Ash Cleargrove's page

I don't think this one really matters as much, but...

It's sort of been a long time coming... but with my new workload, I've found that I have nearly no time for Paizo at all. As you've probably noticed, my posts have fallen both in count and quality... and I've come to realize I cannot keep up with the majority of my games - whether because they move too quickly, or because I completely lack the inspiration.

Ultimately, I've decided to drop out of nearly all of my campaigns for now. Sorry for any trouble this causes. I can stick around and do an inadequate job of trying to see my way out, or you can feel free to bot my character.

As a heads-up: Today is my last day at mthe first job I ever had. I've worked here for just shy of nine years... But I've decided I need to move on to a job that pays better... As a result, I'm going to be picking up a lot more hours at work, changing my schedule in the process, and ultimately having a lot less time for those things and people that I love. That being said... I'll become less of a post hog in the majority of my games. Things might change in the future, but at the moment, I'm hoping to continue playing in my games.

This is another of my games for which 'life happens' is playing a major role for more than one party. :(

Looking at Fey Caller, here are the 'sticking points' for me:

Nature's Call: Ash doesn't get Summon Monster as an SLA; he traded it for Spirit powers.

Ivy's Class Skills get Wrecked. Fey Eidolons do not get Climb, Survival, Perception, Swim, Stealth. (They also don't get bluff or sense motive, though those are less important to Ivy).

Ivy loses weapon proficiencies and electricity resistance in exchange for low light vision, a cantrip, and skilled. Which would be awesome... if I could take it in a skill that fits Ivy, rather than a class skill. (Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Disguise, Escape Artist, K(Nature), Perform, SoH, UMD)

At 4: Woodland Stride is really cool for Ivy, but Cold Resistance and Fire Resistance are equally 'right' for a plantish Eidolon (Many plant creatures have lots of resists).

At 8: Ivy gets more magic, and Entangle is ridiculously amazing and fitting, as well as another cantrip. Compare to Flight which I don't even really want Ivy to have.

At 12: DR 5/Cold Iron. Really nice, decently fitting; probably more useful than DR 5/evil. Gain flight (ugh), rather than immunity to petrification and truespeech.

At 16: Gain more spells. V. +2 to any stat and electricity immunity. Don't get me wrong, they're great spells, but they don't really fit Ivy.

At 20: Moar DR, Moar Spells. V. Incorporeal and moar fly (ugh).

It's... really up in the air. There are okay things about both. I could spend Ivy's Skilled evolution on a Slam attack, but then she'd not be... Ivy. I dunno, neither is a perfect fit, really.

I don't know, honestly. I may have to focus Ivy a bit more on the 'crunchy' than the 'fluffy', but we definitely have early-game power with Baalrak and late with Shara.

I don't think I could rebuild Ash and keep healing, though. There's a very high probability they won't work together.

Yup! I just used Protean to do it, personally. :P

Sort of like using Aberrant Bloodrager and flavoring it as shadow, or using Abyssal Bloodrager and flavoring it as giant-blooded...

Pathfinder is so often a tightrope to get the things I want. I'm not sure whether I enjoy the fight or not. :)

I'll have to look once it's more freely available :p

It might fit better than Azata.

Side note: This is exactly what I had hoped for with unchained summoner. The opportunity for more 'types'. :)

Yeahish. I've been a little lazy in the last few days with my own campaign, but that's because level-ups everywhere, and things, and stuff, and *flailing*.

Ivy marches in, carrying a slightly muddy stick, before nodding. "I agree. Words are hard."

Just found this on my Kindle. Derp.

"Sure! We'll see you there!"

Ash looked more dubious than Ivy. A large city didn't really sound like a good idea to him... so many more people.

"Um. Alright. Did you find out what the... secret robe... was for?" she asks, saying the middle part in stage whisper.

Ash sighs and shakes his head, pushing himself up from the table. "Better get going. Ivy, don't forget your stick." Ivy nods, and slips out the door ahead of everyone once more.

"Ready when you are."

"Mmmm. Why do you have to go?" Ivy asks, tilting her head. "Do you have something you have to do there? Ooh! Ooh! Is there gonna be another carnival-fair-thing? Will they release thousands of flowers for Shelyn?" after a moment, she adds, "We couldn't find a new puppy, sorry."

Sorry for the delay, having trouble coming up with dialogue for the situation that doesn't feel stilted.

Wherever you want to shove us. :o

'Cept Ameiko's is 100% better!

Ivy slumps back into her chair as Ameiko heads back to take care of the stew. "Family should stick together." she says, pouting. "Ash wouldn't be able to live in the woods without me... and without him, I'd sleep forever. We just have to help figure out why they need each other, so they can see it." she nod-nods.

Ash just stays as inuslar as usual, studying the woodgrain, intensely.

"It might be because he's scared of losing you, like your maybe-sister." Ivy suggests, quietly. "Ooooh. It was while you guys were away. I don't like letting Ash out of my sight, because he's kind of helpless without me. So maybe he just doesn't like you being so far away?" she asks, tilting her head.

Ivy frowns. "Then he's really, really bad at this."

She looks to Ash to explain, but he shakes his head. Her ability to comprehend was slightly reliant on his, in that she couldn't if he couldn't... though he was much more intelligent, that didn't help when the language was beyond him.

"He was looking for Miss Ameiko, but he's a very rude, bad-tempered man... from the sounds of it." he explains quietly to his 'sister'.

"Should definitely have brought the honey." Ivy agrees solemnly and quietly.

"I think Miss Ameiko doesn't know that her sister is missing. Should we tell her?" Ivy whispers conspiratorially, though this time with Shara.

"And those are a lot of big words..."

As Ameiko smacks her father across the face, Ivy tilts her head again, but doesn't add anything.

Once he finally leaves the building, Ivy regains her footing.

"We never did find out where her sister is.." Ivy says quietly after the bickering argument with words she didn't know was over. "He's really bad at this."

"Miss Ameiko! We really need that honey!" Ivy calls towards the kitchen.

Ivy's hand wavers a little lower, as she looks from the berry-colored man, and Ash, giant grin slowly flattening out. "Could you not use so many big words? They make you hard to understand. Anyway, the town isn't godforsaken, they just released a bunch of trapped butterflies for Desna, and then there's the church they just built... and I don't even know what grandstanding is. Isn't it great, though! It's fun being noticed! But that doesn't really matter. If you want us to find your daughter, you're doing a really bad job of telling us where you saw her and what she looks like. Do you have anything that smells like her?"

Ivy pipes in, "You should have! Everyone's talking about us. And it's a really small town. So it's either the Goblins, the Church, or us that are being talked about!"

She pauses as she takes a moment to digest the big words, she's pretty sure Gallivanting meant 'being awesome', and Samaritans meant... 'heroes'?

"We did stay out of the way! Except that the goblins tried to kill people, so we helped with that. The living, not the killing... well, we killed the goblins, but didn't help them kill people. Then the guard asked us to help them. Haven't you been listening to all the stories? Everybody knows!"

"Oooh. You know him? Hello Long-jiku. My name's Ivy." she says, still standing, and offering him her hand.

Ash just buries himself a little further behind his stack of untouched mugs, something akin to a groan escaping, which was what told Ivy something was wrong. She tilts her head, hand falling slightly, as she looks back to Ash.

Ivy raises her hand. "I don't know, but I'm the best finder! Just ask everyone!" she says with a grin, seemingly unaware of the sudden change in barometric pressure. She stands up finishing off a second mug - though how effective the alcohol is on her is another question entirely.

"We found a boar, and some goblins, and some skeletons... and that's just since we got here!"

Gorum's Divine Fighting Techniques may be worth a look for Baalrak. It looks... painful.

This pretty much is my hobby. Which means if my posting slows down, either something is very right (I'm out with my friends) or very wrong. I do think my posting has gone down a little in the past few days, though. Emotionally drained. :|

The man stabbed an animal that tried to gut him. Multiple times. That's not really anything 'out of character' or something that means a 'lack of observation'. That's, at best, a hint that he has an anger problem... and even then, I've done worse to a clothes basket I caught my toe in.

Ivy throws herself at any task she's given with intense concentration, and perhaps too much enthusiasm. What she lacks in skill, she makes up in tenacity. Not that Ameiko had given her any particularly difficult jobs. Mix, Mix, Swirl, Swirl, Turn, Turn, Turn, Turn, Sift, Sift, Chop. "Hand like a cat's paw." she announces as she chops the vegetables with the offered knife.

Near the end of the process of cooking, Ivy discovers the entire jar of honey that would normally be used to coat hams. She conspiratorially whispers to Ameiko the next time she's in earshot.

Rather than drinking the offered drinks, Ash simply collects them. They sit on the table in front of him, where any of the others are free to take them... though any that are left unclaimed by the time Ivy returns immediately become Ivy's.

"It looks amazing, Miss Ameiko! There's so much, too!" she adds excitedly, helping by carrying objects to the table, using both hands, cradling any given drinks, foods, or their ilk to prevent herself from clumsily dropping them.

Ash looks over the small banquet with an upraised eyebrow. "Is this meant to be just for us..?"

Pfft. Ivy will show all of you. :p

I've got nuffin to complain about. :)

"Don't worry, Miss Ameiko. Baalrak is as grumbly as a mama bear. But it's mostly show unless you mess with his babies. I think his weapon is his baby, maybe."

Ash shakes his head. "More his attitude." he says with a small smile.

"Attitudes can't be babies, silly." she responds, not realizing weapons probably also can't be babies... and not recognizing the fact she'd even just used a simile.

Ash looks from the woman to Aldern as she heals him. "Interesting. Do you have patrons or does your healing come from something else?"

Unless something causes a change, Ivy is going to stick around Ameiko as she cooks... unless she makes her leave the kitchen. She might get in the way, but she's also handy for moving things around. Ash will thus be locked somewhere in the tavern, as he can't move far from Ivy.

"Yeah, but will there be enough for Baalrak?" Ivy asks playfully. He'd tried to order an entire pig that morning, after all. Then after he heads out, Ivy stays in the door peeking around. "Oh. That was probably my fault then, since I killed it. I've never killed an animal for meat before, so I don't really know how to do it right. Will you be able to cook the sour out?"

Ivy finishes her digging, and burying of the rest of the pig. Ash moves over and drops three berries from his pouch into the top soil, before she finishes patting the loamy soil in place. "Tada!" she announces, before looking to the others.

"I guess that means we're ready. Do you have anything else you would like to do out here, Aldern?" Ash asks.

As soon as Baalrak started cutting, Ivy started digging into the nearby dirt, using her hands to slowly dig her way down. "Was easier when I had sharper fingers.." she announces.

Once more, Ash's scrutiny doesn't fall upon perceived friends, naive though it may be. His attention is instead mostly on the boar, and Ivy.

Ivy bounces around her kill, looking at it from several angles. "Mister Baalrak, Mister Aldern. If you wanna trim it up and everything, it'll be much easier to carry. There's a lot of stuff we don't need. Then we can bury it and plant some seeds on top." it seems to be the most obvious thing in the world to her. "I normally skin the ones we find not-eaten... but I usually don't get their meat. We don't eat it." she says, chewing her lip. "So, I'll dig the hole, since I'm the best digger, and you can collect everything, and then we can go find more Boar-boars. I don't like monsters."

Ash doesn't seem to notice or mind Baalrak's outburst - it was built into his personality. Ivy, however was ecstatic. "It was, wasn't it! The boar was so clever, dying when I hit it like that. Did you see it Mister Aldern!?"

The thing I like about reach weapons, is flanking as a knight. <3

"Mine!" Ivy says, though whether mocking Balraak, or simply imitating him is... questionable. Most likely Ivy doesn't understand mocking.

"Very dangerously, actually. Remember, we were going to ambush it, not charge it. Hunting with your head is a better way to survive, than with your heart." Ash says, chidingly, though it's clear he has the noble's interests at heart, given that he sends out a refreshing wave of energy.

Channel: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Down to 3/4. I don't think I reset it from 'last night'. We haven't done anything that would require a channel since waking up, right?

Stole work computer to move myself, then learned that Glaive Guisarme is a reach weapon. So no diagonal abuse! Hooray!

On kindle, so can't move. But... Ivy will abuse diagonals to move around the boar into a position to flank with Baalrak, and Ash will double move to put himself two spaces north and one east of the boar, allowing him to flank with both Aldern and Wyrd, provided he moves to either the opposite space, or the space two south of the boar! Flanking with reach is fun!

Ash moves forward to put himself into a more offensive position, realizing that downing the boar, at this rate, is better than healing Aldern. Probably. Meanwhile Ivy rushes forward on two legs and an arm, skidding in a tight circle before lunging at the boar from the opposite side of Baalrak... But she's overzealous in her excitement.

GG :3 attack (Flank): 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 2 = 11
GG :3 damage: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

A true orc minion would have lead the charge!

Nope. He was very bad at being bait a few seconds ago. :)

Ivy just wants to be a 15th level Eidolon when she grows up! Also a pony.

Just be wary. I added one wriggly pile of flesh monster to the Fair Fortune... and it added something like three days of combat. Had all that damage been on one target, the second wiggly would have died. And at the end of the day, they weren't smart enough to be anything other than walls of flesh, soooo... it didn't really add anything.

And then the mate came roaring out of the woods, impaling Baalrak!

I have serious problems with adjusting based on one person's damage, as a DM. Yes, it sucks to have my creatures get exploded... but compare it sucking for me setting up an entire encounter and then it just explodes... to that player missing a few times, and all the other players chipping away at it to no real effect. It's just not really a good idea in my experience.

Then again, I made a larger mistake: Rather than buffing HP, I buffed AC, which made it thoroughly unsatisfying for my players on that test run. Because it became a whiff-fest... which took half again as long to get anything done during.

Edit: Basically, if someone optimizes for raw damage, it will unfairly punish everyone else to make things live longer for them. Likewise, with their character being focused on that, removing the thing that they put most of their 'points' into is really unsatisfying.

That being said, the other PCs should start to catch up in usefulness in a few levels. :)

Yup. The 'I don't really have anything other than transforming it into fossil fuels' is kind of nice... for a bit. Luckily, Barbarian grows outwards on it's own, and also, luckily, you're going Skald which will expand options quite a bit. :)

Every game I'm in with you that you're a player, you have control of a two-handed fighter. So not sure what you mean :P

"No!" Ivy and Ash shout in unison as he rushes forward... preventing the plan from even being possible. In fact, neither of the pair can even reach the boar. This was going very, very poorly already.

Ash places a hand on Ivy and transforms some of her vines into solid bark, as the pair begins moving forward. The concentration of the spell leaving him behind. Put's Ivy's AC at 17.

"Hey stupid Boar-Boar! Over here!" shouts Ivy as she crosses the intervening space, hoping to draw its attention away from removing Aldern's intestines. Even still her instincts ensure she leaves space for Baalrak to run in... and for her to move to circle the prey.

Ivy nod-nods to Ash and then whispers conspiratorially, "Belkzen Warriors are very good bait."

Stealth(Ash): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
Stealth(Ivy): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

In the event that the plan goes the direction that's intended, Ivy hunkers down, looking proud of herself, while Ash lowers himself into the underbrush on the other side. He doesn't seem as 'into it' as Ivy, but he also is able to actually sit still.

"Boars are dumb." Ivy says quietly as she levels her glaive towards it. "If we go to the sides and you make it mad, we can stab it when it runs at you. Don't know if the tree branch is good for that though." Her hips slowly swish back and forth in her crouched position, like a cat ready to pounce. "Just have to run away in a straight line. So don't drink too much first."

Ivy, in her own way, suggests all the brace-able spears be utilized as part of an ambush to absolutely ruin this thing's life by making it angry enough to charge someone.

Ivy just lost a rank in Knowledge(Arcana) that she didn't even have.

Survival: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (10) + 12 = 22

Ivy darts around as she sees several worn paths within grass, soil, and foliage. She takes her time at each, sniff-sniffing the air nearby, and staring at for all intents-and-purposes empty spaces. Then she reaches down to a spot right next to a track and picks up a little bit of dirt and stuffs it into her mouth, before nodding. "This way!" she calls excitedly as she follows the trail into the woods, not wasting any time at all in following the creature's failure to hide itself.

"What are those?" Ivy asks, easily slipping from one thing she doesn't know as the center of her attention to another.