FYI, at this point, I'm going to stop reading the gameplay thread. I'll start again when my new character is introduced, without knowledge of what has happened in the meantime.
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This is already a 7 player party, right? There shouldn't be any issues with you guys continuing without Elkin. That gives me time to try out some builds on paper to decide what direction I want to go, without holding you up in the meantime.
I have a tentative build of an Android Rogue with the Numerian Scrapper and Underground Chemist archetypes. He would focus on dealing sneak attack damage with splash weapons. I may explore what that would look like as an alchemist, as well, just to see the options.
Hahaha I will have to think on the goblin! We've only got two dwarves in the party and no elves; it should be a smashing success! I really like Elkin, but I also don't think my vision for him has come to fruition, and we don't seem to be moving in that direction either. (Basically, a master debuffer allowing us to drop save-or-suck spells/effects.) Let me see what I can come up within the next day or so as far as a character concept to build for. Feel free to suggest any holes that you think could be filled in our party makeup. @GM, do you have any thoughts about building a new PC for this game? Any guidelines you'd want me to follow?
So Elkin is well and truly dead; his negative hit points far exceed his constitution. The cheapest way to get Elkin back into the swing of things is via raise dead and two castings of restoration; this would cost a total of 8,010 gp. We could also explore the idea of replacing him with a brand new PC. Thoughts?
Elkin takes another step forward into the room, and shifts his attention to this newcomer. Reaching his will out to the fates, he ask them to harry the half-orc with ill luck as he continues his chaotic laughter. Actions:
Elkin steps fully into the room and immediately targets the remaining acolyte with his Evil Eye. He cackles as he moves, delighted at the colorful display. Actions:
Elkin moves up to the door, and is immediately dazzled by the arrays of blinking lights and the multitudes of displays. They'd all been immersed in this technological world for so long that he'd almost become numb to it, but periodically the brilliant and colorful displays would still surprise Elkin--a lifetime of gathering spare parts had never prepared him for this kind of setting--and he had to pause and wonder at all. Nelen, so often secreted away within the folds of Elkin's cloak, even pops out onto the witch's shoulder to look around, basking in the radiated electronic glow. The petromin's own luminescence seems to pulse along with the blinking lights and displays in this room. Suddenly catching himself lost in reverie, Elkin quickly charges a bit of arcane energy to pass along a small burst of guidance to Uronzeer, standing in front of him. Actions:
Elkin takes a moment to draw out his wand and apply mage armor to himself.
When Elkin realizes that Vedia has succumbed to Hellion's confusion, he turns sharply and looks at her. He wracks his brain for some way to free her from the effect, but can't come up with anything. Not willing to risk her further harming herself... or anyone else in the party, he decides that an unorthodox approach is best. He fixes his mind on turning fate against Vedia just as he's been doing to the constructs. The thought of targetting his own party causes his ongoing cackle to take on an almost frantic tone, both his amusement and his concern rippling through the peals of laughter. Actions:
Elkin steps to the door to have a view into the room, and tries to twist the forces of fate to work against one of the robots. Actions:
Elkin moves over to the double-doors in the central area and listens at them to try to determine what he's hearing on the other side.
"Let's see what we have over here, shall we?" He moves aside so someone else can work on opening the door.
Elkin keeps his attention on the cleric, working his will with the fates against the cleric even as the acolyte tries to protect it. His insane laughter continues, undermining both with its unsettling sounds. Actions:
Elkin begins to go a little wild when another foe enters the combat, turning to face the new cleric. He fixes this one with his evil eye as his cackle grows louder and wilder. Actions:
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Elkin abandons his attempt at working his Evil Eye on the acolyte in red, instead bringing his influence over fate to bear on her instead. Actions:
Hi team; got back later than expected yesterday and off to a slower start than planned for today. I will try to catch up on as many games tonight as I can, but won't truly be back to regular posting until Wed. Thanks for your patience!
Hearing the sounds of an oncoming ambush, Elkin slips his hand into this bag and retrieves a wand, ready to activate it momentarily.
This is an early warning that I'll be away for Memorial Day weekend. I start traveling early Thursday AM and won't return until Monday PM. I will make sure that I have an updated "Bot Me" spoiler in my profile before I leave for the vacation, and I'll post again here Wed PM as a reminder.
Elkin studies the area of his storm; it was a new spell for the witch, and he was curious to see its impact in person. Satisfied, he moves with the others towards the entrance to Hellion's... lair? temple? He pays no attention to the crowd, even though some are now cheering the group's effort.
Looking at the dripping warriors, Elkin speaks with a light smile in his voice. "Well, I wasn't really intending that you would charge into the storm...."
Elkin smiles at all the attention he's drawn from Hellion. "How can you be a true god if all it takes is a little witch to throw your plans awry?" He turns once more to James, touching the gunslinger on the arm passing on a bit of calm to help center the gunslinger for when he makes his shot. Actions:
Congrats!
Elkin waits alongside James for the storm to disperse so that he can target the troll with his magic. While he waits, he reaches out and taps James' gun, giving the gunslinger a knowing nod and a grin. Actions:
...and I've just realized that I forgot to account for it on my last turn. *grumble grumble* Something that I've seen done--and that I intend to do when I start GMing--is to include a status summary with each round. @GM, it would look something like this: Bold may act
Elkin, waiting for both allies and foes to emerge from the storm, moves over to James and helps prepare the gunslinger for the remaining battle with a granting of arcane luck. Actions:
Kind of feels un-intuitive that the lighting shot could be lined up so well since you could not see where they were. I am justifying it as they are still close enough to where you last saw them that you took a guess. Fair point. That actually gets to the heart of why I've always struggled with the obscuring mist class of spells. Widely considered to be some of the most powerful spells, they always seem troublesome to me because they ultimately hamper your own party in the same way that they hurt your foes.
Elkin uses the speed provided by Vedia's spell to quickly reposition himself around the storm, trying to find a line through which he can make a devastating attack. Deciding he's found it, he summons more of the storm-like energy to him, launching a powerful arc of electricity right into the heart of the sleet storm. Actions:
Elkin throws his arcane powers out into the surrounding environment, drawing all of the storm energy that he can muster. A very powerful but localized storm appears, blinding the oncoming foes with driving sleet and icing the surface on which they ride. Actions:
Driving sleet blocks all sight (even darkvision) within it and causes the ground in the area to be icy. A creature can walk within or through the area of sleet at half normal speed with a DC 10 Acrobatics check. Failure means it can't move in that round, while failure by 5 or more means it falls (see the Acrobatics skill for details).
"I wouldn't be surprised if the goal of this arena battle is to eliminate the annoying upstarts in town." Elkin looks around and grins. "Not that we shouldn't do it, of course... we have more capability than they might expect."
Does anyone mind if Elkin purchases a cackling hag's blouse out of the group funds? It will improve his action economy, giving him a swift-action Cackle twice a day, allowing him to extend Misfortune and Evil Eye without using the normal move action.
We should make sure to keep the wand of cure moderate and the +1 human-bane arrows. If nobody else wants it, Elkin wouldn't mind the extra AC from the belt, but he also has no real class features that depend on Dex, so it should probably go to someone who makes more use of Dex, if possible.
Elkin wanders the market, finding the whole experience to be quite interesting. He wonders if he'd even seen the Drift once or twice out on the plains, when his tribe was traveling and doing their own exchanging of goods. He assists in selling some of the sundry items that they'd collected in these past weeks. While he didn't think the bank would build high enough for the blouse he had his eye on, he still wanted to see how much of a shortfall he would have.
Elkin currently wears a cloak +1 himself. If someone doesn't claim this one, we should sell it. If nobody else wants the ring of the ram, I think Elkin can make use of it. We should sell off all the loot that is otherwise unclaimed. Elkin currently has 2600 gp, and is trying to save up 6000 for a cackling hag's blouse.
"Whoa! 'Zeer; that's uncalled for. Let's save the rage for combat, when it counts, eh?" Elkin tries to catch up with the guard to apologize. "Hey, sorry about that. 'Zeer's short fuse is good for us in combat, but when it bleeds over into real life like this it can get a little scary. We're grateful for your help. We've found another spot to move into; we just need to get it cleared out. We're going to rest here tonight, then you all will be able to take this spot back over again. Sound good?"
He claps the guard on the back before sending him off. "If it's not too much trouble, have stop by tonight for a quick chat, eh?"
Elkin nods. "It's been a big day; we've done much in Scrapwall already. I agree; let's rest up and see what tomorrow brings. We can spend the rest of the evening organizing our takings from all these places, so we're ready to meet this trader tomorrow."
Elkin abandons his evil eye attack, instead calling out to the fates to hamper the manticore. "This could have been a parlay, you little snot. We were just here to talk. Now you're going to have to die." he says, all under his voice, a soliloquy that drifts off into pained and uncomfortable laughter, interspersed with harsh coughs. Actions:
Elkin goes flying backwards through the air as the manticore's tail spike pierces his shoulder, flipping and falling until he's finally able to arrest his airborne tumble. He quickly drops down to the ground, where he struggles to catch his bearings, the pain in his shoulder having become the only thing he can think of. He casts about for help, wondering why he doesn't carry a simple potion of healing for a case like this. I know the first thing I'm asking that merchant for...
But he forces himself to return to the task at hand... the manticore. He'd show that thing a vision... fright or delight... Elkin didn't know what form it would take, but the mystical beast would have no choice but to look on in wonder at the happenings of its own mind. He calls on Nelen, drawing power through the petromin, and throwing it all at the manticore in a psychedelic trance. Actions:
Elkin holds his arms out, drawing in the power of the winds; they indeed begin to pick up around him, and he begins to lift into the air. He flies up over the manticore's nest, just for a scouting run to get a view of the beast and its position, then he returns to the ground.
Sorry, had a migraine yesterday and couldn't post. I'm posting this message in all of my games and circling back around to catch up. Give me up to a couple of hours to catch up; thanks!
Elkin shares the group's plan. "I think we are intending to take over the Smilers' hideout. We'll obviously need to clean it up to make it habitable... there were some unsavory things going on there." "Is there any chance we could enlist your assistance in cleaning it out? It seems that we still have things to do here in Scrapwall; we'll be busy. In lieu of the reward you've offered, would you be willing to help?"
Agreed; I didn't see anything in that loot that Elkin needs. Edit: we should probably keep the wand of cure moderate wounds. Healing is always useful. It's on Elkin's spell list, so he could carry it as a backup in case Augar goes down.
"I agree. This is a better base of operations for us, and it's freely available; we won't have to share it."
That makes sense; enjoy Disney!
Elkin again targets the hobgoblin, this time with simple misfortune. He asks the fates to twist harder against her; he continues cackling. Actions:
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