I am very confused how the Reborn Brothers in area D10 are able to fo a full Flurry of Blows and then also get their natural attacks all in one full attack. I expect to convert the Ex-Monk 5 to Ex-Unchained Monk 5, but I just know some of my players will be very curious how this is happening...
Thanks everyone for the responses! Reading through them, it seems the likely outcome is "No, the Doppleganger shouldn't have the soul, only the animation by the Alchemist's mental will". In that sense, and after having wrote that out, a parallel could be seen in the spell Projected Image, in which you can talk and sense and even cast spells through the created image of you. The group is okay with a minor ret-con like that. The Doppleganger and the Magic Jar spell both have caused a fair bit of head-scratching and adjudication (such as whether Magic Jar on someone under a Mind-Affecting effect allows you to suppress/ignore the outcome of those effects, or what all buffs transfer between caster's old body and new). For the record, I think I found the magic item in question that the Alchemist uses. I do agree that the Doppleganger Simulacrum seems RAI to be used as a get-out-of-jail-free card for a dangerous situation, so I'll probably bring that up. The player would very much like to know the outcome and has asked about potentially swapping it out since he wouldn't have chosen it if he couldn't use things like Magic Jar through it. @Tacticslion: No need to worry about the tone. I wasn't going to take it negatively when I read it. :)
This is a situation that I would both love and hate to be in, to be perfectly honest. On the one hand, "Yay! I get to live!!!". On the other hand, "What do I have to live forrrr?!" That, and a part of me finds it more realistic when the party gets split up and has to tackle things from multiple angles, because IRL, sometimes there isn't enough time to go running through town to grab your friend before you start a tavern brawl. You know what the danger is, but not the where. And at best, you'll probably only be able to arrive at the clean-up phase. :( Since I don't like metagaming and try to discourage it whenever possible, I see only a very few options your character would have: 1) Ask the nearest guard where your friends are (this might allow the GM to get you back in quick, since I would sincerely hope that the guards are keeping the party under surveillance of some sort...) and rushing with all haste to share your discoveries. 2) Go looking for them and use up a lot of time with Diplomacy to gather information and see if anyone's spotted them around town. Then head on over there to eventually try to get their remains. 3) Grab some of the town guard and head out after them. Alternatively, the players will roll up temporary or permanent replacement characters and be sent to find and bring back "the rogue criminals that assaulted Justice Ironbriar and vandalized a sawmill". All three follow a basic thread, but the last two are more "attempt to retrieve their bodies to get them brought back" (even just a simple Reincarnate scroll is about 1280 GP). From a roleplaying standpoint, retrieving their bodies, regardless of whether you bring them back from the dead, can give your character closure. Bringing them back from the dead also allows your character (and you as a player) to take the high ground and lecture them that "THIS is exactly why we need to use our heads and not just rush in! Do you want this to happen again?"
I've written up some short speeches that I'd be saying before the celebrations begin (it's still two more days till the celebrations*): Mayor Deverin's:
"Welcome, citizens of Sandpoint, travelers, and adventurers of all calibers! We gather here today to celebrate and rejoice, for Sandpoint is safe again and I've received news that our loved ones are even now on their way back to us, escorted personally by dwarves freed by our illustrious heroes.
We've seen many trying times since we entered into Autumn, from the terror of Goblin Day to a return of the Late Unpleasantness, and we've only just begun to rebuild from the stone giants' attacks. Still, we have endured. This is Varisia, the land of the untamed and ancient, and any who survive here do so on the merit of their hard work. Today, we celebrate our own hard work and recognize the fact that we are still here. Now, I will let Father Zantus speak. Thank you for your time." Father Zantus's:
"People of Sandpoint! Welcome and rejoice! We are here today to witness the end of the year and the birth of a new one. Sarenraens call this day 'Candlemark' and a day of forgiveness, both of debts and old slights. And how we have been slighted this year! Attacked by goblins, betrayed by our own, murders in the street, a traitor's return when Giants attacked and raided our homes! But we've survived that, and now we're here, on the longest night of the year. Tonight, we will light the way into the new times with Sarenrae's candles, Shelyn's crystals showing the way, and Desna's star dust lighting up the heavens. Tomorrow we near the end of the year and we will walk towards it with lighter hearts, as the goddesses will it. Before we celebrate, a few words from our Sherriff." Sherriff Hemlock's:
"Alright, I'm going to keep this short now that the others have said their piece. Tonight's a new night, so everyone be safe, listen to my boys when they patrol, and have fun! Just watch the drinking, eh?" Though, I think I'll start Chapter 5's opener during the celebrations on the Solstice, at evening. So I'm altering some of the details of the beginning to make it work with the party already being in Sandpoint. *: So... I'm curious. I've never been the greatest with days and night-time (finding out when "Midnight on Oathday" was for Chapter 2 was a pain). If you have the Candlemark holiday that lasts through the night and the Stardust Ritual that happens at evening, do these happen on the 21st itself, or on the 20th going into the 21st?
@Askvar Avari: Well, my party didn't get to Sandpoint this session, but we'll get there next week! We still had an... eventful session though, thanks to introing a new party member, a dhampir skald with a rich dad. So, the player's character is a female Dhampir Skald named Rinka Magalor, daughter of the Vampire Lord Magalor (and one of his slaves). She heard tales of the exploits of the party's Paladin, Sabinna Ronnova (the one who soloed both Mokmurian and the Black Monk), and wanted to invite Sabinna and her associates to a masquerade ball in the Naos District of Magnimar. Rinka even gave a blank check to go to Rinka's tailor. So, the party got new outfits. And Nualia got this one (but without the extra sheathes. She wields a bastard sword). The masquerade went off to a great start with Sabinna, Nualia, the new Samurai Roshi, and the Dragon Disciple Kisara going off to the bar. Much to the staff's horror, they started a heavy drinking contest. I should say now that I usually use simple rules for Drinking: Drinking Rules:
The rest of the story, in spoiler due to length: The party made it through 14 drinks before Roshi, Kisara, and Nualia were considered drunk (Nualia only had a +10 to Fort, so she was done in round 8 or so) and stopped. Rinka presented Sabinna with a one-time use special elixir that required rolling 2 d6s that corresponded to your stats (STR=1, and then go down the list). For the next 5 rounds, the first d6's stat becomes 1 and the second d6's stat becomes 30. Sabinna drank the elixir immediately and rolled DEX and then CON...
When Sabinna said she felt like she could run a mile, Nualia commented that "I doubt you could run a mile, Sabinna. I'm not even sure you could dance right now." Sabinna wanted to prove her wrong, so she dragged Nualia to the dance floor and tried to lead. She didn't do well (I took her CHA and DEX away from her Perform[Dance] 'cause we agreed DEX would make more sense for the skill and she had a DEX of 1 at the time, plus being basically drunk), so Nualia led the dance. When the elixir's effects ended, Sabinna re-took the lead in the dance, which surprised Nualia and threw her off-balance. Rinka saw an opportunity and used the spell Eagle's Splendour to improve Nualia's ability (which was flavored as making her heart race). The group saw the writing on the wall as Nualia's heart raced while dancing with Sabinna. Rinka then cast Unnatural Lust on Nualia, selecting Sabinna as the target. Nualia only failes the save because she was drunk, but she pulled Sabinna closer and caressed her back. Sabinna just thought Nualia was stumbling and supported her, so she was surprised when Nualia then kissed her. Sabinna responded and Shalelu quickly hustled them off the dance floor as they started making out, exiling them to a nearby balcony for some privacy. OOC, this was all hilarious and with a healthy amount of ribbing and teasing, but there's actually a good dose of psychology to it on Nualia's end. Sabinna and Nualia were both drunk, but Sabinna used Angelic Aspect, Greater and flew Nualia around Magnimar on a "proper" date night. We didn't RP all of it yet, but the two of them watched the stars up on a hill and fell asleep together (we don't know yet in what state they were in when they actually went to sleep). Shalelu and Kisara gave them both smug grins when they walked into the inn for breakfast, but haven't messed with them yet...
Sorry for not responding when you posted this originally. I'm really liking where you're going with this, so I'm grateful for you posting this. When I read through this the first time, I opened up my campaign log and checked my dates. It's currently Kuthona 11 by my reckoning, so I'm hoping to spring some of this stuff on the group the session after next. :) In my case, the group has killed the boss of Chapter 4 and the Black Monk (and opened his case and found the password), so they're in a good spot. I know they want to cast Teleport and go sell loot in Magnimar, but I reckon they'll return to explore the big area in the lowest level of Chapter 4, so I can make that an entire session. My Party:: - The party mainly went to Jorgenfist to rescue Shalelu (I kid you not, they're attached to her and were livid when I took her away), and the other villagers too, I guess. I might not have her continue with the party currently do to group size, but that can be RPed either way. I plan to use the Crystalhue holiday as a chance for one of the party to encourage Ameiko to make a move on Shalelu. Ameiko was rather distraught when Shalelu was missing, and quite thankful and willing to help with supplies when the group went to leave. - What started out as a joke between the Dragon Disciple player and me has turned into me getting the idea to have Ameiko play Match-maker with each of the PCs. She's going to try real hard to set the Dragon Disciple up with Brodert Quink. Backstory-wise, the Disciple is a Thassilon scholar and Quink's pupil. Ameiko's main ammo is the suggestion of what a fine match Brodert would be for the Disciple if he agreed to a Reincarnate spell. Not to mention, the Disciple is probably going to want to drag Quink to the big area next to the Chapter 4 boss room, and boy would that ever be a "wife her!" moment for the old man. - Believe it or not, Nualia is a alive and well in my game. She's a warpriest of Desna, though she's learning to be softer (very slowly). She went through a redemption arc and lost her arm (but Desna re-grew it later), and went to Sandpoint at the start of Chapter 4 to apologize to the town. Instead, she volunteered in disguise to defend the town against the giants, but her cover was blown when she was healing Belor Hemlock. She was surrounded and held at sword-point, but the Paladin of Iomedae held the Sherriff at sword-point and basically took up responsibility for Nualia's actions and her life. I plan to have Nualia go to the Sandpoint Boneyard for a bit of regret and contemplation, spilling a bit of her backstory to any of the party that comes to find her; this works because no one has asked her much about her past or why she became good, and none of the original party members are in the party (but one of them is alive). - I'm going to play up a lot of the lesser-used NPCs as well, with a dance performance by Kaye's girls, some ceremonies by Zantus's acolytes, and a bit of an art competition sponsored by the local tradespeople in Sandpoint. Hell, I can probably get one or two of the party members to sit in as judges if they feel like it.
@outshyn I wouldn't be so quick to come down harshly on Dracovar. Dracovar, theLorax, and everybody else here, is only working with the info you provided. If they down't see any info provided about the world's reactions or consequences that came into play, it's a perfecly valid and reasonable conclusion that there were none. We can't help based on what we don't know, is what I'm trying to say. As for whether we need the info or not, it'd help to get a sense of what consequences you'ved tried so far, how the players reacted/dealt with them, and then we can probably get ideas on ways to up the stakes as it were. Again, we can only help if we're on the same page as you, or at least in the same chapter of the book. P.S.: While I agree with keeping post length manageable, it is possible to minimize things inside spoiler tags, which you can use from below by taking out the space I insert: [spoiler=caption ]Whatever is in the spoiler.[/ spoiler]
Name of PC: Jayla, Female Human
Name of PC: Starlight, Female Aasimar
Story: (I want to preface this with a complaint: the catacombs underneath the Glassworks Factory have a terrible layout that makes it too easy for a party to go straight to the boss fight room...) Spoiler:
The party went down to the Catacombs after returning Ameiko to the Rusty Dragon Inn and taking care of some other business in the aftermath of reading Tsuto's journal. One party member was out hunting while the rest went down to investigate the Catacombs (player wasn't there yet).
The party explored in a rather logical manner: explore the first side tunnel they encounter. Doing this approach twice led them to the room where the old shrine/alter is with the filthy water, though the Dwarf Barbarian was lagging behind because he was hacking the ranseur out of the statue's hand (*sniffle* and destroying such a beautiful statue of a historic figure). Nobody wanted to drink the water (which is fair), but the Monk thought there might be booze on the other side of the double doors, so she yelled for the Barbarian to come over. They blew the doors off the hinges with their high STR checks (they were excited) and entered the cathedral. Upon seeing the triangular orange pool at the back, they thought they'd found the booze and the Monk asked the Barbarian what it tasted like... The Barbarian scooped some up into his wineskin (he didn't touch the surface enough for me to worry about the damage and what-not) and smelled it, then drank it. *surprised DM grin, because he was the one person I didn't want to drink it* 8 points of cold damage and a failed Will save later, he's attacking the Monk with his greatsword! The Monk put up a brave fight and the Cleric stepped forward to help, but the Barbarian had Cleave. The Monk died and the Cleric ran for it. I should probably mention that the Rogue had seen the first swing of the greatsword and booked it, managing to find some room to hide behind the alter/shrine and stay down... while having to listen to the Barbarian kill the others. The Cleric couldn't run far and the Barbarian caught up outside the Cathedral and killed her when she turned to have a (very poor) last stand. Since the Barbarian didn't know where the Rogue had gone, he started exploring the rest of the Catacombs and found some Sinspawn to kill (OOC, he was really hoping they'd knock him out or kill him). The entire time, he's playing a game of "Marco Polo" with the Rogue while the Rogue (unknown to the rest of the party) is getting a running commentary from the Quasit, who's been invisible behind the alter/shrine with the Rogue the entire time. Finally, the Quasit tried to use Command on the Barbarian so she can use him as a pet (after the Rage ends, of course), but he passes the will save. She decided to not f**k with him since he just tore through five creatures and is still standing. I didn't want a murder spree in Sandpoint, so I let the effect end as he was leaving the Glassworks Factory. He ran back to the Catacombs, mourned the fallen comrades, tried to comfort the Rogue (who retreated further into the corner), and then buried his comrades. He left his greatsword by their graves and the Rogue threw it in the ocean. This was a hell of a session that none of us could have prepared for. I'm having the Barbarian pick up the Redemption story feat and the Rogue gets the Feral Heart story feat because of her race (kitsune) and general reaction to all the trauma. The Barbarian has sworn off drinking, but we'll have to wait and see how the two will change and develop after this. (As a grim bit of humor, the Barbarian made it to level 4 by killing his two comrades...)
First off, I should have had this posted weeks ago... *sigh* Alright, I have a whole slew of obits following the lovely meeting with Xanesha... *evil grin* Name of PC: Malachi, Male Half-elf
Spoiler:
Something about transforming into a bird in broad daylight, flying up to the top of the clocktower (under the bridge) where birds don't normally go, cawing and making noise to signal the party (despite not arranging a signal system beforehand...), and then going inside.
He amazed me when I told him about the chests over in the nest of silken sheets and he didn't make a beeline to them. This is the gambling gypsy Druid here... He decided to go scouting the interior of the clock tower and work his way down. However, Xanesha had gone invisible when he was cawing outside and was ready with her spear. When the initiative came down, it just wasn't fair: Druid got a 6 + 2 and Xanesha got a 17 + 7. :( When the Druid's turn came 'round, he had taken 4 spear hits, 1 of which crit, and 2 WIS drain, and was at -6 or -8. Meanwhile, the party's waiting for the signal to go inside. So I had Xanesha drop the Druid's body over the side of the clock tower... The group rushed inside and proceeded to obliterate the Scarecrow. :( Then we had to end the session. We picked back up with the Druid's backup character, a Gnome Gunslinger/Swashbuckler arriving in the doorway with a pistol being fired at the Scarecrow. The group proceeded to lose half their health to the bell (because that thing hit _everyone_ and it really doesn't care if you're Invisible or not :) ) and two of them proceeded to cut a second bell loose to attempt to take out two of the Faceless Stalkers that had gone down the stairs to deal with the other two party members. When Team A dropped the second bell, Team B clung to the rafters of the underside of the stairs they were currently on and the bell barely missed their section of the stairs... :) Following other shenanigans, they finally got to the boss fight. Whichs leads us to the almost-TPK! Name of PC: Azureal, Male Human
Name of PC: ???, Male Gnome (Player said the name really fast and the character died, so...)
Name of PC: Ganondorf, Male Elf
Spoiler:
The party did NOT fare well against Xanesha, despite having a really good opening two rounds and yoinking her down to 40-ish health. Unfortunately, the Fighter-Sorcerer was OOC giving me ideas and suggestions for how to make the boss fight more epic/suspenseful. So...
I remembered that Acrobatics can be used to avoid AoOs. After I got the Swashbuckler to -2 (they were unconscious and bleeding out), I had Xanesha jump off the clock tower and cast Featherfall. Next thing I know, all of the remaining party members followed her the next round. The Swashbuckler stabilized, but was unconscious. Meanwhile, I got to have fun running a falling battle between mostly partial party members vs a spellcaster. The Gunslinger missed and/or kept misfiring, the Fighter-Sorcerer wasn't doing much, and the Magus got taken out by a Scorching Ray to the face before he even got halfway to the ground. Xanesha landed one turn before the others and cast Invisibility. Now I had a choice: go back to the top of the tower and kill the unconscious Swashbuckler, or kill these two from stealth when they land. I ended up going with option two and got in some good hits. The Fighter-Sorcerer retreated around the corner of the clocktower (he made a decision he the player would do, not what his character would do) and left the Gunslinger to get butchered in melee. Then took Xanesha's last casting of Scorching Ray to the face and died on the spot. The sad part? They got her down to 10HP, and I said as much. Then as they were picking up their character sheets after their TPK, the Swashbuckler was like "Wait! We still have [the monk, former PC and now NPC] and he's got a wand of CLW!" I'm like "oh, that's right! And technically he's still up there with you." And so we got the Swashbuckler back up at 8HP and he ran downstairs to find all of his party members dead and Xanesha over the bodies. Queue a very tense moment when I had him and Xanesha re-roll initiative and he beat her by 1 point; then he charged forward and beat her AC by 1 point and killed her!!! That is legitimately as close to a TPK as I have ever gotten, but d**n if it wasn't an intense boss fight like they wanted. :D |
