| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Okay, for the assassination complete, I'm going to take some ideas from the Second Darkness Adventure Path.
We were hired by a wealthy crime boss to take out a rival owner of a gambling den in Riddleport. We left dozens of dead bodyguards in our wake before ultimately beheading the target and leaving his severed head impaled on the center of a roulette wheel. The rest of his body was disposed of into the sea and fed to hungry jigsaw sharks.
Also, pulling back the curtain a bit: if someone could please take Quick Identification if they can fit it into their skill feats; it’ll save us some headaches.
Given that my character has so many skill feats, I can make it work.
I'll see if anyone else can fit in Quick Identification before I try to. Religion skill isn't my strong point anyway.
It operates off of any and all of the magic tradition skills. Suryo has Occultism +23, Religion +18. So, I suspect it would be beneficial if someone with Arcana and/or Nature could take it too.
Okay, for the assassination complete, I'm going to take some ideas from the Second Darkness Adventure Path.
We were hired by a wealthy crime boss to take out a rival owner of a gambling den in Riddleport. We left dozens of dead bodyguards in our wake before ultimately beheading the target and leaving his severed head impaled on the center of a roulette wheel. The rest of his body was disposed of into the sea and fed to hungry jigsaw sharks.
Blink Blink Dear lord.
Wayangs are weird. But I can see how their abilities would be useful as an assassin. It looks like they have ties to Tian Xia where my character originates from, so there could be some commonality there.
Yes, let me think on this some more and see what it could be.
One 13th-level item: Moderate Clarity Goggles
Two 12th-level items: +2 Greater Striking Rune, Greater Cloak of Illusions
One 11th-level item, +2 Resilient Rune
Two 10th-level items, Winged sandals, Greater Invisibility Rune
I'll be finishing out the rest of the sections of his profile tomorrow, which include background, Otherworldly Mission specifics, and Favored by the Blood Mistress.
I can swap Assurance Medicine for Quick Identification. She's only trained in Medicine so the assurance isn't really doing much for her, she only fails to Treat Wounds on a 1.
Now I've said that, should we be concerned that none of us can do assurance/continual recovery/ward medic for fast resourceless healing?
The crimson shroud can heal 70 once per hour (if we haven't used it in combat), quick alchemy a soothing tonic can do 50 at the expense of a versatile vial/advanced alchemy slot, we have various spells between us, will that be enough?
I'm a bit loathe to rejig my skills but thematically having the nerd be the healer would fit, and studying anatomy alongside alchemy makes sense.
I guess we'll find out with the healing.
There isn't any way I can fit the medicine skill tree into my character and Wis is my lowest stat.
OK I've tweaked things a little (actually a lot) I've gone to Master in Medicine and taken Ward Medic and Continual Recovery, that ought to allow fairly rapid healing for the whole group after an encounter without spending any resources.
I've had to change her Background to reflect her time as a foundling more than her time before that in order to not waste a skill feat, and I can't fit Quick Identification in now. I think it will be ok with just Suryo since most identification can be done equally well with any of the skills.
I also put Teleport in as a rank 7 known spell, even if that doesn't end up being useful in the scenario it would be too obviously useful for a Red Mantis assassin to pass up (and too on-theme for the Unbound Step Conscious Mind). I went with Psi Catastrophe as the level 14 feat; with all her movement options I'd hope she can avoid targetting allies with that
For our Riddleport assassination I'd like to propose that after we slew the bodyguards we found the owner had retreated into a secure panic room. Janna used her Tesseract Tunnel to allow us to walk in to collect him, and leave again with his corpse seconds later.
OK I've tweaked things a little (actually a lot) I've gone to Master in Medicine and taken Ward Medic and Continual Recovery, that ought to allow fairly rapid healing for the whole group after an encounter without spending any resources.
Great.
For our Riddleport assassination I'd like to propose that after we slew the bodyguards we found the owner had retreated into a secure panic room. Janna used her Tesseract Tunnel to allow us to walk in to collect him, and leave again with his corpse seconds later.
I'm fine with that. Anyone else can through in ideas if they want too. GM just asked me to put together a little something. I don't think it is really going to be very important once the story starts.
I toyed with getting Suryo all of the tradition skills and it can work for him. The tradeoff is that he won't have medicine.
How are we on healing in general?
Okay, for the assassination complete, I'm going to take some ideas from the Second Darkness Adventure Path.
We were hired by a wealthy crime boss to take out a rival owner of a gambling den in Riddleport. We left dozens of dead bodyguards in our wake before ultimately beheading the target and leaving his severed head impaled on the center of a roulette wheel. The rest of his body was disposed of into the sea and fed to hungry jigsaw sharks.
For our Riddleport assassination I'd like to propose that after we slew the bodyguards we found the owner had retreated into a secure panic room. Janna used her Tesseract Tunnel to allow us to walk in to collect him, and leave again with his corpse seconds later.I'm fine with that. Anyone else can through in ideas if they want too. GM just asked me to put together a little something. I don't think it is really going to be very important once the story starts.
Thoughts: I would expect we are "leave no trace" kinds of assassins (or at least Suryo will endeavor to be, shadowy as he is).
So, "dozens of dead bodyguards" would be more for the purpose of "leaving no witnesses behind" rather than cutting a swath of destruction (as I think this over I'm updating his roleplaying notes around this).
Two 10th-level items, Winged sandals, Greater Invisibility Rune
Strike that, I guess explorer's clothing doesn't meet the requirement for invisibility rune which states "light armor"
Oh, I guess I should explicitly say that I’ve posted in Gameplay to get things underway. Whoops XD
So, "dozens of dead bodyguards" would be more for the purpose of "leaving no witnesses behind" rather than cutting a swath of destruction (as I think this over I'm updating his roleplaying notes around this).
Sure, we can clean that up so it was more subtle.
Wayangs are weird. But I can see how their abilities would be useful as an assassin. It looks like they have ties to Tian Xia where my character originates from, so there could be some commonality there.Yes, let me think on this some more and see what it could be.
Suryo spent less time in Tian Xia in passing, and used that time to learn about Achaekek before he sought out the island of the Red Mantis Assassins.
Perhaps along the way he spent time on the pirate ship she resided on, sharing what he'd learned of Achaekek, which perhaps provided a bit of the inspiration for her pivotal act. Being reunited on Mediogalti island as they start their formal training could be an interesting friendship hook.
Okay, his profile is almost completely filled out including Favored by the Blood Mistress (Impressive Student) and Otherworldly Mission which leaves his ultimately purpose a bit mysterious. Will work with the GM to figure that out.
Yujin was never really residing on a pirate ship. She was sold off to a pirate on Mediogalti Island and worked as a servant from the ages of 6 to 10. She worked on the island and not on a ship, mostly doing maid work, cooking, cleaning, etc.
Perhaps Suryo happened to be on the ship Yujin rode on from Lingshen to Mediogalti when she was 6 and befriended her. The boat ride probably took weeks to months to complete, so they'd have some time to get to know each other. Yujin was much kinder and innocent at the time before her life took a darker turn and Suryo may be one of the only people who knows that side of her. At that time, neither knew she would one day become a Red Mantis Assassin. But maybe she did learn a few skills from Suryo that she utilized to one day kill her master.
Then a few years later, the two could have met again after Yujin began Red Mantis Assassin training. As an assassin, Yujin transformed into a cold and ambitious killer, a far cry from the little girl on the boat.
Yujin avoids physical contact, friendship, and love, but she might let Suryo get a little closer than others.
Ah, I see. My imagination must've filled in "some time on boats" as I read the background.
I like this idea. Perhaps he became comfortable enough to share his strange dreams of a Mantis entity with her and they searched for the meaning together. He similarly didn't know what the Red Mantis Assassins rightly were before he'd done just enough research to understand "something" was going on, on this island.
GM
you can ask the voice you believe to be a deity for orders and get some kind of instruction—you never get any kind of explanation, simply a command to go somewhere or do something. Following those commands isn’t always safe, but it’s usually interesting.
What does "once per adventure" mean in the context of PfD? Probably once for our entire time together?
Once during the duration of Prey for Death.
Something we should compare notes on soon: Skills
Acrobatics +25, Arcana +19, Assassin Lore +21, Athletics +16, Deception +24, Intimidation +26, Nature +18, Occultism +23, Religion +18, Society +21, Stealth +27, Thievery +25
His specializations (increased proficiency) are: acrobatics, deception, intimidation, occultism, stealth, thievery. So, not an entire "face", but definitely a "social combatant" in addition to the usual rogue expertise.
Sure, my skills are:
Acrobatics +23, Athletics +22, Deception +21, Intimidation +27, Lore (Achaekek) +17, Lore (Assassin) +17, Lore (Labor) +17, Religion +17, Society +17, and Stealth +25
I'm Master proficiency in Acrobatics, Intimidation, and Stealth. And Expert in Athletics.
I'm strongest in the physical skills and Intimidation. The Int and Wis skills, not so much.
I'm not trained in Diplomacy but I still have a +19 with Untrained Improvisation and a high Cha modifier.
I threw all of our skills in a spreadsheet, feel free to update it if you spot any mistakes.
The lowest of our "best-skills" (i.e the highest modifier between us for a given skill) is +19 on Diplomacy (Yujin's Untrained), Nature (Janna's Trained), Performance (Yujin's Untrained) and Survival (Janna's Trained).
The highest of our "worst-skills" (i.e the lowest modifier between us for a given skill) is +20 on Stealth. I think it makes sense that a group of assassins would all be pretty good at Stealth.
Janna is the only one without Untrained Improvisation so she's truly dreadful (+0) at Intimidation and Performance.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What the PCs know about Glacier’s Rest:
FYI That spoiler is not working for me.
That's a great spreadsheet Janna.
I find it funny that my untrained diplomacy is the highest.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Thoughts on Glacier's Rest:
Crownhold Warehouse: As merchants come into town, they deposit goods bound for Crownhold here under the care of Kranold Buergon (male dwarf prospector 5). Kranold lost his fortune searching for adamantine in the Stormspear Mountains and now acts as warehouse custodian until he saves enough for another expedition into the unforgiving north. He makes deliveries to Crownhold once a week, after the merchant caravans have gone.
Frosty Stein: The friendliest innkeeper in town, Gundar Icebreaker (male human innkeeper 4) caters to the merchants who arrive about once a week. He earned his surname after a demonstration where he punched through a solid block of ice, a demonstration he still performs on request. Prices for meals and lodging here are standard, although no extravagant suites or fine dining options are available.
Gunilla’s Goods: Locals use this small market for their everyday goods, while merchants give Gunilla Crowfriend (female human witch 5) a huge boost in business to resupply their caravans or purchase tools to fix their wagons. Common magic items (other than weapons or armor) of level 5 or lower can be purchased here.
Ordulf earned the byname ‘Bladecaller’ for his intimidating nature: he had a noteworthy tendency to win conflicts through insults alone even before drawing a blade—his words, many say, cut as deep as any sword or axe.
Hatchet and Barrel: This was once a high-class hunting lodge and tavern called the Golden Barrel built by one Vid the Wise (male human hunter 5). Vid wanted to become a king and planned on hunting linnorms from this lodge, but he never so much as looked one in the eye. Now he is the proprietor of this run-down, shady inn. The rowdiest patrons give this tavern their custom, with brawls breaking out weekly as evidenced by a hatchet thrown clear through the barrel sign hanging outside. Only poor meals can be purchased here, and the only lodging is floor space or one of the many filthy beds along the walls of the common room.
Massive Arms: Tholl the Thrice-Burned (male human smith 5) runs the most successful smithy in town. He provides Crownhold with all of their basic weapons and armor, specializing in heavy armor and two-handed weapons. When he’s not forging another implement of war, he crafts iron sculptures from scrap metal. Common metal armor, metal shields, and weapons of up to level 5 can be purchased here.
Sensible Science: The local apothecary also doubles as an alchemist’s shop run by Einn Snowspeaker (female rimesoul undine alchemist 5). While the locals and visiting Ulfen alike are suspicious she might be a Jadwiga spy, they still go to her when they need healing supplies. Common alchemical elixirs and tools of level 5 or lower can be purchased here.
Ordulf wields a frost greatsword
That's a great spreadsheet Janna.
I find it funny that my untrained diplomacy is the highest.
Our concentration of Master on stealth makes sense. I'm pondering which others that Suryo has in common with others can be moved around. He's got Master in thievery and deception, which I'd say are more core to how he operates.
Thoughts on Glacier's Rest:
Agreed with these thoughts.
Hatchet and Barrel: This was once a high-class hunting lodge and tavern called the Golden Barrel built by one Vid the Wise (male human...
I would add that in addition to speaking with the owner this might still be a good place to soak up gossip (especially if Ordulf has an inner circle that could have weak points).
Apologies for my absence the last few days. Dragomir’s profile is up and I will finish his taglines in the morning and get a post up in gameplay.
I'm interested to hear Dragomir's backstory for how a Large Bear became an assassin.
"Maybe you have asked question backwards and this one am assassin who became large bear! No, I kid. Definitely was large bear first, then assassin. Was born first as I am, yes? And the other is what I was taught and learned for myself. Is very interesting story. I could tell you, of course, but then I must kill you. Which would be shame, because Boss will not pay for killing member in good standing." Dragomir leans forward to peer at you, pushing his glasses up on his snout, before giving you an exploratory sniff.
"You are in good standing with Boss, yes?"
It’s mostly left to individual assassins to determine. The Red Mantis is a business, and they’re don’t want their “satisfaction guaranteed” to be attributed to anyone else. Leaving the body with a sawtooth saber in the back, making the symbol of Achaekek in the victim’s blood on a nearby wall, and so forth. It’s pretty much up to you. It just needs to make it unequivocally certain of who did the killing.
The caravan is headed to Crownhold next.
Point of order: The caravan isn’t stopping here then moving to Crownhold in 2 days; they are here and several members of the caravan are making short trips to Crownhold to deliver things in chunks. In 2 days the caravan will be finished offloading to Crownhold and moving on to Turvik.
It’s mostly left to individual assassins to determine. The Red Mantis is a business, and they’re don’t want their “satisfaction guaranteed” to be attributed to anyone else. Leaving the body with a sawtooth saber in the back, making the symbol of Achaekek in the victim’s blood on a nearby wall, and so forth. It’s pretty much up to you. It just needs to make it unequivocally certain of who did the killing.
I think taking a tiny flag depicting Achaekek's holy symbol and jabbing it up the deceased's butth0le like we've achieved the next moon landing would suffice.
One quick note to Janna: Be sure to note which of your non-spell abilities have the psyche trait, since those can only be used while your Psyche is Unleashed (it's also annoying because it blends in since it's so similar to the psychic trait, which is an indication of what class you are).
Not saying you did anything wrong, just mentioning an easy-to-miss thing when playing as a psychic.
One quick note to Janna: Be sure to note which of your non-spell abilities have the psyche trait, since those can only be used while your Psyche is Unleashed (it's also annoying because it blends in since it's so similar to the psychic trait, which is an indication of what class you are).
Not saying you did anything wrong, just mentioning an easy-to-miss thing when playing as a psychic.
Done!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It took me a few days to remember it, but I understood that reference.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Harry, it's our calling card! All the great ones leave their mark. We're the wet bandits!"
A quick question, have we exhausted Discover Ordulf’s Secrets now? I'm not sure whether to interpret "There are two bits of secret information: one from a regular success and one from a critical success" to mean two pieces of information at all, or like two levels of information for each piece.
Two total. Discover Ordulf’s Secrets has been exhausted of information; there is no reason to continue taking that activity.
** spoiler omitted **
...If your Strength modifier is +5 or higher and you are a master in Intimidation, this bonus increases to +2.
Dragomir meets both qualifications for +2.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Alright, who added that line when I wasn't looking?!
Seriously, though, COMPLETELY missed that that was a thing in that feat XD
The dice have been good to Suryo so far. I wonder what the punishment will be later :P
When the polar bear patrol comes close to discovering her, Yujin curses herself for getting overconfident. She searches for a crevasse in the in the mountainside for privacy and strikes herself until tears streak her face and the ground turns red. ”I have to do better. I was not given this power to squander it on mistakes.” she tells herself.
I love this scene. It tells us a lot about Yujin in very few words.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
When the polar bear patrol comes close to discovering her, Yujin curses herself for getting overconfident. She searches for a crevasse in the in the mountainside for privacy and strikes herself until tears streak her face and the ground turns red. ”I have to do better. I was not given this power to squander it on mistakes.” she tells herself.
I love this scene. It tells us a lot about Yujin in very few words.
Agreed. In fact: Hero Point to Yujin!
I would like to establish a Standard Dungeoncrawl Procedure (SDP) for what each PC does as you move throughout Crownhold. Unfortunately, no one is legendary in Stealth, so it is not as simple as saying “Everyone is Avoiding Notice,” because y’all will likely need to, say, Treat Wounds, or search through a room, or whatever.
Sorry - I was working on a post for Dragomir to Discover Crownhold's Secrets but took too long. At least Dragomirbot was successful.
Agreed. In fact: Hero Point to Yujin!
Thank you.
Biggest questions to discuss:
1. When is the party wanting to spend a Leverage Point (to turn a failure or crit fail into a success) vs using a Hero Point vs just accepting the failure?
2. What is the party’s priority regarding its plan of attack? Go straight for Ordulf (not recommended until you get enough Infiltration Points)? Take out the various guards within Crownhold? Make a beeline for the vault or wherever you think Ordulf’s bedroom (and thus the altar at the center of the consecrate) is? Something else?
3. How do you wish to enter Crownhold? Through the front door? Climb to one of the higher floors?
4. Determine a Standard Dungeoncrawl Procedure (see Discussion)
1. I don't know what all the options are but probably to turn failed stealth attempts into successes.
2. Since we have a key to the vault, maybe go there and see what we discover along the way. Take out guards when we can. Save Ordulf until we have cleared most of the fortress.
3. Dragomir wanted to go to a higher level. That works for me too. I don't really know anything about the different levels to make an informed decision on which one to start with. I'd guess the vault is probably near the bottom, but I have no idea if that's true.
4. For SDP, I think we should stealth as much as possible. But if we have the opportunity to take out a patrol without alerting others, I think we should take it. Definitely search each room. I can't disable traps but I can heal as needed in downtime.
Spells and abilities the Yujin has that can help:
◆She can go invisible 3 times per day and greater invisible once per day.
◆With her mask of the mantis, she can get either darkvision or see the unseen which will last most of the day.
◆To get up to another level, she has helpful steps which can make a ladder or staircase up to 40 ft. tall. The ladder can be dismissed to not leave evidence.
◆She can use illusory disguise to impersonate a guard.
◆She can translocate to teleport up to 120 ft.
Biggest questions to discuss:
1. When is the party wanting to spend a Leverage Point (to turn a failure or crit fail into a success) vs using a Hero Point vs just accepting the failure?
2. What is the party’s priority regarding its plan of attack? Go straight for Ordulf (not recommended until you get enough Infiltration Points)? Take out the various guards within Crownhold? Make a beeline for the vault or wherever you think Ordulf’s bedroom (and thus the altar at the center of the consecrate) is? Something else?
3. How do you wish to enter Crownhold? Through the front door? Climb to one of the higher floors?
4. Determine a Standard Dungeoncrawl Procedure (see Discussion)
1. I believe all of Suryo's rolls were successes or better. Others can or should certainly use the points.
2. Sneak to the vault. Suryo would suggest we actually minimize taking out guards when possible.3. Definitely higher level. Suryo has Winged Sandals that grant flight shortly.
4. Stealth and invisibility (Suryo has a 2nd-rank one prepared, and gets a 4th-rank usage from greater cloak of illusions). He can also help with traps.
He has darkvision and can activate greater darkvision for 1 hour. He is always automatically taking precautions against special senses (foil senses). 1/day he can see through illusions within 60ft with the clarity goggles. That may come in useful near or in the vault.
I will tell you that that is a failure. I will allow you to use a Hero Point to reroll that, if you wish. If you decide to, I’ll retcon something in in a future post.
I'm not going to be able to post properly until tomorrow, but yes please to the Hero Assassin Point!
I'd like to propose on finding the bedroom first. Having built a psychic based around teleportation, not being able to do it (easily) sucks. -1 to everything sucks too. That said I don't know how to break such an effect, Dispel Magic?