Cythnigot

Benchak the Nightstalker's page

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8. Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber. Organized Play Member. 3,131 posts (3,170 including aliases). 2 reviews. 1 list. No wishlists. 13 Organized Play characters. 11 aliases.


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Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

I think I got lucky in that fight. On my third or fourth attempt, I caught the boss and both summons in a physick-boosted Comet Azur. With the summons burned down pretty quickly, me and Banished Knight Oleg were able to keep pressure on the boss and wrap things up.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

That's mostly true. I'll add a caveat that there are a couple bosses that are genuinely pretty nasty, in ways that levelling and improving your equipment aren't going to help much with (one boss in particular, really, though they are optional).

Late game spoiler:
Malenia, Blade of Miquella. She heals every time she hits you, so you really have to learn her attacks and how to dodge them.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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From what I recall of GoT, In general, the combat is more arcade-y than Elden Ring (especially in the later parts of Tsushima). There’s a similar emphasis on blocks, parries, and dodges, but in Tsushima there wasn’t a stamina bar to worry about, and the parry windows were pretty generous.

Elden Ring (and souls games in general) are less forgiving. If you attack when you shouldn’t, expect to get punished for it, and with stamina you can’t just roll all the time.

The one-on-one duel segments of Tsushima felt more Souls-y though—you had to learn the boss’s moves and pick the right time to attack.

Elden Ring doesn’t have the different stance mechanics, but it does give you a lot more options for combat styles, with tons of weapons and magic to choose from, so combat is also a lot more varied. A tanky sword-and-board character is going to feel very different from Jin, as will an astrologer shooting magic missiles.

Ultimately, the combat is pretty similar to prior souls games. When it clicks for you, it feels incredibly intuitive and rewarding. I’ve revisited DS3 several times, trying different builds and styles of play, but I haven’t felt the same urge to go back to Tsushima.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I am absolutely loving this game. Got my second great rune last night.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Perpdepog wrote:
Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:

I'd like to see Monk styles based around weapons.

Frex, a longsword style. You go into the stance and can only make longsword attacks, get some cool benefits/bonuses, and later feats give you special longsword attacks.

Kind of like Peafowl Stance?

Yeah, but expanded to weapons that don't normally have the Monk trait, or don't qualify for ancestral weaponry.

Like, a spear monk style would be cool.

A katana monk style would be cool, maybe something like iajutsu/building off quick draw.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I'd like to see Monk styles based around weapons.

Frex, a longsword style. You go into the stance and can only make longsword attacks, get some cool benefits/bonuses, and later feats give you special longsword attacks.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

I played him as being unwilling to part with any information until he could be absolutely assured of his safety--he thinks he only has value to the PCs for as long as they need to know what he knows, which means he's not going to give anything up while he still needs them for protection.

I left my players with the implication that, once they get him sent away to secure holdings, they'd have the opportunity to visit and interrogate him at that point.

Then, of course, the PCs and Wynsal got framed, and while they were dealing with that business, Olansa saw to Flakfatter.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I've been requiring players to spend a week or two of downtime to get access to uncommon spells and such.

They're 20th level now, in book 6, and still nobody has bothered to learn teleport.

I'm actually pretty jazzed about it.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

Naurgul wrote:

I'm still in book 3 but it's probably more relevant if I ask here:

Vancaskerkin has invited the PCs over for dinner. But now it occurred to me... can he eat/drink? Can he even pretend to ingest things?

He’s full of terrible goo already, what harm is a little more?

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Deriven Firelion wrote:

I started this module. I read that A1 room in the opening. I was wondering how the PCs were supposed to enter? It says the main doors are blocked by rubble. It says the northwest doors are blocked by collapsed rubble. The only way I see into the Sanctuary of Prescience is through the secret doors in the back, which would cause the PCs to run into the Ankou before the fight in A1.

On a side note, a couple of Leukodaemons and 3 poisoners against a lvl 12 party is not much of a challenge. Even throwing in the six poisoners from the rafters, the challenge isn't very strong. By lvl 12 if you don't have casters backing you up, then you're not going to last long. The poisoners have no caster backup. The PC casters easily controlled the battle with healing, AoE, and control spells.

Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:

I believe the front door collapses after the PCs enter, as part of the “opening with a bang” read aloud text.

So they’d come in through the front door, the front of the church collapses during the attack, and the PCs have to find a new way out through areas A3 & A4.

As to the encounter, yeah, it feels underwhelming. I ended up skipping this entire area, but if I were to run it, I’d probably jack up the number of reinforcements pretty significantly.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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One of the ways I nudged my players toward rescuing Starborn early in book 5 was having the Skinner get sent to the same prison at the end of book 2, and then having word get back to them that she was murdered in her cell.

Then in book 5, I was able to suggest through friendly NPCs that Wynsal probably wouldn’t survive long in prison, especially once the Grand Council elects a new primarch. I made the political debate happening in the background a source of rising tension.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Graeme Lewis wrote:

Meanwhile, the last few lines of a certain poem by one Edgar Allan Poe run through my head:

Out — out are the lights — out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, "Man,"
And its hero...

** spoiler omitted **

Literally the inspiration for this monster, back when I wrote it up for 1e. Psyched to see them finally show up in 2e!

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Temperans wrote:

Okay so you prepare 2 "anti AoO" spells. You pop them in two fights and are now done for the rest of the day.

Invisible does not make it so you don't trigger AoO it only makes it so there is a chance to fail. Which btw a DC11 flat check is not hard to make. Same thing with Mirror Image, it doesn't stop you from provoking, just makes it so they have a 25-50% chance of not hitting you.

Mirror Image is great when the Enemy attacks you once, and hits one of the images. As soon as the enemy is striking you twice or more, the spell becomes a waste of both actions and resources because they will pop all three of the images really quick. You actively provoking AoO makes it even worse since the enemy doesn't even have to spend an action to pop one of the images.

This is not even mentioning the fact that literally all other martials can use those spells better than a Magus.

Those spells are not cure all, they are a mitigation at best, while cutting into your very few spells per day.

If the party faces 3-6 encounters per day, and ~30% of encounters have an enemy with AoO, on average, you won't need more than 1-2 spells to deal with AoO. You're by no means done for the day.

And sure, those spells aren't foolproof, but if you're an enemy, are you going to spend your one reaction per round on the invisible magus, or save it for someone you don't have less than a coin-flip chance of hitting? Defensive buffs are often as much about disincentivizing attacks as they are negating them.

I'm not arguing that spellcasting is a cure-all for AoOs, merely that spellcasting is a valuable piece of the magus's toolkit that's not meant to be used purely for hp damage. I am arguing in response to the claims that the only way for the magus to deal with AoO is building around it/using starlit span, or that the magus's limited spell slots are useless for anything but attack spells.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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It’s not schrodinger’s magus to suggest that a magus can spend one or two of their 6 spell slots a day prepping some of the broadly useful buff and defensive spells they have access to, which aside from their intrinsic benefits, can also be used to overcome situations like enemies with AoO.

Mirror Image is a great spell. It’s a fantastic defensive buff, and particularly good for laughing shadow maguses who get it as a studious spell. It also negates a lot of AoOs.

Invisibility is a great spell, useful in-combat and out-of-combat. It also negates a lot of AoOs.

Enlarge is a great spell, which grants reach and a hefty status bonus to damage. It also negates a lot of AoOs.

Etc.

The point isn’t that the magus always has a solution to every situation—it’s that the magus suffers very little opportunity cost when preparing solutions for AoO. The solutions are all things that benefit the magus in other ways, or can solve other problems.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Golurkcanfly wrote:


The "Options and Versatility" of Spellstrike is primarily being able to run into resistances die to split damage.

Champions and Monks have much stronger other utilities. Champions are absolutely insane when it comes to controlling the battlefield, while Monks not only are incredibly flexible due to an actually strong action economy, but have excellent lockdown potential as well.

Swashbuckler is another class that has issues, such as the inconsistency of Panache.

Most importantly, however, it doesn't get smacked in the face for doing it's thing, which just feels bad.

I said the options and versatility of spellcasting, not spellstrike.

I think you're really undervaluing access to the arcane spell list here by treating it as just another source of hp damage.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

Golurkcanfly wrote:

This is on the good turns.

The ones that Provoke AoO. And at high levels, are very prone to getting disrupted as creatures gain more ways to mess with action economy.
beowulf99 wrote:
Accounting for accuracy, the Two Hand Magus w/cascade doing 2 strikes deals about 10 damage less on average than a fighter (Greatswod, 2 strikes specifically). That seems pretty fair, given that accuracy is the Fighters schtick.

Bolded for emphasis. 10 less damage per turn, when not using spellstrike at all, seems pretty reasonable to me when you consider the options and versatility spellcasting opens up.

I'd also like to see how Swashbucklers, Champions, and Monks compare. Are maguses middle of the pack, like Deriven suggested?

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Golurkcanfly wrote:

And it really only helps that subclass, doesn't help against the bigger AoO monsters (monsters get bigger on average as level goes up), and they have only 2 studious spell slots.

And the other hybrid studies have hands free for scrolls, and/or easy access to staves, and/or their own studious spells to deal with the situation.

Is a round where the magus buffs themselves a wasted round? Are they not contributing to the combat by doing so? I kind of feel like that's the crux of the disagreement here.

Golurkcanfly wrote:

There's just no genuine balance argument for it, it works against the flavor of the class, it is a disservice to the fantasy it is trying to fulfill, Spellstrike already has other balance mechanisms, the class itself has even more balance mechanisms, and since it gets increasingly worse at higher levels (where monsters gain increasingly better ways to screw with action economies), it causes the gameplay experience of the class to worsen at higher levels.

There has been very little argument in favor of keeping it as-is, just whataboutism and "but you can work around it."

The topic is not *how* to work around it, but *why* it shouldn't be there in the first place.

I personally disagree with a lot of what you're saying here. Spellstrike provoking doesn't work against the flavor of the class for me, and it doesn't disservice the fantasy of the magus in my eyes.

I am open to the possibility that it makes the experience of the class worse at higher levels--I haven't played a magus at high levels yet, so I can't share my perspective. Is that your actual experience playing the class so far?

As to the "you can work around it" comments, for my part, those are mostly in response to the people saying "the only way to deal with AoO is to build around it/play starlit span."

If folks are going to argue that spellstrike shouldn't provoke because stock-standard magus can't get around AoO, I think it's fair to point out that that isn't true.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Golurkcanfly wrote:
A 2H Magus activating a scroll needs to stow his weapon, draw the scroll, cast the scroll, and then redraw the weapon, and the scroll only mitigates AoOs.

The 2H magus gets enlarge as a studious spell, so they don't need to use a scroll.

And aside from putting them out of AoO reach, enlarge is also, you know, a genuinely helpful buff. It's extra reach (on a class that can also make AoOs), and gives a status bonus to damage.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Aristophanes wrote:

First of all, let me say that I don't have a dog in the hunt. I'm not particularly interested in playing a Magus. But I have read the entire thread, and I have a question for those who think spellstrike should provoke: Do you believe if it didn't, that the Magus would be too strong? Or are you afraid it might set a bad precedent regarding spell casting and AsoO?

I guess I just haven't yet seen a convincing argument in favor of keeping provoking.

Do I think the magus would be too strong?

Probably not. I mean, that's the thing--70% of the time, a magus who doesn't provoke is exactly as powerful as a magus who does.

I just think it engenders a certain amount of tactical passivity. Like, the early posts talked about spellstrike being part of a magus's rotation. You spellstrike, you recharge, rinse and repeat. But if all you're doing as a magus is walking up and hitting the enemy in melee for high damage every round, you're just playing a fighter with extra steps and more ribbons.

I like that the current magus has some limitations, because it encourages you to play to it's strengths (spellcasting)--just like the rogue has to think about positioning.

To put it another way, to me, personally, a magus who kicks on mirror image to avoid AoO is just so much cooler than one who never provokes at all.

But, obviously, other people feel differently. I wouldn't be upset if they decided to make some changes to the class. I just hope that if they do, it remains limited in some ways--making a cantrip or cantrips that don't provoke for spellstrike, or giving maguses a bonus to AC against AoOs provoked by spellcasting.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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OCEANSHIELDWOLPF 2.0 wrote:
SuperBidi wrote:
Physicskid42 wrote:
When one of my players wanted to kill a high level monster by using Create Cottage to smash it with a house, I said “you can try but you have survive direct attacks and concentration checks for 10 rounds” I’ll be darned if he didn’t pull it off. And that was a more interesting outcome for everyone. It was only possible because he saw and took one of the few open ended spells and took it.
I can only speak for myself, but that's not something I want in my games (both as player and GM). So I'm happy it's not something that can be pulled off in PF2.

Cottagecore can be so creative.

Honestly though, that sounds super fun and quite inventive. As a DM I’d allow it, and if ai was a player I’d be pumped if someone in my party materialised a cottage to wipe out an evil…witch.

It sounds like a fun thing to happen once.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

Temperans wrote:
@Benchak if Magus had more spell slots I would agree. But they only have 4. So those 4 spells better be worth the effort otherwise there is no point in bothering.

6, which is why I pointed out Studious Spells has options.

Also, several of those spells are just good buff options, which can kick off your arcane cascade, so it’s not like you’re wasting slots.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Golurkcanfly wrote:
Also note that the Rogue Flat-Footed restriction is encouraging them to be sneaky and tricky, enhancing the flavor. Meanwhile, the Magus restriction is encouraging them to pick the subclass that changes the entire concept from melee magic user to a magic Archer.

I'd argue it encourages them to be tricky with their spells.

Off the top of my head (not including invisibility, which has already been mentioned):

Mirror image
Enlarge for extra reach
Use illusions to provoke
Use darkness/darkvision
Hideous laughter/confusion/uncontrollable dance to shut down reactions
Buff an ally with stoneskin so they can eat the AoO

Even debuffs that aren't foolproof, like fear, dazzled, or concealment, can swing things in the magus's favor.

All those are available to any hybrid study--a lot of them are even available as studious spells.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I also love this, and I’m excited to see how you tweak Olansa.

I was also planning on dropping the madness angle, and having her retain her human form when they start the fight. Then, when her hit points hit a certain threshold, the power of the cane overwhelms her, and she gets transformed into the drider-esque version.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

I like that they’re riffing on the Thought and Emotion components from 1e, and Int/Cha fits that really well.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I like Charisma.

I also feel like if it were flexible/any mental, it'd be too clear of a choice to go Wis/Int.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Chalice Implement -> Estus Flask

Praise the Sun!

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Sporkedup wrote:
Not to be dense, but every allegation from both Jessica and Crystal is about something from three or more years ago. What allegations of sexism, transphobia, or racism are current enough to not have been part of what the listed changes were done to address?

The issue is, we (the customer base) often don't hear about bad stuff until three or four years down the road, when ex-employees have enough distance from the situation to talk freely about it.

Hell, Jessica started her thread saying she'd been holding off airing some of this dirty laundry because she was worried folks at Paizo might retaliate against her friends still with the company.

The point of dredging up these issues from years ago is to provide context for the problems that are happening now, behind the scenes, that we don't have any details on.

Sara Marie got fired, and Diego quit in solidarity, alleging a lack of integrity from some of the management. What happened there? No clue! But four years ago Jeff told Jessica that cleaning the floors was too expensive, and it took an organized email campaign to HR to get them to vacuum the place.

So the question I have to ask is, what issue(s) is Jeff ignoring right now?

Because good folks are getting fired/quitting. Some figurative floor there is still dirty.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I hope they keep it Int/Cha. I like the connection with the old psychic spell components, Thought and Emotion.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

Zombkat wrote:
Ugh. One of my players saw the "Ethersight Ring" in Archive of Nethys, and is annoyed he never found it. I've been scouring the adventure and I can't find it in there! Where was this treasure?

I don’t think it’s in the adventure anywhere. Not everything in the toolbox shows up as treasure. Frex, the swarmeater’s clasp doesn’t show up either.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Kyrone wrote:

Starlit Span

2)Dual Weapon Warrior
4)Dual Weapon Thrower
6)Force Fang
8)Expansive Spellstrike
10)Dual Weapon Blitz
12)Focus 2

Force Fang is a decent recharge for ranged and a source of focus point, can change to runic impression if desirable.

Expansive Spellstrike is just for Blink Charge for FFXV Noctis Style, thrown the weapon and teleport to it then force fang.

Double Slice and Dual weapon Blitz gives a decent option for spellstrike off turns.

Gloaming Shard gives you the Noctis move without spending a feat/spellstrike on it.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

Like I said, for me, it’s more about flexibility, and getting more use out of my MC slots, than it is about stopping power.

Adding a weapon strike to a slow, or a dimensional anchor out of my Studious Spell slots, ain’t too shabby.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I’m for sure taking it with my Magus for Strength of Thousands.

Thanks to the free wizard mc archetype, I have plenty of spell slots to work with, and debuffs have a lot longer longevity in low-level slots than attack spells.

Plus, I’m using a scythe, so I’ve gotta grab cone of cold so I can do the Sister Freide move :)

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Shield Archon seems like an outlier too. 33 is an Extreme AC for a 10th level creature, and 15 for a save is Low-to-Terrible.

I’ll be interested to see how Shadow Signet plays in actual game conditions. Two of my Edgewatch players bought them, and so far, it hasn’t felt unbalanced or overpowered (and both players said that they enjoyed being able to play the ‘what save to target’ game)

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

beowulf99 wrote:
Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:

So then how do horizontal panels factor in to the wall’s dimensions?

Could I make a wall 20 ft tall, 120 ft long, with a 5 ft horizontal overhang along the entire length? What about a 20 ft overhang? Both would still be 20 ft tall, relative to ‘down’

How do you figure out the dimensions of a bridge using Wall of Stone? That is the method you use to factor in a horizontal panel to an wall's overall length.

As to your example wall, no because the overhang, being it's own segment of wall, counts towards the length of the wall, so you could make such a wall 60' long imo.

I see, so you’re treating the overhang as doubling back, only reoriented 90 degrees.

Does that mean ‘down’ is now the plane of the extant wall? Can the overhang be up to 20 ft. long, without using any additional ‘material’?

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

beowulf99 wrote:
Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:

If you can continue the wall from a top edge, could you make a wall of stone 20 ft wide and 120 tall?

What about an L shape, where you’d have a wall that’s 60 ft wide at the base, with a 60 ft spire on one side?

Simplest way to answer: No, because height is still height relative to whatever is "down". When the spell says that the wall can be 120' long and 20' high, I see no reason to allow for the wall to be stacked higher than 20' relative the "ground" beneath it.

For example, say you wanted to make a free standing staircase. No matter how you split the length and height, the total staircase couldn't be higher than 20' from the floor. If however you were to secure that staircase to a wall, then the wall becomes "down" and the staircase can climb up the wall.

TL;DR: The way I see things, whatever the wall is built from becomes "down". At least that is how I see things, your mileage and opinions may (and likely do) vary.

So then how do horizontal panels factor in to the wall’s dimensions?

Could I make a wall 20 ft tall, 120 ft long, with a 5 ft horizontal overhang along the entire length? What about a 20 ft overhang? Both would still be 20 ft tall, relative to ‘down’

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

If you can continue the wall from a top edge, could you make a wall of stone 20 ft wide and 120 tall?

What about an L shape, where you’d have a wall that’s 60 ft wide at the base, with a 60 ft spire on one side?

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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In one of the games I’m playing in, one of the other players is running a dhampir playtest summoner.

I really appreciate being able to Battle Medicine the summoner to keep the Eidolon hp up, without having to rush into melee range. On the flip side, if I need to drop a real deal spell, I don’t need to prep a Harm to cover the dhampir—I can just target the Eidolon.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

I've ruled in my game that a box is a no-go.

You draw a line--shaping the wall's path--up to 120 ft long. The wall pops up from that path, to a height of 20 feet.

If they want a box, my players have to cast it twice, or use existing terrain.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Yeah, the release date should be locked in now.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

Kyrone wrote:

Magus is interesting but in my opinion, their focus spells are not really great. Outside ot the study ones they can pick (all of them somatic):

Force Fang: 1d4+1 damage can't miss, heighten (+2) for 1d4+1

Cascade Countermeasures: Change cascade bonus from damage to spell resistance.

Hasted Assault: Quickened but only for Strikes.

Runic Impression: A property rune, but still limited by your potency rune, you can trade a property rune equipped to one in focus spell by the duration of it.

They’re all 1 action, and recharge your spellstrike, so I think they all seem pretty decent in that context.

Also, I don’t think Cascade Countermeasures replaces your normal cascade bonuses, I think you get the resistance to spell damage in addition to the normal stuff.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

Yeah, its the 2-handed weapon hybrid study.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I think I went through this same internal debate some months back, and finally settled on Magus.

Free MC wizard + Magus wave casting means you've got a decent amount of magic to throw around, and one big spellbook to keep it in.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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67) Sharra, a scythe-wielding gnoll Magus with the Inexorable Iron Hybrid Study. She grew up in Osirion, as part of a growing cult of Pharasmin gnolls inspired by my Mummy's Mask character, a gnoll cleric named Inanna.

She joined the Magaambya both to develop her talents in arcane magic, and to learn more about the gnolls of the Mwangi Expanse.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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A featherless biped.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I do think it would be neat to be able to have a favored form, and still be viable from 1-20.

To keep up with the math, you have to graduate from wolves to dragons to purple worms or whatever, but sometimes you just want to keep that classic wolf aesthetic.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

That's a valid approach, but my concern is: do you actually give them a chance to prove it?

Or do you shut them down and say "Sorry, come back in X levels, this guy is a book 5 villain. "

One requires going way off book (which sounds like a lot of fun, but sort of negates the convenience of running a pre-written adventure). The other just seems really unsatisfying as a player.

Personally, I'm OK with my party not making the connection between The Reaper and Vancaskerkin ahead of time; it made the betrayal at the end of book 4 sting more. The important part is, it makes sense in hindsight--they knew The Reaper was a reference to the blackmail and rumormongering aspect of Norgorber, and in retrospect the newspaper man was an obvious suspect.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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Honestly, the heist would be a much better fit in book 5, after the PCs lose their badges.

You'd have to rework the plotline pretty significantly, but I think there's some fun potential there.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

Zandu the Devourer wrote:
Lord Shark wrote:
Speaking of spoilers ... does anyone else think "Rumormonger" is a bit too obvious an alias for Reginald Vancaskerkin? I'd think it would be a big red arrow pointing at the NPC the players know who runs a gossipy tabloid newspaper.

YES.

I changed it to "The Reaper" for my game.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

The infiltration rules are actually pretty forgiving.

As a player, it's easy to get stuck in the mindset that if you fail a check, it's going to ruin the whole heist and maybe start a big fight--that's largely not the case though.

The way infiltrations work is, failing checks gives you Awareness Points. Hitting certain AP thresholds will have negative consequences, and eventually cause the heist to fail, but a single check is not going to make or break things.

You also have ways to reduce your AP total, if you feel like you're catching too much heat.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

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I was going to say, the pre-built map of the catacombs I got from the Roll20 Book 2 package seemed to work fine, even with the dynamic lighting turned on.

(Though, I am for sure switching to Foundry after I'm done with this AP, for a host of reasons).

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