC 26 + DR2/magic

I can switch my lvl 4 sphere choice (haven't used it yet) from quick teleport to orbit. And at lvl 5 grab floating shield. And with that? So long as we have the gold for it, she'd ready to be a front line heavy armor/shield tank for the party.

Cost: Agile (2000) + Wild (9000) = 11,000.

...you have three Hammers and no real Anvils or Arms.

While I love the theory and discussion about Hammer, Anvi, and arm, I don't see having three hammers as a difficulty. The discussion lends itself to "who fills which roll of the 'HAA'" to potentially maximize each character's abilities. If the only abilities you have are swinging a hammer, then everything becomes a nail.

Obviously, well need to use natural choke points for battlefield control, and 'hit and run' tactics when natural choke points aren't available. But Pathfinder lends itself to offense instead of defense, we'll just need to keep plenty of wands, and tribim will bump his UMD as high as possible.

C: 10 (base) + 4 (Dex) + 5 (Natural Armor) + 2 (Heavy Shield) + 5 (unarmored training with attunement) = AC 26 + DR2/magic

Sounds like a plan to me :)

@Mahmoud: Did you want to do anything this round?

Sorry, thanks for reminding me it was my turn. :)

The city is under attack! I did not see that coming.

Also I’m starting to think that I should invest more in life sphere. Healing is really burning through my spell points.

YBD, are we waiting for Aerith to chime in, or something else?

Sorry! I didn't get a notification that this game had updated.

Tea bags for brewing. The looters were trying to rob a tea shop. :-)

it could have been ice tea in neat little bottles....

So in theory, could we brew it, put it in containers, drink it cold and still get the effect? Or would we need some sort of 'craft' to pull it off?

Correct. Brewing requires hot water and around 10 minutes to steep, but after that it's good to go. :-)

"An assortment of weapons, good defenses, and positive energy are all beneficial when combating undead."

I'm not really sure what kind of answer you're looking for from that question. The priests here don't have any hidden knowledge about what's happening. ;-)

Sorry, when I said 'you two' I was actually asking Mahmoud and Aerith, just trying to leave hooks for conversation.

That's my fault. I missed the word "Shadows" when I read your post. I might need new glasses. ;-)

Mahmoud you still with us? I see that you posted in Peachbottoms game, is there something we can do to help you keep pace here?

Edit:
I don't know if it would help any, but there seem to be a lot of games on your que that you're not active in. You can clear the game threads from your que it may make it easier to follow the games your still active in.

Still here, but it’s been a busy weekend and I was only able to get one post in. I’ll respond to this one and a few others this morning.

A friend of mine linked to this, and I thought it was a great essay on a subject near and dear to all of us. Not trying to call anyone out or anything, but I bet we can all appreciate the sentiment!

If you check the map of Wati linked in the campaign header, you'll notice a number of marked areas. Ignore the ones in the necropolis: that area's secured for the time-being thanks to your assistance. The other spots, though, might have things to do.

As mentioned previously, this section of the campaign takes place over several in-game days, so - despite the sense of urgency - there's no real need to rush to finish everything immediately. ;-)

Hey YBS could tribim tell if his people had gotten their boat off of the docks?

I completely forgot to add that to my last post. Yes, Tribim's grandparents' boat is no longer at the docks.

Sadly, some of the best stuff we've found is armor, and none of us wear it.

Spheres of power just makes being unarmored too good. Our GM has the right idea, though, on making named armor worth wearing.

I think Tribim and Mahmoud can wear this armor, right? It’s a chain shirt so +4 AC, should be functionally the same as unarmored training at this level.

It is, but then I take decrease in skills and touch AC.... might be worth Mahmouds effort, up to him.

I'd have to rebuild a lot of things to make armor worthwhile. He's Dex-based, so as he increases that stat he would lose a lot of AC with any armor above light. Plus even with light armor, as Tribim notes, that takes away touch and flat-footed AC boosts and attaches a skill penalty.

If we had a character who wasn't based on Dexterity, armor would certainly be worth it. But otherwise, I think we'll just have to keep it and eventually sell it.

It's true: DEX-based characters are more fun for a lot of people - especially when there are multiple ways to make up for the reduced damage. I will say that armor is still useful if encumbrance is a concern. I also allow named armor to be enchanted, so that's handy if you don't have a feat to spare.

yeah, if I'd know our armor wearing folks were going to drop out, I'd have gone with the Magi style fighter and hinted that Mahmoud deal with traps...

Someday I’d like to play a dwarven blacksmith from lvl1.

* Armor Expert [High. HB] Equipment Sphere
- You increase the armor bonus to AC of any armor you are wearing by +1. When your base attack bonus reaches +8, you lower the armor check penalty of any armor you wear by 1. For every 8 points of base attack bonus you gain thereafter, you reduce the armor check penalty of your worn armor by a further 1 (this cannot reduce your armor check penalty below 0). The benefits granted by this talent do not stack with those provided by the Armor Focus and Improved Armor Focus feats. Associated Feat: Armor Focus.

* Armor Maintenance
- The blacksmith and his allies reduce the armor check penalty of all armor they wear by 1 (minimum 0), and increase the armor bonus of their worn armor (but not shields) by +1. The armor bonus increases by +1 and the armor check penalty is reduced by an additional 1 at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter. For the purposes of this ability, a standard set of clothing or similar equivalent (such as a wizard’s robes) is treated as light armor with an armor bonus and armor check penalty of 0.

* Armorclad Mastery [Conq. HB]
- The blacksmith learns to fight and maneuver in his armor better. While wearing armor, the blacksmith reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. The blacksmith also learns to move at his normal speed when wearing medium armor. This counts as the fighter’s armor training class feature.
- In addition, the blacksmith gains an armor mastery feat
- The blacksmith must be at least 4th level to learn this insight. He may select this insight again at 8th and 16th level. If he does, the blacksmith increases his armor training benefits by 1 and gains a new armor mastery feat. When the blacksmith gains this insight a second time, he learns to move at his normal speed when wearing heavy armor.
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All of the above can be gained at lvl4.

Masterwork Plate Armor is +9 AC and -5 ACP. With the above it is +11 AC and -4 ACP and will end up at 0 ACP

That’s an amazing bonus for an armor wearer! Throw in shieldsmith and you can wield a weapon two handed with a heavy shield, no feats needed.

Hopefully we can alternate the damage, Tribim! :)

it's ok Mahmoud, if he dies maybe I'll bring in someone who can wear armor...

Mahmoud spent the night thinking about this question. "Maybe we should return to the auction house to make sure everything there is still secure. We have some gold left, maybe we should check the stock and see if they have anything that is good for fighting shadows or other undead horrors, since that seems like something we might need to do more. We might have not noticed everything when we were there before."

We might be able to get Aerith and Tribim some magical weapons? Like an agile elven curved blade and an agile gladius?

Mahmoud looks over at the auction house. "We should not split up, with things so uncertain, but I will go with you and wait outside the door while you ask the auctioneers about their weapons, and keep an eye on both the street and the corpse. If I see more creatures, I will call for you."

slightly confused. It was your idea to go to the 'auction house.'

I'd assumed the 'auction house' was an 'auction house' now a magic mart, wouldn't the items that were for sale have been presented at the auction.

Tribim is completely satisfied with the weapons he has and probably wouldn't see a need to purchase others. Aerith, do you want to see if the auction house has something they forgot to put in the auction?

Sorry for the confusion!

I meant for Mahmoud to indicate that he would wait outside the door to the auction house while Tribim and Aerith went inside, to keep an eye on the body without having to drag it inside or take it to the temple first.

I had thought that both Tribim and Aerith expressed a desire to have magic weapons, in case we had to fight any more incorporeal foes. If that's incorrect, no problem here.

Cool.

Aerith your call, do you want to see if the auction house has a magical weapon you can toss about?

Honestly…no. I’d rather save up for her agile enchantment for natural attacks. And maybe to eventually make her curve blade +1, because 1d10 and 18-20 crit range is great, especially given its low weight. All of that costs a lot of gold.

However, some ghost salt seems like a cost effective way to handle incorporeal enemies. I’d be glad to buy some of that

The auction house doesn't have any additional items to offer other than what's already been listed. However, as things progress, you'll gradually get access to more things as the amount of undead decreases and shops begin to reopen.

Are we waiting on anything in particular?