Flutter, Figment Sage Butterfly's page

Flutter takes to the air and silently follows a good 70 feet behind and above, with - to no one's surprise - even less stompyness than Izzy manages.

"Do me a personal favor and don't make a distinction, gentlemen. I'd prefer if you could protect Lia from both kinds of attention."
Flutter sits down on the table in the middle of the group, his voice emanating once more: "Because I have a feeling she will not have much success. No offense, Lia."

Flutter, who had remained silent, speaks up:"He meant your mammary glands, your chest. Your figure would best be described as nubile - despite their small size, they imply your physical readyness to receive children, while their perky and firm form symbolizes youth and health."
He relocates towards her front on silent wings. "That is all it takes to get people - like Aldern - interested in you."

Regarding the save bonus suggestion from the Shoanti Trait - I think you MAY have talked at cross purposes there.

Karmid was suggesting the bonus would apply to ONE of his favored enemies.
I concur that a +1 per point to two saves would still be too strong, it would also mean that the bonus outpaces the class progression(at level 2 you would have it maxed, with the next opportunity to invest only at level 5).

But if it applies to only one favored enemy type, a + 1/2 to both saves, or a +1 to ONE type of save might be reasonable.
The +1/4 levels one you suggested, I think, should apply to all favored enemy types - with one caveat: Will is supposed to be the rangers weak save. So I think it should EITHER boost will, or fort+reflex, not mix.

Maybe simpler, then, to make it +1/3, across all favored enemies, on 1 save of Shoanti choice.
So by Level 6, Karmid could have +1 Reflex, +1 Will on saves against all favored enemies. By Level 9, +1 Reflex and +2 Will, by 12 +2/+2..., it is clearly something that starts weaker but scales strongly into the lategame - by level 15 thats +2/+2 for saves on 4 different favored enemy types(+3 on one save for all that are +4 or higher, or +1/+2/+2).

Sorry for interjecting myself in the talk, but I think the idea is not a bad one, but one interpretation too strong, one too weak, just trying to suggest some middle ground as food for thought.

I did plan to do my downtime today, but my little one disagreed with me having a free evening :) I did get SOME stuff done but did not prioritize seeing we'll have until end of the week before moving on.

That, and I'll need some time to reconsider the shopping list.
(Also, Ro, you can have your Hat of Disguise back now, Lia will likely get her own :D)

Hm, when initially working on a shopping list, I expected 11750 to be the limit, not it seems we are at 19700, which would ALMOST bring Lia to her recommended WBL of 23.5k :D
(plus honestly I have no idea if Lia has any money saved up. She's pretty terrible with finances, and probably handed every street urchin she met in Magnimar a Gold Coin until she run out...)

But can you confirm, GM, that that will be the money we'll have available?

That said, I'll also want to copy the spells from the spellbook during our journey, we can attempt to sell it in Turtleback, then, for a little more pocket money.

Oh, he can totally run for office!
He'd just have to convince Lia to stick around. Maybe with promises of all manners of foreign fruits.

Aye, I know, just wanted to express that Flutters response was not meant as dismissive of your correction as it feels, the Butterfly is on your side, not the Mayors :)
Just trying to push the right buttons so the Muppet does not slip into denial-mode and cut our support shorter than it needs to be.

Hej Issy, for what it's worth, Flutter does share your concern.
The blithe assessment is playing the audience - the Mayor seems to not have a very high opinion of the region, the Rangers, or Erastil in general.
Flutter figured that we more likely to get more support for this by framing things in a way that adheres to his view - technically the location is quite far away and, for the city, a remote and backwater place. (Turtleback Ferry is about 450 km away from Magnimar - which by an estimate of about 50 km per day for horse travel would be 9 days away if we could travel in a straight line - I expect closer to 2 weeks, albeit via a ship may be swifter if there are no obstacles to travelling upstream - i have not checked the rivers in detail))
Either way, I think the Mayor is not inclined to see the urgency unless the threat is a lot closer. (But does take it serious enough to pay us and send us there.)
I think he is used to downplaying any negatives from the political theater, but fearful enough to try and have someone deal with them regardless before they turn into problems.

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.", Flutter responds. "While I am inclined to agree that it is severe, it is only semantics. What is necessary is for us to act swiftly and a military relief unit arriving to hold it. What I'm afraid of is that that may be the easy part, because whoever took it must have mustered their forces beyond the reach of the Rangers stationed there, or there would have been reports, at least.", he turns to the Mayor once more: "...which is why, as said, I expect resolving this issue will require us to venture beyond Turtleback Ferry and Fort Rannick. Luckily, as free agents, we are able to do so and are not bound by Magnimars jurisdiction. But yeah, that does tend to cause expenses - hence point two of my argumentation."

Flutter was paying attention a bit closer to the Mayors words.
KN History: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
KN Local: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
The location, he was familiar with, the person the Mayor mentioned, not so much.

He had wanted to remain silent, but with Lias cluelessness - once more evoking a mental image of a Butterfly trying to facepalm - he had little chance but to speak up:"Your gratitude is welcome, and we will likely re-invest the larger part of it back into the economy of this wonderful city."
Flutter lands near Lia, then continues:"There are two things to keep in mind, though. The former is that even if we keep silent to keep the delicate political situation in balance and prevent a panic, you were excplicitly named as a desired target. They want your soul, and I am quite certain that you do not intend to part with it any time soon. If so, you should look to the gods for protection. For your own sake. There is a shrine of Sarenrae below the Irespan that needs renovation and a new priest. She can offer redemption, if you show compassion to those in your city less fortunate. You are in the fortunate position that you can turn things around and remove the target the soul harvesters painted on you, simply by spending money that is not your own on the right things. By all means, do consider doing so. We seem to have taken out most of the cult in the city, but there could still be fanatics out there that will gladly sacrifice their lifes in an attempt to get to you-"
Flutter pauses briefly, to let that sink in with the Mayor:"The second thing, of course, concerns our trip to Turtleback Ferry. By all we know at this time, we should assume the Black Arrows are no more, and Fort Rannick has fallen. Which no doubt is troublesome. Especially because Forts don't just fall unless abandoned. That means Xaneshas sister likely has allies, an army even, at her disposal, that directly threatens your holdings. If so, that has two consequences - the primary one being that a small group like ours cannot hold a Fort, alone, even if we manage to retake it. You should prepare and send a military expedition as soon as possible, to maintain control of the Fort. Secondly, I'd assume that any armys staging grounds are beyond Fort Rannick and Turtleback Ferry, so any further action on our part that goes beyond the immediate concerncs of Mayor Shreed is likely to incur additional expenses on our part. With your generosity so far, I am certain you can pre-authorize us to act in Magnimars favor to deal with any threats, and we arrange for a suitable compensation for services rendered that go beyond what can reasonably be expected covered with the payment in these bags?"

"Have it your way.", Flutter responds, when Ro makes it clear that she wants to be left alone without saying it, and returns to his duty.

At the entrance, the still-guarding Flutter takes note of Rojava leaving the underground area alone:"Whats up, Rojava? Any trouble down there? Or just in need of some fresh air?"

Flutter remains near the entrance, flying around and below the web while he still can, remaining there to watch for anything else approaching the entrance while his link to Lia remains sufficiently strong.

Ah, but without an infusion of Shadowstuff, it won't be able to hold something, even if it includes tactile sensations. So little chance of pulling a Coyote-Gravity-Trick.
That said, yeah, I also pretended to cast some of the "Wall"-Spells in the past.
And using Greater Shadow Conjuration to make a Wall of Stone certainly has some interesting perks(making it both semi-real and permanent. So you could bridge a chasm, lead people over it, tell them it's an illusion, and watch 2/5ths of them plummet to their deaths while the rest likely panic for a moment.).
(Generally, Shadow stuff makes things quite interesting. I think it is fixed meanwhile, but there were ways to Push Shades beyond 100% real - I think 120% was possible. So whatever you made with it did full damage - except if the person realised it was an illusion in which case it did EVEN MORE damage. (oh, and obviously non-damage effects always worked)).

Regarding your other example, unfortunately, if you KNOW it's an illusion, there's not a "curtain" in most cases...
A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals it to be false, but a figment or phantasm remains as a translucent outline. - only a translucent outline, so no miss chances or non-targetting.

So part of the trick is to make it as believeable as possible so that a.: people don't interact with it, and b.: don't get an automatic pass via proof it is not real.(If, say, you shoot an arrow through the wall from the other side).

Flutter descends 15 feet and verbally informs Lia's companions of what he has observed:"The Gargoyle used a side entrance to get into the Shrine. It may be attempting to circle around."
He speaks loud enough to get their attention, but not so loud that someone in the shrine could understand.

Flutter, not having any combat ability, provides Airborne Warning and Control, hovering about 40 feet above the scene and trying not to draw attention to himself.
Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (17) + 18 = 35
Stealth: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (19) + 27 = 46
Fly: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27
As Flutter has nothing to contribute in combat, I often "pass" him - he might slightly move but otherwise usually tries to stay out of any trouble. Are you fine with me just adjusting him on Roll20 or do you want actual posts for him narrating that he is hovering 5 feet backwards?

As said before, my interpretation was that each single element is "one question", but I'd assume that information to be feature complete.

That is, if I am asking for DR, I don't want to spend a second question on "what overcomes the DR" - especially if it's something I already know as player and just attempt to translate it into character knowledge.
(Not in terms of meta, but e.g. many outsiders have some kind of DR - I may know specifics as player, but the fact itself would be known if you have some experience with planes. If I want to see if my character remembers how to efficiently deal with e.g. devils, I think going the "is there DR" is question 1, "what overcomes it" question 2 route is likely to bog us down and feels like an antagonistic tax. - (and invites rules-lawyer wording....if my first question is already "what overcomes it's DR" i basically learn if it has DR as a freebie in addition, unless the first question is forced-))

Getting "all the information" of a category could also work, but imho only if only the person with the best relevant knowledge gets to roll.
That COULD streamline things, because you could roll the knowledge for us and just tell us how many categories we get to pick in the same post.

But my personal preference would be single items, everybody gets to roll, said items are "revealed" completely unless particularily obscure.

Btw, I get that Flutter is excluded because he already made the checks last time.

BUT:
He got only specific sub-parts of the categories, based on my understanding of the prompt.
If we ARE doing full categories, then he should be entitled to some additional information.
(And would have shared that information with the others, so Karmid does not have to double up on the same categories - (which is just as well, 26 beats DC 14 by 10, not 15, so it's 3 questions, not 4.)

(I originally asked for Elemental Resistances, SR, and Senses with Flutters 3 Questions)

So based on the "Categories" that would be
Senses
Special Defenses (e.g., DR, SR, Resistances, Immunities)
and I'll take
Other Special Abilities (SQ)
as the third one(since SR and Resistances are both Special Defenses).

So those 3 all of us would already know prior to coming here.

Flutter notifies Lia by showing his Excitement through the Empathic Link they share.
He flies back down, then hovers in a position that would make Lia look directly at the Gargoyle if there were no obstacles, and pulses both Fear and Pride through their link.

If Lia sees nothing, and takes a few steps to get a better look, Flutter will adjust his hovering position accordingly, once more making Lia look directly towards the Gargoyle he found.

When such proves necessary, he will hover slightly back and forth across the imaginary line between his mistress and the gargoyle, without speaking up.

He'll take 10 on Fly for 25 to hover in position and do his maneuvers. He uses his own skill ranks, and Bluff is not among them. But I'm hoping the behaviour may draw e.g. Ro's attention and maybe give enough of a circumstance/aid bonus to negate that distance penalty.

Flutter, who had seen the creature yesterday, and understood on an emotional level what the birds told his mistress, took to the sky, circling around the shrine in a circle as high and far as his link to Lia allowed.(Only 100 Feet, but that IS quite high enough for an overview)
He looks around for any ceiling-perching suspicious statues he could direct Karmid towards, remaining ready to use whatever nearby trees, ruins, or windows to run and hide the moment danger finds him.
Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (12) + 18 = 30
Stealth: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (10) + 27 = 37

Knowledge History: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Flutter remembers what he learned about the place, and readily shares the information with whoever will listen.(Spoiler free for all)

As Karmid passes, Flutter looks up:"She dressed her wounds. She will be fine. She only needs some rest. I focus...on being calm. Take care."

GM Polyfrequencies wrote:

Feel free to ask a question about lamia matriarchs, Karmid, using the same categories that Lia had.

Special Defenses (e.g., DR, SR, Resistances, Immunities)

Hey Karmid, it's your question, but you may want to specify.

Fly - 180 turn away from the creature DC 20: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (6) + 15 = 21
Stealth: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (19) + 27 = 46

Flutter makes a withdraw action perpendicular to Lias new location, and attempts to hide mundanely using scenery and city as cover.

KN Nature: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18 Elemental Immunities?
KN Planes: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23 Senses? Spell Resistance?

Well, you can attune individual weapons - so you could simply drop the +1 natural armor from the default array, and instead attune a second weapon, having 2 +1 weapons.

They don't seem to have an escalating price in the pool system, and honestly, that makes sense, since you are paying for flexibility and variety - having 4 weapons at +2 just gives you options, not more power(as one weapon at +4 would).

Habitually, I'll wait with scribing scrolls until the next time we liquidate assets.
Unfortunately, it's not just the spellcraft, but also ink and book costs - as you mentioned.
I had a situation once or twice where I was trying to copy all the spells e.g. from a captured spell book so we could sell it, then ended up with my share after expenses being too low to afford what I actually WANTED to buy.
So now I do it the other way round - I roughly estimage how much scribing would cost, see what my loot share is, see about spending that money, then arrange for the scribing - not copying a couple higher level spells if money is short can be quite a difference(or even omitting a few lower-level ones the likelyhood of actually using is very low).

Hmmm, maybe the final battle of the AP will be a Battle of the Bands...

"Thank you for coming out Varisia. We are...THE RUNELORDS!"
Squealing guitars and thundering drums drown out the BBEG's monologue.

Also meant to reply to this.

Unfortunately, no luck on the spear.
She polymorphed to get away from the statue, which is why she was not armed with it., but she took it with her that way when Lia sent her sailing.

"I honestly doubt anybody was in the tower with us, or trying to rush towards where it collapsed. It was a miracle it fell the way it did, but if you insist on checking the rubble...", the butterfly responds to the Shoanti rushing off towards the remains of the shadow clock, then turns to Lia:"I am small enough to look beneath the rubble, check if there is anything or anybody worth digging out - but my wings are delicate all the same, so if you could provide some magical grease, that would be helpful."

Lia happily complies, then places Flutter on the rubble, watching her butterfly crawl into the debris while softly humming a song about hope and overcoming adversity to herself.

Knowledge(Engineering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Escape Artist: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 10 + 2 = 31

Perform(Sing): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28

Ro (and anyone else looking to purchase a specific magic item): go ahead and give me a d100 roll to determine its availability. For me, high is always good for the players. So if you roll 26-100, you'll be able to find the belt. If you roll a 1-25, then it's not available this week in Magnimar but might be available next week or in another location.

AFAIK, there's also some input from city size and how high-level the magical item is(or the base prize, not sure), but for our purposes, financial capability and current location, GM decided on a fixed "1-25 fail", "26-100 success" distribution.

What GM did not comment on yet was if there is a price limit on individual items.(that is, no more than half our budget for any single item or something like that - but then, since we do check availability it seems we are shopping, not just outfitting, so it would seem we are not subject to limitations there.)

Now that most of the dust and rubble has settled, an oversized butterfly emerges from it's hiding space and returns to Lia, sitting down on her head. "It is most unfortunate that the Lamia managed to escape. You are probably right in that she will not cause trouble in the city any more, but I am almost certain she will not abandon whatever agenda drove her to set all of this up. Chances are our paths will cross hers again. We should be prepared for that. Maybe bolster our numbers. Karmid, you know this person?"

Fun fact, for MOST characters, the static boni to damage are sufficiently high that the +5 is more efficient over a +1 with more specials - due to the increased hit probability across all iteratives.
(If you were to hit with rolls of 7, 12, 17 before, with the extra +4 it would be 3, 8, 13 after - I've done the exact math elsewhere, suffice to say it more than doubles the chance of all hits connecting(which they don't even have to, the chance of at least 2 hits connecting is also already significantly higher) - and with the static damage modifiers(e.g. strenght, power attack, magic enchantment etc...) it will usually be more efficient to connect two attacks over hitting only one with additional factors(e.g. flaming burst or impact).

Of course, Flavor then comes into play, and that flaming impact weapon may just be what WORKS for karmid. :)
I'm just saying if you can't afford the enchantments just yet or there is no down-time mid-arc to get it done, then just using the base attunement is not all bad :)

Oh, not gonna lie, I was looking forward to doing the math.
On the same page, there.
I just know I don't really have time for it, so appreciate it regardless.
*waves back*

Lia and I love the work you did on that, even saving us from doing our own math. As Izzy said it: we're all in on that.

Knowledge(Engineering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Yep, tower is coming down. Fully and without doubt. I don't think that roll will add new information, such as how much time we have before anything catastrophic happens.

The party is up! She's about 10' off the deck, so all of you can still hit her with melee attacks. Seems like the PCs are not the only ones having trouble with the dice roller!

Effect cloud spreads in 20-ft. radius, 20 ft. high

Man, have I got news for snake lady...

Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (16) + 18 = 34
"Karmid, watch out. Dodge!", Flutter shouts out as his butterfly-senses are tingling - then swiftly moves to take cover among the rooftop, hiding again.
Move to stealth: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (7) + 27 = 34

Knowledge: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Flutter knows, but prefers to stay hidden. Speaking would give his position away - and for now, he opted to remain hidden and an extra pair of eyes, as he circles towards the lair, staying near the rooftop.

Stealth: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (19) + 27 = 46
Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (7) + 18 = 25

Flutter, hoping to maybe at least warn Karmid of whatever awaits him, flies straight up hoping to see if an ambush has been set.
Stealth: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (1) + 27 = 28 Am I glad Skills don't have autofail on 1...
Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (18) + 18 = 36

Flutter follows his mistress, trying to remain hidden himself while stealing a glance at the creatures, hoping to identify them.
Knowledge(any): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
Unfortunately staying behind the bells to keep out of sight himself also complicates getting a good luck at the enemies.

If there is no need to actually climb, I figured the rope would more serve as a "help" you can hold on to during difficult passages, not actually tied together. For our purposes, it should be enough, and it allows us to remain flexible(if e.g. the floor below someone starts being unstable - if we are tied together everybody else has to move more or less simultaneously - unless we give so much room that anybody falling would gain enough momentum to simply pull the next people with them...)

Why am I actually waiting for someone else to check...
Knowledge(Engineering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22 Is the remainder of the stairs structurally sound enough that dismissing the web won't cause trouble?

Flutter, who was above and beyond the reach of both Web and Bell, comes closer, flying past destroyed support beams and broken wood, before sharing his findings with Lia and the others.

Oh, looks like he got the drop on you, Karmid.
This smells of DM Fiat. No wait...

You should have a swift + either in surprise, so I'd assume the same is true here. Swift is basically like "Special free action, but limited to one".

Flutter moves on towards where the snapping sound comes from, trying to find if there is danger for the party.

Flutter resumes his advance scouting.
Perception: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (3) + 18 = 21
Stealth: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (12) + 27 = 39

Fennith wrote:

....but spending almost half your life at that age with Fey almost exclusively seems...troublesome)[/ooc]

Like that favorite wine auntie whom you adore because she's the mostest fun adult ever until you have to spend two weeks at her house and you return home afterward confused, hungry (or 5 pounds heavier), exhausted, and so glad to be told to go to your room you want to cry. XD

And that's if you are lucky, yeah.

(That said, I do LOVE the connection with the Fey, itself. I'm mostly worried about the duration, and the age. Synaptic pruning and all that...it would have heavy impact on the kind of person you turn into. If such is actually the intent behind that, then disregard my concern. I just have a hard time visualizing the shift from growing up with Chaotic Fey to becoming a Lawful Monk. I mean, I suppose teenage rebellion is a thing, but... :) )

You are imaginary, girl. Leave me out of this.

6d10+10+21

*mouth drops*

Yeah, I'll happily take that. I'll get Kendra and Whisper's profiles up ASAP.

Yeah, no doubt about it, you get to be tank.