[Gameday XIV] GM 7thGate's The Hao Jin Cataclysm (Subtier 10-11)

Game Master 7thGate

Welcome to the 9-11 Tier of the Hao Jin Cataclysm for Gameday XIV! If you have signed up for this game in the Gameday XIV Event Listing spreadsheet please feel free to post character introductions/pregame roleplay in Gameplay, and fill out your info at RPG Chronicle Link and add your token/information to Slides

Once you’re here, let me know a bit about your character; what are they like, what are their usual roles in a party, and do they have any uncommon rules interactions or unusual abilities I should brush up on?

In high tier play, there then to be a lot of buffs of varying durations active. I have set up a buff tracker here, which I will use to track active buffs and their remaining durations: Buffs

Hey - here's some of how I play 29 Steps.

Thematically, I tried to build this PC as the classic infiltrator - tinker, tailor, soldier, spy (to steal a line from John le Carre)

RP-wise, he's a quiet gnome (a voluntary mute) who lurks in the background, but he has a decent array of social skills (as befits someone with high charisma). He understands a wide variety of languages (25), providing him a decent chance of understanding conversations that he overhears.

He's a 2-weapon fighter when it comes to combat. He carries an assortment of weapons for use as needed:
* Twin fighting fans - The dragon-themed one is +1 Deceptive. The Phoenix-themed one is +1 Menacing.
* His fists & feet count as magical weapons (& he can generate electrical boosts to those attacks via his Ki pool).
* He wears a kusarigama as a belt & uses that when a reach weapon is needed - the bladed end is mithral, the blunt end is cold-iron.
* He uses a short bow for long-range engagement.

But so much of his damage potential relies on being able to make his opponent Flat-Footed. He accomplishes this in a couple of different ways.
* Ambush attacks - he loves to sneak around & tries to keep to the shadows when traveling with the group.
* He can flank in the normal way (though the Menacing enchantment on his Phoenix fan grants him a +4 to attack vs the usual +2).
* He can flank from any adjacent position using the Gang Up feat.
* He can use Bluff to Feint his foe. He possesses both the Improved Feint & the Feinting Flurry feats. The basic warfan grants a +2 bonus to his Feints & his Dragon fan's Deceptive enchantment bumps that to +3. He also has special skill training (Rogue Edge as an unchained rogue) with the Perform skill - with a DC20 Perform check, he adds a +2 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, or Intimidate checks.

Those are the basics about 29 Steps.

Hey - here's some of how I play 29 Steps.

Thematically, I tried to build this PC as the classic infiltrator - tinker, tailor, soldier, spy (to steal a line from John le Carre)

RP-wise, he's a quiet gnome (a voluntary mute) who lurks in the background, but he has a decent array of social skills (as befits someone with high charisma). He understands a wide variety of languages (25), providing him a decent chance of understanding conversations that he overhears.

He's a 2-weapon fighter when it comes to combat. He carries an assortment of weapons for use as needed:
* Twin fighting fans - The dragon-themed one is +1 Deceptive. The Phoenix-themed one is +1 Menacing.
* His fists & feet count as magical weapons (& he can generate electrical boosts to those attacks via his Ki pool).
* He wears a kusarigama as a belt & uses that when a reach weapon is needed - the bladed end is mithral, the blunt end is cold-iron.
* He uses a short bow for long-range engagement.

But so much of his damage potential relies on being able to make his opponent Flat-Footed. He accomplishes this in a couple of different ways.
* Ambush attacks - he loves to sneak around & tries to keep to the shadows when traveling with the group.
* He can flank in the normal way (though the Menacing enchantment on his Phoenix fan grants him a +4 to attack vs the usual +2).
* He can flank from any adjacent position using the Gang Up feat.
* He can use Bluff to Feint his foe. He possesses both the Improved Feint & the Feinting Flurry feats. The basic warfan grants a +2 bonus to his Feints & his Dragon fan's Deceptive enchantment bumps that to +3. He also has special skill training (Rogue Edge as an unchained rogue) with the Perform skill - with a DC20 Perform check, he adds a +2 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, or Intimidate checks.

Those are the basics about 29 Steps.

Very interesting Does the name hace something to do with the RAzmir 31 stepsfor Divinty ?

ADditionally i'll be playing Saya of Eledir, she is an urban Skald and her thing is to give aid,.. have plety of potential for that,

She usually gives Armor class bonus :
Currently she can give :

For the time being yes +11 to aid on AC , and +8 to attacks

With a negative shake of his head, he taps the card, indicating that Saya should flip it over. On the reverse, in tiny script, is the following:

About 29 Steps
1st Step: Inhale
2nd Step: Listen to the world around you.
3rd Step: Exhale
4th Step: Know that all things have their place.
5th Step: Center
6th Step: Know that all things come to an end.
7th Step: Focus
8th Step: No obstacle is insurmountable.
9th Step: Leap!
10th Step: See the world from a higher place.
11th Step: Flip.
12th Step: See the world from a new perspective.
13th Step: Land.
14th Step: Know that all places, while different, are similar.
15th Step: Inhale
16th Step: A closed fist can open a portal.
17th Step: Strike
18th Step: An open hand can close a deal.
19th Step: Pivot
20th Step: What was an obstacle becomes a portal.
21st Step: Exhale
22nd Step: Feel the breath whisper across your skin.
23rd Step: Focus
24th Step: Hear the wind whisper through the trees.
25th Step: Inhale
26th Step: Smell the scent of the world around you.
27th Step: Exhale - one final time.
28th Step: Know that death is just a transition
29th Step: Stop
Death comes for us all.

Updating the sheet for the character once we get closer to the eve of the start of the gameday, but what the character usually does :

He's a Spell Warrior so he's not making other character rage per se but buffs the weapons instead. That said, those accepting the raging song will still be prevented from taking any mental actions (contrary to Saya's Urban) so it's down to what they will prefer at X, Y or Z moment.

He also still has the Rage powers, that's what he selected :
- Beast Totem, Lesser (2 claws)
- Beast Totem, Regular (+3 natural AC, stacks with other sources)
- Beast Totem, Greater (Pounce)

Enhanced counterspell ability :

Greater Counterspell (Su):

At 11th level, when counterspelling an opponent’s spell, the spell warrior only has to expend one skald spell slot of the level of the spell being cast.

Song of Arcane Manipulation (Su): At 10th level, a spell warrior can sacrifice his own rage magic to counter an opponent’s spell. When using raging song, he can counterspell as an immediate action without interrupting his raging song. However, in addition to expending a spell slot (or spell slots) to attempt to counter the opponent’s spell, the skald must expend 1 round of raging song per spell level of the opponent’s spell (for example, if attempting to counterspell a 3rd-level spell, the skald must expend one of his own 3rd-level spell slots and 3 rounds of raging song). This ability replaces the dirge of doom raging song

More details incoming

Just checking in with Victoria so I have the link in my campaigns

Hi all!

I will be playing with Lunnette Moonshine, a druid (feyspeaker)/oracle (life mistery)/sorcerer(Sylvan bloodline), devout believer of Calistria, she comes with her animal companion a gigantic wasp with a luchador mask (don´t ask, although it is very funy)

She is a decent healer, but that doesn´t mean you can go gung-ho on everything, I can get you of a tight spot, but can´t hold it for long.

She is a no-non sense woman, who takes no crap from anybody and its not afraid of speaking her mind, she is really good on the social arena and knows her way around diplomacy and manipulation.

Mechanically speaking, for the most part on combat, she will remain on the backline buffing EL YAMA (her wasp).

She is Saya's bestie (and so she is to her) and "friends" with Eshkar (please note the quotes) , she values Saya´s friendship greatly and won´t allow anybody to hurt her, she also tends to criticize Saya's relationship with Eshkar for "reasons"

I believe we played with you 7th gate, the Cosmic captive scenario on last year´s Gameday

Yeah, same trio since last year at Cosmic captive it seems!

I’m playing Eshkar Stonefair, a Paladin from Osirion that follows Wadjet, the Green Empress. He's training to become a Living Monolith as an eternal guardian against Apep’s forces.

He has the Holy Guide archetype, giving him Favored Terrain "Underground" (and recently a new teamwork feat to give to his allies in 30fts, at the cost of a smite)

In combat, he fights on the frontline, using his Ka Stone to grow in size if necesary and make full-round attacks as normal.

I'm still updating his sheet as well, so I might add more info here afterwards if there's anything else to take notice of from the character

Victoria prefers to stay away from direct melee and supports a mix of blast/summons and battlefield control.

On the RPG Chronicles I had the right number 9884 but should be #7 (not #10) - I could not find a way to edit it.

Edited the profile for the character so you can see what he can do out and in combat

My char is also quite a bit into support, though more leaning on the aggressive side of it given he also moonlights as an archer.

@Lunette : I'm not a dedicated healer either, but I'd think as long the party doesn't take an overwhelming amount of damage in a single round, probably will be just fine

EDIT : Forgot to add that my Raging Song also adds DR1/-, not a lot but I'm counting everything that can help

I think I fixed the -10 to -7 for Victoria.

Good to see you again, Saya/Lunnette/Eskar! I had a good time running the Cosmic Captive with you, and look forward to playing together again.

Looking over everyone's characters, I think I follow most of what everyone is doing. One thing I am not sure about is the stacking between Dekantas' Enhance Weapons and Saya's controlled rage. Googling around, there's this: https://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1gw#v5748eaic9t91 . But Enhance weapons isn't an inspired rage, except for the "The wielder of a weapon enhanced by this raging song counts as if he were under the effect of an inspired rage raging song for all purposes involving the skald's rage powers." line.

I'm currently leaning towards allowing stacking except for rage powers (which doesn't change a lot, since you both have the beast totem line IIRC), but does anyone know how this is definitely supposed to work?

I think I fixed the -10 to -7 for Victoria.

Good to see you again, Saya/Lunnette/Eskar! I had a good time running the Cosmic Captive with you, and look forward to playing together again.

Looking over everyone's characters, I think I follow most of what everyone is doing. One thing I am not sure about is the stacking between Dekantas' Enhance Weapons and Saya's controlled rage. Googling around, there's this: https://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1gw#v5748eaic9t91 . But Enhance weapons isn't an inspired rage, except for the "The wielder of a weapon enhanced by this raging song counts as if he were under the effect of an inspired rage raging song for all purposes involving the skald's rage powers." line.

I'm currently leaning towards allowing stacking except for rage powers (which doesn't change a lot, since you both have the beast totem line IIRC), but does anyone know how this is definitely supposed to work?

Hello , yes we are back, Thanks for the warm welcome

Its my understandong for example on the case of the Bloodrager, that at the start of their turn , a character can choose which song effects to take, But yes the should not stack with each other should be one set or another.

In this case for Saya what i usually do is give Dex and Nat armor bonus ( That stacks with necklace of natural armor ) 2x Claws and Pounce . Also discording song for some sonic damage as well .

I guess the players can take whichever song is needed. SadlyThe controled rage song still prevents casting, but allows the use of charimsa and intelgence checks.

Got it, so no stacking on the two raging songs.

As part of this adventure, there may be impacts from prior adventures your characters may have had in the Hao Jin Tapestry. Please check your characers's chronicle sheets and indicate which of the following you have played with this character:

#3–12: Wonders in the Weave—Part I: The Dog Pharaoh’s Tomb
#3–14: Wonders in the Weave—Part II: Snakes in the Fold
#3–20: The Rats of Round Mountain—Part I: The Sundered Path
#3–21: The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment
#3–22: The Rats of Round Mountain—Part II: Pagoda of the Rat
#6–21: Tapestry’s Toil
#6–97: Siege of Serpents

Victoria has Tapestry’s trial (not toil) sadly

29 Steps has completed two of those missions:

3-21 Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment
6-21 Tapestry's Toil

Are we each getting a single shot at just one activity of our own choosing or are we each getting 1 shot at each of the categories?

You can take 1 shot at each category, either to attempt a check or to aid.

Played none of the list from what I'm seeing

Saya has the following Chronicles of the list:

#6–97: Siege of Serpents
#3-22: The Rats of Round Mountain—Part II: Pagoda of the Rat
#3-20: The Rats of Round Mountain—Part I: The Sundered Path
#3-12: Wonders in the Weave—Part I: The Dog Pharaoh's Tomb
#3-14: Wonders in the Weave—Part II: Snakes in the Fold

I believe Eskar only has these ones:

#6–97: Siege of Serpents
#3-14: Wonders in the Weave—Part II: Snakes in the Fold
#3-12: Wonders in the Weave—Part I: The Dog Pharaoh's Tomb

In the interest of not bogging us down, time-wise, what 29 Steps is trying to ask Lunnette is whether she has prepped Barkskin & if she'd be willing to cast it on 29 Steps in return for the use of his L2 Pearl of Power, to recover her spell.

In the interest of not bogging us down, time-wise, what 29 Steps is trying to ask Lunnette is whether she has prepped Barkskin & if she'd be willing to cast it on 29 Steps in return for the use of his L2 Pearl of Power, to recover her spell.

Sorry about that, didn´t notice that part of your post, but yea, I can do that for you

Sweet - sometimes the RP of being mute is more of a problem than an RP hook.

And apologies for posting as the wrong character.

I was wondering . Tykko is with me on another ganme heh.

And that might be where I got confused...

Also, I may have exceeded my playable limit for a gameday.
Between PF1, PF2, SF1,& SF2, I think I've picked up 14.

.... Looks a bit ashamed ...

I have a spreadsheet for that reason.

Not saying numbers now. heh

Last time it went around 18 pbps at least, that's what i remember

After that reached to 25 on the next event i've tried to keep to less than that on the later events

After that reached to 25 on the next event i've tried to keep to less than that on the later events

you sir, have issues

I barely can manage 4-5 pbps

Same thing, more than 4-5 pbp would start to seriously hurt my writing ability as more and I would have to resort to write in a very lackadistical manner

So 25 ? ouh là là

Dekantas and Saya, regarding Beast Totem, Greater, how did you get it? Retraining class features is limited to picking options that you were qualified for at the level where you got the feature. The Skald's third built in shareable Rage power is usually granted at level 9, but Greater Beast Totem requires level 10. Is there another mechanism you used to access it?

Hi, you migth be right there. It sbeen a while since i did this for the character back from the time we had out meatspace.

Upon rereading the retraining, I think that what happened is that we took this as if it were a feat, not a class feature as you mentioned

Also Skalds are not listed on the options for class features indications, but barbarian's rage powers do. That is where the mistake should have happened.

But yes, your statement is correct in regarding the class feature retraining, I may need to look down the chronicles there, but i believe that the problem was that it was done following the mechanics or retraining a feat , rather than a class feature.

In the mean time, if that is the case, pleas disregard that rage power until i find what happened.

Yeah, the interaction is somewhat unintuitive. I would have expected everything in retraining to follow a principle where you would need to have been able to take it at the time in order to retrain into something. However, it seems that is only selectively the case as feats can be retrained as long as you currently meet the requirements, even if you wouldn't at the time, but class features say they can't. It is further a bit confusing since rage powers and feats are semi-interchangeable because of Extra Rage Power, but the distinction matters a lot for skalds which ones come from their base class feature since those are the ones that get shared via raging song.

I have set the token of Oasis on the map for future use and added his stats in Eskar's profile

Oasis doesn't have much gimmicks as a mount, his only function it's to aid Eskar's with his slow movement speed and to strike with combat reflexes and power attack

The only think to take notice of it's that, while mounted, both of them share the teamwork feat "Lastwall Phalanx", which gives a +1 sacred bonus to AC & Saving Throws for each allie adjacent to them, this only applies for the attacks of evil creatures

Saya shares this bonus feat as well, but only with Eskar, because of the the Ring of Tactical Precision they both share

It took me a while to set this but I finally got it done, so don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about it

Yeah, the interaction is somewhat unintuitive. I would have expected everything in retraining to follow a principle where you would need to have been able to take it at the time in order to retrain into something. However, it seems that is only selectively the case as feats can be retrained as long as you currently meet the requirements, even if you wouldn't at the time, but class features say they can't. It is further a bit confusing since rage powers and feats are semi-interchangeable because of Extra Rage Power, but the distinction matters a lot for skalds which ones come from their base class feature since those are the ones that get shared via raging song.

I found on my chronicles the retraining. she used to have Swift foot, i am putting that effect on the song for now. Its already included on the song effect on my last post

Question . when Blue attacked Eskar did in straing line? Asking if he would have provocked from Saya's reach weapon , I undesradn spring attack won't casue provoque from Eskar but not the other chars. thanks .

I drew the two paths out on the map, you would need 20 foot reach to AOO. I think I got the AOOs correct, but if I missed extra reach on anyone who could take one, let me know.

The sust-skinned gnome steps back 5 ft into the shrubbery, drawing his bladed fans as he tries to hide.

stealth to hide: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (17) + 23 = 40

He readies a strike if any foe that enters the square to his NE or SE.
He has 6 AoOs as well, and will use them as triggered.

I'll hold off rolling the attacks until they're triggered.

Thank you for the clarification . all good, just needed to check .

Updated map position- but couldn’t make 20’ smaller

For the sake of claity

Benefit: Whenever you are using bardic performance to create a spell-like or supernatural effect, allies within 30 feet of you deal an extra 1d6 points of sonic damage with successful weapon attacks. This damage stacks with other energy damage a weapon might deal. Projectile weapons bestow this extra damage on their ammunition, but the extra damage is dealt only if the projectile hits a target within 30 feet of you.

While the song is an effect that falls into this, Community minded extends just the Morale bonus from the song. but not sure if that still couts as a Superanatural effect.

I leave that to your interpretation in regards the Discordant voice. She doesn't have lingering perfomance. just the Community minded trait.

Cheers

It ended up not making a difference at the time, but I would say you're not using bardic performance, some of the effects are just continuing, so you would need to be actively performing to get the sonic damage.

I added the reference sheet for the Aid tokens to the slide. You haven't gotten an aid token yet, but as the house completes different missions abilities unlock and some of them are related to the aid tokens.

Currently, we have:

Muckmouth Secured: The lizardfolk lend their newfound magic to the Society. The group gains one free use of the Aid Token’s Burst of Healing benefit that the PCs can activate at their discretion.

Slave Mountain Secured: The freed slaves join the Pathfinders in battling the malevolent forces in the tapestry. At the beginning of one encounter, the PCs can activate this benefit to gain 33 temporary hit points; these last until the end of the encounter.

Eternal Lake Secured: The kappas of the lake profess eternal gratitude and heap praise upon the Pathfinders. The group gains one free use of the Aid Token’s Timely Inspiration benefit that the PCs can activate at their discretion.

You have also gained special boost options for the Healing and Timely Inspiration boost options from your successes at the Eternal Lake and Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment.

Hi Again . I am bit confused I see that we had some success on the task presented.

This means we all have to try / Help with all them as it was on the first part? Are we aiming to a number of successes?

BR

You needed to get successes on 3/5 of the tasks, or you get held up and the tunnel collapses on you, failing the mission. Everyone could make 1 check to either be a primary or an aid on each of the 5 checks. As long as at least one person makes a check it counts as a success.

Oasis passed the Acrobatics check for the first task, 29 Steps passed the perception check for the second task, Eskar passed the knowledge:engineering check for the third task, the fourth was automatically passed because of Saya's Rats of Round Mountain chronicle, and Eskar passed the fifth, so you made all of them and made it through to the chasm crossing, where you were all ambushed by a Roper.

Part of my confusion on the map layout was that the Roper is directly on top of one of the black areas, which I would usually assume would be floor to ceiling columns, and it wasn't clear from the encounter description why its on top of something that looks like an impassable terrain feature.

It could also actually have been the column, but it doesn't have the freeze ability that would allow it to hide without some type of cover or concealment, so I went with the patches being stalagmites so it could blend in. It probably should have the freeze ability instead of the +8 racial to hide in stony areas, since its pretty clearly what its going for thematically, but I think the Roper had some translation issues coming over to Pathfinder from 3.5. Some of its abilities don't really work with the rules very well as written.

Thank you for the clarification That is why was confused if Saya should roll or not, since i saw that most of the tasks have been conpleted by the time i read .

I did not saw the map yet, will review that a bit later.

Don't think I'll do anything until the plot moves forward. I don't need too much prepping in the interlude

Lets see also how things moving with that anouncement of the new store, It has been implied that the forums might be out for a coupel of days soon.

Dekantas and 29 Steps, do you have your CMB/CMD information? I don't see it in your tag line or profile.

Lunnette, I was curious, how did El Yama get to 3 int? I was looking up vermin companions since I was wondering if Krella could wild empathy them, and they're usually mindless until they get an int increase. Do you have an ability or item that is boosting him? His stats look right for having his two ability boosts at Str/Int with another +2 Int from something.

I can set it - it's just such an infrequent call that I didn't post it.

CMB +6 (the bane of being small)
CMD 28 (31 when Figting Defensively)