[Gameday XIV] GM Chadius 4-06: Signal from the Electric Laboratory

Game Master chadius

Assuming we had time to Refocus between scenes, GM.

If not, skip Hunter's Luck.

You had time to refocus. The enemies stay in that room until you approach.

The Roiling Incant is immune to "evocation", and it has abilities that trigger off of "non-cantrip evocation spell" effects.

We're in the wonderful world of Pathfinder 2 remastered, so I gotta play fast and loose with the concept of Evocation.

Most spells have a Legacy version cross-linked in Nethys to their Remastered versions (those that do and don't share names!) - that probably solves 90% of your problems right there.

So I'm going to assume "Don't use magic attacks or fire on the incant or acid on the oozes" is the shorthand well get for that ...

+1

I will be away Tuesday and Wednesday.

Crosspost!

I am out of time, but:

GM Tiger wrote:

Just a heads up for my tables. I lost home internet service last night. So there will be a delay in updates.

Tiger's Internet issues continue. Please bot him if he's playing in your game, and be patient if he is GMing for you.

Thanks.
Hmm

This is Isaku!

Yes. If anyone wants to bot him, go ahead. Otherwise I'll have him hang back and try to shoot the magic ball.

I'm back. let me catch up.

Has anyone heard from BakBat? He mentioned he would be out on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I'll continue botting him for this combat (especially since Freezing Rain dominated this battle) but then I'll keep him out until his player returns.

he posted in his 01-06 game.

For those used to GMs handwaiving time spent on short rests, you basically get 3 "rounds" of ten minutes each with which to Refocus, Treat Wounds, and Repair items damaged by acid. Or other 10-minute activities (ex. Spell Substitution Wizard, etc).

So, anyone who hasn't used their "rounds" should do so now!

Then we can decide if we want to risk taking another "round" or multiple "rounds" or just stick to a 30-minute short rest.

With the amount of healing in this party, there's really no reason it should take 30 minutes to heal everyone up. I feel like the person at the top floor probably knows we're here at this point, so it feels like we should be on at least a bit of a clock.

Does the acid damage bypass hardness? Hero Lab indicates my scale mail has 9 hardness. If it does get through, though, it's got 36 HP, so nowhere near the broken threshold. That having been said, though, there is also plenty of time during that break to repair it.

With the amount of healing in this party, there's really no reason it should take 30 minutes to heal everyone up.

With respect, your take is objectively false.

Healing is not just "you are higher than level 6 so it takes zero time". All the activities I mentioned above have written mechanics that take place in 10-minute increments. And GM is asking us to account for them, which is not an unreasonable request. In which case, a reasonable response to GM's request would be to substantiate your claim with those mechanics. Perhaps you are referring to the Alchemist's 10-minute refill of Versatile Vials? If so, it would follow that announcing your character's actions using those mechanics would not only meet GM's request, but lend credence to your hot take.

Or perhaps you have run this scenario and have out-of-game knowledge which supports your opinion. And if that is the case, what you are implying ("healing should be hand-waived") is essentially backseat GMing.

Or. If you are unsure how your character's mechanics work exactly - for example, broken down into 10-minute short rest chunks - it's okay to ask here for clarification, as I'm sure folks here can help you troubleshoot.

=)

With respect, I don't know how a claim that we could have done this in less than 30 minutes is "objectively false" just because we didn't do it in less than 30 minutes.

In terms of mechanics, I have Ward Medic and would have been able to critically Treat Wounds (DC 20) in 10 minutes on 4 people, even before the healing from versatile vials. However, by the time I got around to posting, multiple people had already done multiple rounds of Treat Wounds ... and I believe I also saw other people who had the means to turn successes into critical successes ... so I didn't bother offering or describing the use of those mechanics. So, again, I think that the claim all the healing could have been done in 10 minutes is, in fact, probably objectively true. And then the second 10 minutes could be spent on Refocusing and repairing.

I don't think I need any "out of game knowledge" to support this opinion ... nor to support the opinion that the bad guy upstairs probably heard us throwing bombs around. In character, stopping for even that first 10 minutes to do Treat Wounds at all really doesn't make any sense (except, you know, for the not wanting to die part).

Versatile Vials
You know how to prepare fast-acting chemicals into versatile vials, special items that can be used as bombs and be turned into other alchemical items by introducing special reagents. During your daily preparations, you can create a number of versatile vials up to 2 + your Intelligence modifier, which is also your maximum number of vials. If you're below your maximum number, you can gather reagents from the environment around you. For every 10 minutes you spend in exploration mode, you regain 2 vials; this doesn't prevent you from participating in other exploration activities.

Versatile vials are infused items, and are destroyed if not used by the next time you make your daily preparations. A vial you create is always the highest type you could Craft. See the sidebar for statistics on using a versatile vial as a bomb. You can also use vials for Quick Alchemy (see below) and your research field can add to the ways you can use a vial.

You can store all your versatile vials within your alchemist's toolkit, with no increase to its Bulk. Though versatile vials are physical objects, they can't be duplicated or preserved in any way.

First, I am sorry that my glib comment about being able to heal up faster has triggered a trip down such a rabbit hole. I was definitely mistaken in that I saw multiple healing crits and assumed that everyone was healed up to full earlier than they were. I didn't actually do the math at that point.

Since you went to the trouble of copying the versatile vial text, though, it is worth noting that is about the versatile vials created during daily prep, and those weren't the versatile vials I was talking about. Quick Alchemy allows you to create new shorter-lived versatile vials with an action, and my research field lets me use those for healing.

So, I stand corrected ... the vials created this way only last until the end of my current turn so other people can't grab and drink them ... I would have to Quick Alchemy and Interact to apply it ... so the fastest I can heal in this manner is 2d6 every 6 seconds (with an action left over every 6 seconds). Still, I think, faster than Treat Wounds (which, frankly, means I need to reconsider retraining some of my Treat Wounds-based feats that I didn't know to change during my Remaster rebuild).

Does the acid damage bypass hardness? Hero Lab indicates my scale mail has 9 hardness. If it does get through, though, it's got 36 HP, so nowhere near the broken threshold. That having been said, though, there is also plenty of time during that break to repair it.

Your armor does have hardness. Cloth is 1, Leather is 4, Metal is 9. Definitely take this into account when calculating damage.

Looks like the Chirurgeon got a big buff in the remaster, they can make healing versatile vials. Assuming you're alright with drinking Doc Bloodshank's vials, he should be able to heal you all quickly.

So, I stand corrected ... the vials created this way only last until the end of my current turn so other people can't grab and drink them ... I would have to Quick Alchemy and Interact to apply it ... so the fastest I can heal in this manner is 2d6 every 6 seconds (with an action left over every 6 seconds). Still, I think, faster than Treat Wounds (which, frankly, means I need to reconsider retraining some of my Treat Wounds-based feats that I didn't know to change during my Remaster rebuild).

Coagulant

Coagulant

Healing alchemical items with the coagulant trait lose effectiveness when many are applied in a short period of time. If a creature heals Hit Points from an item with the coagulant trait, that creature is temporarily immune to healing Hit Points from subsequent items with the coagulant trait for 10 minutes (but not immune to any other effects of those items).

Thanks for that. I also investigated a bit more after my last post, because the versatile vial healing definitely seemed broken, and figured out the restriction based on the coagulant trait. Definitely a reasonable restriction, and gives a reason to make Elixir of Life (which do not seem to have the coagulant trait) during my daily preparations.

Oh Pathfinder 2e and its technical manual approach.

For now, I'll say everyone is healed to full when you got to the second floor. But the coagulant trait will become important later...

@GM: Can you please tell us what the red circle symbols on the map stand for? Thanks!

There are 2 types of harpies on the map. The leader and his 3 minions. The minions are the various red circles.

Thanks!

I will be unavailable Tuesday and Wednesday.

Reduced presence here, but still having fun, while other PCs get to shine a little.

Jakoby is hyper-focused on a few skills which haven't been called (outdoorsy type in electric castle) and mediocre in the rest, which you all have covered. Not much of a talker anyhow.

Happy to "plan B" as a frontliner when needed, archer and tracker when possible, and trying to be mindful of party's many area-of-effect spells too.

=)

Happy to take the Ablative Plating and the Oil of Revulsion if nobody else will use it!

and I'm finally back in my own timezone... BKK is 1 hour behind Manila... so I rolled my clock back 1 hour then rolled it forward after 3 days...

Just so that I don't forget and do it out of habit. Isaku will retrain a feat and get 1 day of downtime.

Crafting(M), 1 day, DC 23: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (5) + 19 = 24

2.5 gp

Of course, this is assuming Isaku comes out the other side in one piece!! :)

Investigators with the Alchemist Dedication don't get Versatile vials back via exploration do they?

Investigators with the Alchemist Dedication don't get Versatile vials back via exploration do they?

No, they don't. I was just looking at those alchemical archetype sections yesterday to confirm how they worked for my Investigator and Gunslinger.

That's what I thought... though certain feats let you get more every 8 hours...

I do wish there was an archetype feat option to regain VVs. Even if it was at 1/10 minutes or 2/hour.

btw, in my botting spoiler I had to revert my dueling pistol back to +1 Striking Frost. For whatever reason, HeroLab allowed me to upgrade it to +2 at Lvl 9...

Aslynn's child!?

Jakoby has already fought Aslynn - I'll pretend this scenario went "first" and that one went "second" chronologically...

=)

Ah yes, consider this a prequel to that scenario.

I will be unavailable again Tuesday and Wednesday.

GM, which slide are we on?

Also, was Jakoby able to roll Survival for Initiaitive?

=)

You're on >Slide 7<, you can click on the "Possessed Clockwork" link to go there.

And of course I forgot to roll Survival for Jakoby's initiative. So the robot hasn't moved yet. Jakoby has not been hit yet and may act.

Oh really!?
Cool.
Posting!

Team - did we find any adamantine weapons along the way and I missed it?

Not that I recall.

@Jakoby: Don't forget you have Guidance!

Woops.

Duration 1 round, I'll use it on my next Saving Throw!

Thanks for the tip, Argoni, I think i assessed against DC 40.

Can heal myself, but I see strong healers in the mix, so will wait.

Performance: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22
vs DC 23: Success for 16 gp

Don't mind me, just rolling downtime for the GM.

I have emailed your chronicles. They are also available for download >HERE< . Please check them for any errors.

Only Isaku announced downtime rolls, so I added that. You can roll yourself and update the chronicles accordingly, or roll them now and ask me to email a new copy.

The follow up scenario is 4-11: Prisoners of the Electric Castle. Please tell me if you would like to play that game. Please tell me if you don't want to play that game so I can invite someone else.

Thanks for running.

My Chronicle doesn't have the checkboxes marked, but otherwise looks good.

Rolling my Earn Income here for transparency:

Shadowplane Lore, DC 22, T: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27
Success for 12 gp

Argoni is going to attempt to craft moderate bottled lightning.

He'll attempt to craft a batch of 4 moderate bottled lightning (level 3 item; batch of 4=40gp; DC18)

He has the formula, so 1 day of prep and 20gp in materials.

Craft @ task level 3 (DC18): 1d20 + 16 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 16 + 1 = 20

Just a normal success, but at level 8 that equates to 3gp per day. With 7 remaining days, he finishes the batch off. So he spent 20gp and created 4 moderate bottled lightnings.

And Argoni would join a game of 4-11!