Mummy's Mask

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

It lets you understand any languages (spoken or signed) the creature you're speaking to does. :-)

I love the linguistic deep-dive.

Just for info’s sake, Fanny has a +20 to Stealth in low-light (or shadows). I figured that she’d be very hard to spot unless someone specifically is looking for her.

Does anybody know if there's a Warp talent or a feat or something that lets your familiar survive being in a Extradimensional Storage? Aside from the Room talent, as that's a bit more than what I want. Don't need a whole room/house, lol, just a little hidey hole for my kitteh.

Not quite the same, but you could get a Familiar Satchel. There's also the combat talent Carry Companion. At higher levels, a Bottle of Air will cover things. :-)

Something I'll mention, as Xynlthras asked something similar, is that I generally don't target familiars unless they're taking an active roll in combat. If you're using Anya for roleplay and the occasional brief scout run or whatnot, she'll be perfectly safe. If she's getting into an enemy's face to act as a flanking buddy or playing fetch with alchemical grenades, she'll be fair game. ;-)

GMTA, Imatti. :)

YBD, would it be reasonable/possible for Xynlthras to command his hawk to stay by the opening and to fly to try to find us if someone comes? Too much at 1st level?

Not sure that's allowed for a familiar, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask. Xynl would know, but I don't :D

That can work, or you can use the empathic link to communicate general emotions.

Just an FYI, today was my Grammy's wake, and tomorrow her funeral. Hence nothing from me all day. I'm gonna go take a much needed nap, and try to catch up later.

* bro hug *

Take care of yourself and family Monkeygod, we're not going anywhere. I hope the nap helps.

Loot, anyone? If no takers, then Epperson will take the hammer and pitons.

Feel free to pick it all up Epperson. But he does bring up a good point. How are we going to track loot and how do you all want to split it up?

@Monkeygod: Take all the time you need.

How are we going to track loot and how do you all want to split it up?

I'm willing to quick and dirty list everything we find in a spoiler on my profile, or maintain a spreadsheet if we want more detail.

As far as divvying up stuff goes, I do think there should come a point where we figure out the value of everything we found and divide it up evenly. A lot of groups give valuable items to one or two characters and then also give everyone an equal share of the loot. I don't mind anyone using stuff that we find, but if they want to keep it I think the sale price should come out of their share. I also think it's a good practice to have a sixth share for items that benefit everyone-- wands of healing, scrolls of lesser restoration, etc.

Also, I think someone besides Mahmoud should carry the flasks of alchemist's fire. He already has some, and if we encounter swarms it would be smart for more than one of us to be able to hurt them.

I could carry the flasks, but have ways of dealing with swarms where others might not.

Also, totally agree with the part of that sixth share for group necessities. We used to have that also as a "raise dead" fund in our tabletop game, as we grew in levels, back in the day.

cool, If I understand your preference Mahmoud, a six way split, the sixth portion for group 'medical needs.' Also, 'found' items, when no longer being used, are returned to the group kitty to be sold as Party loot. Whereas items we purchase with 'our cut,' when sold, stay in our own pocket.

I can live with that, but I think a spread sheet with columns showing who has, or if returned and sold would be better than a 'quick and dirty' list. Which is also what I do if we don't have spread sheet.

edit: The good news, with the ABP style system, we won't be trading in half our magical items every other level for a better one to replace the 'big six'

As the GM, I prefer to leave wealth management up to the party, so whatever system you decide is fine by me. If you go the spreadsheet route, I can link it in the campaign header if you'd like.

As Tribim said, the ABP I use means you won't have to worry about the "big six," so party wealth can be used for "fun" items. You'll end up quite powerful as the campaign progresses, so feel free to itemize for flavor and don't worry too much about optimization. :-)

Something else I'll mention is that - even at low levels - death doesn't have to be the end of the character. As Robert Henry can attest, if a raise dead isn't available or convenient, I'll bring back characters with either a template or a physical ailment. Both can be removed if desired by finding a strong-enough healer. :-)

yeah, folks die, they come back....

But at what cost?! Mahmoud's already gone through the revolving door once...

Thanks for the kinds words everyone! I should be more or less back for now. Though there's still a lot to do, we got through most of the hard parts. However, due to the potential for snow even this late in the year, and the fact that our town is *very* old, our cemetery is closed till April. Which unfortunately means Grammy can't be buried till at least then. We'll also have another viewing some time next month too.

Regarding loot, the above suggestions sounds pretty okay with me. Since there's a pair of alch fire, two people should get one. Unatti has a decent Dex, so I can take one, if that's cool?

Cool by me.

It’s nice to have you back, Unatti. I hope you’ve found some solace.

Epperson doesn’t have anything to handle swarms, but he’s got a lousy Dex. I think he could take one alchemist fire flask if that’s alright.

No poison or disease on this one. It's only the first hazard of the campaign, after all. If nobody has healing, this is a great time to remind everyone of the "hit dice" mechanic. ;-)

I remember being in class the first time you explained that, but I think I was staring out the window. Could you explain the "hit dice" Mechanic again?

It's a resource pool equal to your character level that can be spent in a few different ways. The "Descended from Heroes" background, for example, lets you spend one hit die to gain a bonus on an attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. Alternately, you can take one hour to spend any number of your hit dice to heal.

The reason the resource pool is called "hit dice," by the way, is because the die you roll is determined by your class: Rogues roll d8s, Fighters roll d10s, Wizards roll d6s, etc.

So at first level, Tribim has one hit dice that he can spend daily, which would be a D8. He can use it for the Descended from heroes background or he can take an hour and recuperate one rolls worth of HP.

Yes, that's correct. Once he reaches Level Two, he'll have two hit dice that can be spent on two uses of the background ability, 2d8 of healing, or 1d8 of healing and one use of the background ability.

Do the SLAs gained from your background use your HD as your caster level? Ie, once I reach fifth level, I'll heal 1d6+5 HP via Cure Light?

That's right!

Another question(I was gonna edit my above, but you too quick! lol):

Believer's Boon says:

When you take this feat, choose one domain granted by your deity. You can use the 1st-level domain ability that clerics of that domain can use a number of times or rounds per day, but you can use it only once per day or 1 round per day, whichever is appropriate. Your effective cleric level in regard to this ability is 1st level. If the domain has a 1st-level ability that does not meet this specification, you cannot use it.

However, you've completely revamped domains to be fairly different from the standard Paizo ones.

What domain power would Unatti get? The vast majority of domains I looked at do not have a granted power that would qualify. Most of them are static bonuses/benefits.

I was originally gonna pick Luck, but your version just makes her better at winning games of chance. Which, is cool, I guess, but not exactly something that's super useful in an AP where there's probably little to no such games...

Ah, that's an easy fix. Instead of the granted power, you'd get the first-level ability as if you had 1 faith point. So, for the Luck domain, you'd be able to use the Fickle Favor ability 1/day.

Okay, cool!

However, I had a derp moment. I mixed up Bastet's domains with Ogham's(from Forgotten Realms), as I'm playing an Inquisitor of Ogham in a friend's IRL game, lol. Bastet does *not* grant the Luck domain. The perils of playing two divine themed characters in two different games, lol

Anyways, Unatti will be taking the Animal domain for Believer's Boon, which I *think* gives her the ability to cast Speak with Animals 1/day?

Sounds good!

What hit die does a malefactor get? I assumed a d8.

That's correct.

Dang, apparently DD is trained only. Since she didn't get hurt, I was gonna have Unatti go with Tribim and attempt to aid another. Sadly, that's not possible, I don't think.

Since YBD told us about the plate we just need to put something on it, Maybe the body from the other room? I didn't post because I wanted someone else to get a chance.

Sounds good to me! Clever thinking.

If you have Tribim propose the idea, Mahmoud will drag the corpse to the pressure plate. That way Tribim doesn't have to move from the trap and possibly give it time to reset. :)

I'm assuming Mahmoud only did one point of damage because of hardness? You saw my note that he has a talent that reduces hardness by 1 when he hits?

Yes, that's correct.

While I don't mind being a supportive character, and I've more or less built Unatti in a way that I like, I realize I am fairly useless in combat. At least as far as attacking goes. All she's really got is her crossbow.

Any suggestions on some sort of offensive talent(s) that fits her overall concept of Witch Priest of Bastet to make her a bit more useful when a fight breaks out?

Since you're already invested in Life, and have taken Ranged Healing, using your Invigorate power on allies who have been injured is relatively cheap (standard action, no spell point cost) and certainly useful. I also think Adrenaline Surge is amazing. That with Invigorate, and other Life talents that boost Invigorate can turn us into an unstoppable group! When we start meeting undead I recommend Clarified Strike, which should add some additional punch to your crossbow; and Affliction is also a good offensive power to harness your existing talents, especially the ability to apply negative conditions to opponents. I've always been very impressed with how versatile Drop Dead made the Life sphere. You don't have to just be a healbot if you are incredibly Life-focused.

I don't know Protection or Dark very well. Honestly, I don't see much in Protection that excites me very much. The Deflection aegis probably doesn't stack with the automatic deflection bonus we get from leveling. Barrier seems kind of cool, but it also gets in our way as much as it gets in the way of the enemy. And Dark seems to have lots of cool entrapping effects, but also seems to require significant investment to make it good, especially with only Epperson having darkvision natively. Again, it will get in our way as much as the enemy until you can invest enough talents to mitigate it. And also, most Dark effects don't last very long, so you will probably find you have to concentrate a lot.

If you really want another sphere besides Life that feels thematic to a Bast priestess, there's always Alteration. You could turn yourself into a big cat to jump into combat, or enlarge your familiar and send her in. My feeling is that it doesn't need quite as heavy an investment to make it work well, since you're just giving you or your allies useful traits. Or you could try out War, there's lots of great combat buffs in there, though not really very many aggressive talents. Maybe Death? Most Death talents won't work on undead, and you probably don't want an army of corpses. Nature's not very thematic, and Destruction is basically Xynlthras's gig. I still think Life is a better choice, since you're already in it and the talents will boost each other.

Anyway, that's my 2cp on the topic. :)

maybe should have spent a feat on precise shot, instead of going all in on feint talents

We'll probably face some humanoids at some point-- at least, that's what the player's guide says. :) The other common enemies it mentions are constructs, magical beasts, outsiders (elementals), and undead-- so investing in Unlikely Feint at some point might be a good idea.

yeah, that's on the list, probably third or fourth, there is also a Rogue Talent called Flowing Feint A rogue with this talent who uses a standard action to move can combine that move with a feint. If she is able to feint as a move action, she can combine a move action to move with her feint. The rogue also reduces one of the penalties by 4 when feinting against a non-humanoid creature or when feinting against a creature of animal intelligence. The rogue only applies this penalty reduction once when feinting against a creature that is a non-humanoid with animal intelligence. At 10th level, the rogue instead reduces both of these penalties by 4. That's not quite as good with the penalties, but is a lot of fun to use for movement... Before I go too nuts, I need to decide if I'm going to multi class or not. Presently his weapon selection is a little lacking, though he does plan to take full advantage of his natural weapons. Once he stacks up a few 'fencing talents need to decide what other direction to go, duelist has some vicious bleed attacks and YBD lets you double up on them. Not that 'bleed' would help in this fight either.

As for the player's guide, were we supposed to read that?