Rebellion in the Silver City - Hell's Rebels for PF2 by DM Doctor Evil

Game Master DM DoctorEvil

Where was the con? I spent the weekend in a con in Butler, PA.

Albuquerque NM. Mostly board gamers but a few TTRPG players. Played some locally developed systems also.

Cool.

"Well now, one dandy, one champion, and one lady area already making you sweat."

I will not make a joke about "lady area," but I want you to know that I could.

Bellara Valcaro wrote:

"Well now, one dandy, one champion, and one lady area already making you sweat."

I will not make a joke about "lady area," but I want you to know that I could.

Your restraint is admirable

Bellara Valcaro wrote:

"Well now, one dandy, one champion, and one lady area already making you sweat."

I will not make a joke about "lady area," but I want you to know that I could.

Sigh. I deserve it.

I have out of state guests arriving soon, I hope to squeeze in some posts, but I will be delayed a bit. Back to full post rate Friday.

"My name is Rexus Victocora, and until last week's Night of Ashes, I was one of this city's nobles. My parents' estate burned to the ground that night -- I escaped simply because I was studying at the Alabaster Academy during the fire. There were other fires that night, as you know -- fires that many believe were started by Barzillai Thrune or his agents in an attempt to squelch any spirit of rebellion Kintargo might have."

DM, would anything similar have happened to Aulamaxa Estate? And if so, would Myron know about it?

I can see him not knowing about it if he's been out trying to find out when he's getting back into the Opera House, but if it's common knowledge that something happened to his family's estate, I assume he'd know about it.

Most of the noble houses of Kintargo are either loyal to the Thrune crown or pretend to be in public. Unfortunately, the Victocora's are just a little too outspoken and were made a very public example of, as were other business or organizations who have been sassy in the past.

House Aulamaxa is more discrete in their opinions (to date) and have not suffered the same lesson (to date).

FYI, someone else was just pretty publicly outspoken, so there may be further consequences.

We started with a hero point, right? So that puts us at 2?

FYI, someone else was just pretty publicly outspoken, so there may be further consequences.

They're coming for you Impasha, watch out!!!

DM DoctorEvil wrote:

FYI, someone else was just pretty publicly outspoken, so there may be further consequences.

They're coming for you Impasha, watch out!!!

Omg, Impasha wishes they cared what she thought.

Rexus smiles wanly. "I am ready to depart for the livery, if you are. If you need a moment to recover from the riot, I understand."

Elarion, how are you doing on spells? I couldn't tell from a quick glance at your character sheet.

Myron has used all three of his spell slots, but I can have him take ten minutes to Refocus to gain his Focus Spell back, which took down one of the thugs in one round. He still has his cantrips, of course.

In fact, GM, would you be all right with saying that Myron was able to Refocus during the coffee break? He has the Fortune Dragon bloodline, and he acquired wealth (he also spent some of it) during this rest.

I'm assuming that he doesn't have to spend or earn money during his Refocus action, but the example on the SRD (or whatever the 2E equivalent is called) seems to imply that he can double up that action if it's thematic.

You can all Refocus during the coffee break. And no, you can refocus where ever you can spend a few minutes resting, meditating, and the like. Can be in a dungeon even, if the area is reasonably secure.

Thanks for your patience this week. My houseguests have moved on, so I am back to regular posting cadence at least for a while.

As I am catching up on the Loot Tracker (I will attach it at top margin), I realize I shorted you some items after the scuffle in the alley. Those rioters had with them 2 potions, a set of silken gloves with tiny silver hooks sewn on, and a small chained pendant clipped to a club. The pendant appears to be a long sharp talon of some rather large bird perhaps, set in an iron clasp.

Additionally, you got the bracers from Rexus which are magical in nature.

You can work on using Identify Magic on these items during your downtime if you wish. Feel free to make some rolls on these items if you wish. Let's also assume that all wounds are healed, all focus points restored, and all conditions cleared before you attempt the Livery. (not that there's anything to worry about there...).

Also, Rexus gave you some money, and a signet ring and a silver dagger. You also got a handful of coins from the alleyway rioters. I don't believe you have any other acquired loot so far, but please correct me if I am wrong.

The Loot Tracker has 3 tabs. First tab is gathered items that have not been assigned to a player character. These are often unidentified or just not sorted out yet. Items on this tab cannot be used during combat rounds -- they must be assigned on Tab 3 to be used in a fight/rounds.

Tab 2 is accumulated wealth. The starting money line is what I show for your post-build coins before any treasure gained. LMK if those totals are not right.

Tab 3 is distributed wealth. Again, things must be here if used in combat rounds. I put approximate values so you can easily determine who has taken/earned what value as things get parceled out later.

Most of you have played my games before and have seen something similar. But LMK if questions about this file.

Oh, and Loot Tracker will be view only for PCs. If you see things that need correcting/updating, just LMK

So I have questions about the second tab (cash tracker).

I have 15 for the initial funds, less 12.1 spent so I would think her starting money would be 2.9. You have it listed as 5.8. Why?

Then during the course of play she added .2 from pick-pocketing from protest, .4 from loot from battle (double share as Impasha gave hers up), and 4 from Rexus. That should total 7.5.

I did not count the dagger she stole, but just added that to her inventory. So where did the 5.8 starting money come from and why does she have 10 gp?

I have a spreadsheet here that does the math for me along with reference links.

100% why I asked the question. My tracking is likely off. I will get it updated.

I notice Rexus isn't in the initiative count. Is our NPC a noncombatant?

I notice Rexus isn't in the initiative count. Is our NPC a noncombatant?

He is unlikely to do much in combat, though I will post his actions at the end of each round.

Sorry, should have asked my question here instead of gameplay.

DM DoctorEvil wrote:

Elarion takes 4hp and is at 10/14. Celas is at 3/16! Myron and Bellara are up now.

Impasha wrote:

Reduce damage to Elarion by 3.

Yes, it looks like Elarion has 13 HP remaining.

So that makes Celas the weakest link :) Looks like Buttercup got out of the room just in time to abandon him to the 'wolves'.

Paizo.com will go dark at 8 a.m. Pacific on Monday, November 3rd. You won’t be able to access any Paizo services, including Paizo Connect, organized play reporting, forums, downloads, order history, etc., while we work to bring an all-new experience online.

Is there any indication of how long the outage will be? I know that things don't always go to plan, but some idea would be useful to know. And will some special action/s be required on the users' part to reenter the system? Unlikely but best to ask.

Buttercup Bainilus wrote:

Well, then, someone get that door out of the way!

Was this meant to be said out loud?

No, just me trying to be funny. Like blaming a bad throw in a bowling ally on the wind. Should have added the OOC tags.

Okay, just making sure. Because while I agree that it would be great if that door was open, it's not great right now for anyone to open the door.

Mechanically, I'm not sure it matters. Looks like it should block some shots, so when I rolled so poorly I just blamed it on the door :)

Hey with rolls like that, if they were wearing magnetic collars and Buttercup shot iron bolts, they still would have missed.

In the game, the western door is sliding barn door that Impasha broke the chain on, and you slid it all the way open. I can't change that on the map, but its not a barrier to any movement or attacks at present.

Is a blast agile? Not sure if I should be taking a -4 or -5.

As far a I can tell it seems only with the following feat and only if a melee attack is used.

Weapon Infusion Feat

Thanks. Not to worried about getting it right this last time considering the roll.

Paizo.com will go dark at 8 a.m. Pacific on Monday, November 3rd. You won’t be able to access any Paizo services, including Paizo Connect, organized play reporting, forums, downloads, order history, etc., while we work to bring an all-new experience online.

Did this happen? I didn’t notice an outage and the online experience seems unchanged…

On Halloween I received this email from Paizo, or at least that's what it supposed to have come from.

The new Paizo Store launches the week of November 3rd! Paizo.com will be inaccessible on Monday as we move everything over to the new store. We expect this downtime to last 2-3 days; follow us on social media for the latest updates.

Explore the blogs below to learn about the new subscription manager, enhanced product detail pages, filtering and search options, new payment methods, streamlined checkout, Paizo Plus rewards, and more!.

I don't know what happened. I'm going to check the Paizo forums now.

Should have done that first the date's been changed to Nov 10th.

Look for the Store post here.

Title is New Paizo Store Launches the Week of Nov. 3rd but the text says the 10th.

Sounds like they had a snag and postponed

Yea, there were some posts in the lodge forums about this. It was postponed. I half expected that would happen.

I hope its not indicative of the trouble they will have standing the site back up.

Spell attack vs. blue: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Col damage: 2d4 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6

The target needs to make a DC 17 Fortitude save. On a critical failure, the target also gains weakness 1 to bludgeoning until the start of its next turn.

No spell attack needed, just a save. Just curious; are there any spells that require both?

I don't know of any off hand, though there might be some that hit on a spell attack and then require a save vs some secondary effect. Usually one or the other however.

Myron Waldern Aulamaxa wrote:

Spell attack vs. blue: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Col damage: 2d4 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6

The target needs to make a DC 17 Fortitude save. On a critical failure, the target also gains weakness 1 to bludgeoning until the start of its next turn.

No spell attack needed, just a save. Just curious; are there any spells that require both?

Yeah, you're right. I forgot about that.

I'm on travel in Philadelphia for PAX Unplugged through the weeekend. If I'm holding things up, please GMPC me!

So it's not completely clear but I think the iron gate slammed and locked, not the concealed door to the smaller room, and I think 4 of us (Impasha, Bellara, Celas and Myron) are through the iron gate, while Elarion and Buttercup are stuck outside. I think they can just use the key again and unlock it.

Agreed, and Buttercup can just slip through the bars if needed. My first thought was that it was a form of trap (haunt powered) that would injure you if you were caught in the gated area when it slammed shut. But it may just trap folks inside for some reason. I'm sure we will find out the hard way :)

Bellara and Impasha are inside the slaughter area, looking at the abandoned storeroom beyond, when the metal door slammed shut. Everyone else is outside the door.

It's probably more of a nuisance really, as it can just be unlocked with the key again (maybe).

Myron Waldern Aulamaxa wrote:

Mechanically, it's rare for the spell do persistent damage. I take that to mean that the acid is conjured and then disappears a few seconds afterward. A spell that hangs around doing damage for longer than my turn would surely be higher than a cantrip!

You make a good point, but you also say the spell takes seconds to disappear. My first thought as to what Celas would do is go down the stairs pass through Impasha and tumble through a rat to flank. But that would mean passing through the area of the acid. Remember we are not each taking a few seconds in a round one after the other it's simultaneous. On the other hand, DMs often adjudicate such things as sequential in practice. I just tried to play it as the character would perceive it, but it could go either way.

The spell description doesn't say exactly how long the spell effect lasts. My comment above is based on the fact that a round lasts six seconds. Someone could argue that the spell dissipates as fast as a fireball might, although I could see a "realistic" argument for it lasting a bit longer.

Pathfinder has a history of deliberately making mechanics uniform. I'm not even remotely an authority on 2E game design, but I'd be surprised if the devs intended for a cantrip to have an affect beyond what is explicitly stated in the spell description. GM's call, of course. I just don't want the spell to be less useful because I can't rely on the battle map to know who my targets are.

It seems like the reflex save implies that the acid would only affect anyone in the area of effect at the moment the spell goes off. Either your skin gets an acid splatter in that moment or it drops to the floor/dissipates. The persistent damage wouldn’t imply a lingering cloud, because a reflex save would be irrelevant if that were the case. My take anyway.

Btw, anyone heard from Bellara since PAX? Wondering if we need to bail her out of a Philadelphia jail for drunk & disorderly conduct with Gritty?

Persistent Damage in 2E is not based on a spell duration; it lasts on a target until they can make a flat check to recover from it. Might be one round or several depending on their luck. Think of this mechanically as the time taken to "wipe it off" in this case. Might not matter depending on saves anyway.

In this case, the spell does NOT coat an area that will cause damage if Celas passes through it. It does have an area of effect but the persistent damage comes from coating targets not the area. No effect for new creatures that pass through the affected area.

Hope this clears things up.

okay I'll keep it in mind for the future. Thank you.

Btw, anyone heard from Bellara since PAX? Wondering if we need to bail her out of a Philadelphia jail for drunk & disorderly conduct with Gritty?

No clue.

"You think the soup kitchen would be interested in the meat if'n we brought it all back? I mean, these are pretty big rats and then there are the dogs upstairs. And the eatin' folks ain't picky."

Upton Sinclair has thoughts!

Had a long work day and a quick turn around for a 7AM tomorrow morning, so will not be updating tonight. Catch you all tomorrow.