[Farol / PF2] Prey for death

Game Master Farol

Haven't seen Watery Soup for a couple of days - hope he is okay - he does have the tendency to uber ketchup when he pops in though.

I have made some minor changes to Hammid (mostly shifting skill feats), and am finalizing his equipment. High level prepared caster is onerous in terms of slotting spells! This will be my last step once the actual character is complete.

GM,
If we go with Favor Performed and get the extra Uncommon option, are any of these spells welcome / more useful at your table / in this AP?

Drop Dead
Dominate
Ethereal Jaunt

Welcome/more useful at my table/in this ap - well hard to say, I don't plan spoiling anything, so I will leave it on you to decide, I don't mind those spells.

Drop dead - is an illusion, and it will crush on what is realistict to bring down an enemy (may get extra perception check), the rest is no issue
Dominate - is Incapacitation spell so it is a gamble - either you would have to heighten it to have a chance to affect someone or reach for the weaklings ;)
Ethereal Jaunt - could be interesting

For the Codex of Unimpeded Sight, we cna go with case by case base, all in all Divination was:

The divination school of magic typically involves obtaining or transferring information, or predicting events.

So if you can sell me that a spell is obtaining/transfering information or predicting events, we can go with that.

Haven't seen Watery Soup for a couple of days - hope he is okay - he does have the tendency to uber ketchup when he pops in though.

Yes, I'm fine. It's just very busy, and sometimes things spiral: the more posts that build up, the longer of a time block I need to catch up.

House Keeping on Previous Mission:

Mission Type
Ann Hilate @ Favor Performed
Chi Sien @ no preference
Hammid @ Favor Performed
Ketsu-kiba @ ???

Narrative Parts
Chi Sien @ Player 1. Description of a task - what is the job, how and why and where
Ann Hilate @ Player 2. Preparation for the job, scouting, getting disguises etc
Ketsu-kiba @ Player 3. Executing the task
Hammid @ Player 4. Leaving the place and escaping potential consequences

No preference for the previous mission. I'll describe the task in Gameplay later today.

For the Codex of Unimpeded Sight, we cna go with case by case base, all in all Divination was:

Divination wrote:

The divination school of magic typically involves obtaining or transferring information, or predicting events.

So if you can sell me that a spell is obtaining/transfering information or predicting events, we can go with that.

From Hammid's list of interesting spells:

See the Unseen
Organsight
Web of Eyes
Suspend Retribution
Truesight

I feel as though Oddity Identification has a decent post-remaster "definition" of divination absent the school:

"When you become aware of a magical effect or see a spell being cast, you can immediately determine if ... [it] reveals secrets (with the detection, prediction, revelation, or scrying traits)"...

Cracker start, Soup.

We’ll see what Warah can do with that!

No pressure...

Thanks!

As an accounting thing, this means we get a third Uncommon boon, but that doesn't come with any extra money or slots, right?

Edit: Ha, Warah snuck in there 39 seconds before me. Just another US West Coast Friday night. :)

GM Farol wrote:

For the Codex of Unimpeded Sight, we cna go with case by case base, all in all Divination was:

Divination wrote:

The divination school of magic typically involves obtaining or transferring information, or predicting events.

So if you can sell me that a spell is obtaining/transfering information or predicting events, we can go with that.

From Hammid's list of interesting spells:

See the Unseen
Organsight
Web of Eyes
Suspend Retribution
Truesight

I feel as though Oddity Identification has a decent post-remaster "definition" of divination absent the school:

"When you become aware of a magical effect or see a spell being cast, you can immediately determine if ... [it] reveals secrets (with the detection, prediction, revelation, or scrying traits)"...

Yeah I approve, meaning if you mean, would I be able to use old dusty grimmoire with those five spells.

And we are for a great start, now waiting for Ketsu-Kiba followed by Hammid ...

I'm out with my kid till this evening, so probably another 6 hours+ till my post.

Double cracker!

This is a fun task for PbP especially.

Awaiting Pirate Rob’s post, then going to try and clean us up!

Oof!

Spent the better part of Sunday morning on that. I absolutely had to add one "complication"/"twist" that marks us as better prepared than mere street assassins. So. Took some liberties there.

I should have Hammid's equipment finalized by the end of today (95% was off by about 20% or so at time of reporting...).

=)

Make no mistake: Hammid Salah - a name even his closest of allies will never know him by - cares only about accumulation of knowledge and power!

Oops. I put the name "Hammid" in my post. I'll try to remember to use "Moonlight" from now on.

-----

This story is off to a fantastic start!

Hammid is complete.

I may still alter his spell selection, but as a prepared caster, will declare Daily Preparations when we officially begin day one (so many spells!!!), and go from there. I have unlocked access to a single divine spell.

And 759.30 Gold remainder with which to purchase consumables as needed.

Alright gang, I made a mistake.

I took Horizon Walker mainly to obtain access to the very excellent Blind-Fight feat, only to realize as I am adding text to my alias that is requires Master Proficiency in Perception (Cleric only grants Expert).

Going to shift around some Class feats until I have a legal character - try and finish by this evening!

Alright,
Hammid is complete once again.

While adding / auditing my in-profile text, I also noticed that Expert Red Mantis Spellcasting requires Master Proficiency in Religion!

To square the difference, I took Archeologist Dedication which grants free expert proficiency in skills I was already taking to Master, liberating those increases to allocate to Religion.

I picked up Trapfinder and Archeologist's Luck as well, rounding out his role as "party rogue" further.

Party Question: Should we all take Foil Senses to make whole-party sneaking viable across the high-level creature senses spectrum? (Requires Master Proficiency in Stealth to do)

Ann has it.

Ketsu-kiba also has Foil Senses, although currently only Expert in Stealth, should be easy enough to fix later tonight.

Watery Soup,
Do you wanna go all in on Foil Senses? (Assuming everyone keeps it?)

Sure - I'll take out Arcane Sense if anyone else has access to Detect Magic, or Kip Up, and add Foil Senses late in the build. I'll update the profile later.

Nice.

Assuming Katsura-kiba keeps it too, that’ll be the whole party Master in Stealth and inclusive of Foiled Senses!

Can’t see, hear, or smell nothing…

And yes, I will put Hammid’s on Detect Magic and Read Aura.

Hey folks, few announcements:
1. You start with 2 hero points each, plenty of glyphs and all that\
2. Next week I am going on my not that uncommon, man-trailing workshops (which I attend with my dogs), so for a week I will be in the forest, historically I was able to post, but I prefer to warn as any disturbance from routine bare risk
3. Waiting for Watery before I push you further.

Assuming Katsura-kiba keeps it too, that’ll be the whole party Master in Stealth and inclusive of Foiled Senses!

Can’t see, hear, or smell nothing…

Rob, you planning on keeping or chucking Foiled Senses?

1. You start with 2 hero points each, plenty of glyphs and all that

3 Glyph GM here, if that is what you mean.

We start ☘️ ☘️ ☘️ then?

Thank you for the glyphs!

Kept Foil Senses.

Glyphs are totally irrelevant, since it's not a PFS scenario, but Farol is saying he's giving us extra hero points based on the PFS Glyphs rules, which says each player can start with up to 1 extra hero point, and that there are at least 4+ Glyphs at the table to get to the 4 minimum needed for everybody to start with a second Glyph.

Hammid is fully complete.

And ready to take out the Ulfen Cleric, General Ordulf Bladecaller!

Before we go, Hammid may want to purchase a Ready Rune for his Library Robes, but I can't make heads or tails as to whether this is a legal combo.

Anyone have insight?

Can't add property runes to named items.

Source

Really sorry to be slow here, extended weekend trip involved a lot more snow and a lot less connectivity/internet time than expected, am back home and hoping to catch up in the next few hours.

You are covered because:

2. Next week I am going on my not that uncommon, man-trailing workshops (which I attend with my dogs), so for a week I will be in the forest, historically I was able to post, but I prefer to warn as any disturbance from routine bare risk

Here's hoping GM and dogs make it back safe

=)

I am not pushing you to fast to give you time to make last adjustments to the PC's and do last purchases, Since Glacier's Rest is lvl 5 you will not buy useful things there, well useful for lvl 14 PCs ;)

So, I recently learned that Secrets of Magic has some recently released errata that allows for using spells without spell attack rolls.

I may change Sien's spell list, and default prepared spells, if that's acceptable with the GM.

Broad strokes, since there were so few spells with spell attack rolls, I had taken Hydraulic Push and Exploding Earth, heightened at every level, just to have a non-cantrip spell I could Spellstrike with. But the default prepared spells were Haste (+4) to boost the party, and Wall of Force to try to divide groups of enemies.

If there are other options for Spellstrike, I'd like to switch out Wall of Force (which is 3 actions and not efficient for maguses) for an attack spell.

I'll keep Haste, though, as long as people think it would be useful. The default combat plan is to Haste the party first round and enter Arcane Cascade.

Yeah, Wall of Force is more efficient for a full caster. I'm fine with the switch if GM Farol and everyone else is. Haste is great, so I am happy to accept it. Thanks! ;)

Ketsu-kiba has Wall of Force and Force Cage, and Haste(7). Nothing wrong with having multiple haste options, its real good.

Ketsu-kiba's a natural story-teller/liar. If you asked her why she was going to the grocery store, you'd get a strange answer.

So, I recently learned that Secrets of Magic has some recently released errata that allows for using spells without spell attack rolls.

I may change Sien's spell list, and default prepared spells, if that's acceptable with the GM.

Broad strokes, since there were so few spells with spell attack rolls, I had taken Hydraulic Push and Exploding Earth, heightened at every level, just to have a non-cantrip spell I could Spellstrike with. But the default prepared spells were Haste (+4) to boost the party, and Wall of Force to try to divide groups of enemies.

If there are other options for Spellstrike, I'd like to switch out Wall of Force (which is 3 actions and not efficient for maguses) for an attack spell.

I'll keep Haste, though, as long as people think it would be useful. The default combat plan is to Haste the party first round and enter Arcane Cascade.

Fine by me.

Should we take this opportunity to discuss our cover story?

Maybe we can do it in 3 days, maybe not. I am unsure I have 1 day to “waste” to set up my network unless we agree to sneak around past the 3rd day. What do people think?

Kicking myself as I almost got a magic tent as my other 11…

Do we want to claim that we're trying to join our target's ranks? That might give us a reason to linger in town past the three days.

Or, have a reasonable story that could feasibly situate us for 3 days, but with a contingency clause, which, well, comes to pass in 3 days time (if we still need extra time, which I think we will).

So, negotiate now, and re-negotiate later, with our high deception friends of course.

If so, what could “go wrong” with our merchant cover story in three days time that would constitute an overstay emergency?

=)

I will let you look for a way 1 more day, also because my day at work was ... bad.

Anyway a piece of advice, pbp is horrible for answering a question:
So what do we do?/What is the strategy?

Pbp, is amazing for structured discussion, so let me structure it a bit:
1. Each one of you presents two ideas on how to handle it
2. After each one of you presents it, we will vote on the ones that you like the most.

Works for me. Here are my two coppers:

1: We claim to be trying to join Bladecaller's followers. We're serious enough that we're willing to stay even after the merchants leave. (Not the strongest story, granted.)

2: We've been sent to negotiate an alliance between Bladecaller and a mysterious benefactor.

I like those stories, Ann.

See if I can come up with something too, hmm…

I think giving an answer that both gives us an option of leaving early or leaving late without social repercussion would be best.

Would not having a suitable story and just being mysterious anger the locals?

I was imagining Ketsu-kiba telling a different story to anybody that asked. Cultivating a sense of mystery but never giving away the actual truth. Plays into her superiority complex of fooling all these rubes etc.

That sad I'm not opposed to a more consistent story depending on our needs.

Presumably we want to escape before the 3 days are up, so that we're not stuck here over the whole winter.

Of course that makes me want to answer otherwise and come up with a story about staying longer.

I’d like to craft a lie that, if discovered, wouldn’t raise suspicion. So, that rules out “mysterious benefactor” and “we want to join the gang”…

Perhaps just lean into the “we are merchants” thing, as it’s so boringly ordinary, and I could see it as an excuse to leave early or stay overlong with “we will leave when we are sold out”.

But. What do we sell? And where are the goods?

Did anyone pick up Prescient Planner, etc? Maybe you could pull out a "sample" of the goods we're trying to sell. There wouldn't be much stock, though.

Ketsu-kiba has Prescient Planner and the upgraded Prescient Consumable

A consumable of half our level (7) would be a pretty penny for a Level 5 settlement. Looking through the list, most of them would be 55-70 gp.

ok so presented Ideas are:
1. Pretend to try and join Bladecaller
2. Negotiate between Bladecaller and benefactor
3. Tell a different story, to whoever asks
4. We are merchants story

If I haven't missed any suggestion that would be it.

So each one of you can vote for 2 ideas (to avoid a chance that each one would vote for a different one).

I’m cool with 3 and 4