Meholder's page

Late to to the party (ha!):
Name: Zestia
Race/Class: Human Ranger 9
Origin: Magnidar
Adventure: The Hungry Storm
Location: between the Spire and the way under the mountain
Cause of Death: Very accurate rocks

It took a random ambush by some frost giants to finally kill someone in the party. They've had a few close calls and Koya was killed when a frost worm attacked (and raised by the Seal) but they're a well-built party led by a very smart player using a wizard. Also, all of the PCs are some flavor of neutral, which has been nerfing most of the evil-based spells. It took odds being defied - out of six rocks thrown with random determination as to target, three found the ranger - all of them crits. She'd been a terror all along, helped by Suishan's ability to protect from cold, but she was out of this fight in two rounds. The others immediately started debating what to do - they were afraid to use the Seal again because they thought the herd of undead that started chasing them had been sent by the 5 Storms homing in on the artifact - but my dice, already red hot, determined that Ameiko grabbed the body, used her cloak to DimDoor back to the caravan, and used the Seal before they could stop her.

The ensuing oni sent to deal with them showed me how much I hate the spell Icy Prison :p

I think now (and I've been wrong before) that the cat makes his immediate action teleport and full attack between the time that the caster begins his spell and that spell completing.

IF the caster actually makes the concentration check for being cat-mauled while casting AND beats SR AND the cat fails the save AND the cat is still in the area of effect or otherwise still targeted, then yes the spell takes effect.

That's exactly what I was looking for, and that's a great solution by having him make a concentration check. Awesomeness. Thank you!

While I don't deny my search-fu is weak, I'm not sure the link answered my question (which could mean my reasoning-fu is weak as well). I understand it's an immediate action and BOOM, cat's there clawing away, but what if the spell is something debilitating? Let's use Icy Prison, the spell the wizard in my campaign loves right now. He casts Icy Prison at a dweomer cat. From what I understand, the cat makes the teleport regardless of SR penetration or save - but if we say it gets the attack no matter what, is it then in an Icy Prison if the caster caster beats SR and it fails the save?

to be fair, I've expanded on my original question. I have many -fu issues, it appears.

While I don't deny my search-fu is weak, I'm not sure the link answered my question (which could mean my reasoning-fu is weak as well). I understand it's an immediate action and BOOM, cat's there clawing away, but what if the spell is something debilitating? Let's use Icy Prison, the spell the wizard in my campaign loves right now. He casts Icy Prison at a dweomer cat. From what I understand, the cat makes the teleport regardless of SR penetration or save - but if we say it gets the attack no matter what, is it then in an Icy Prison if the caster caster beats SR and it fails the save?

Looked for answers, came up short. Likely my fault.

Anyway.

With the dweomer leap, it says it's an immediate action triggered by a targeted spell or an AoE. If it's a targeted effect that penetrates the SR (say an Icy Prison or something like that), which occurs first - the teleport/pounce or the spell's effect? Or does the leap avoid the spell completely?

My terribly clever PCs used Oathtaker to make the captured Winter Wolf swear to help them over the Eye and not harm them. Skygni is not pleased and I think may have some of his friends show up one night on the trail. They finished Ravenscreg with zero spells left and the communal CLW wand drained from full to empty. The monk was down to 6 CON and when Kimandatsu fell they had three of the five in single digit hits.

They killed pretty much everything in the fortress except for Wodes, so I think I'm going to pump him up a bit and have a good old ambush in Kalsgard featuring Wodes, Hekja, a bunch of raven swarms, and some of the remaining ninja. Any advice to challenge a party that's lethal when they are hit at full strength?

thank you, all. I'll count it against their movement, I think, so if they slow fall 20 feet they'll still have 20 feet of movement left to get into the party's grind-o-matic. Appreciated the help!

I have monks who will be attacking from above first then using slow fall to drop to the floor and attack, and my concern is whether the drop to the floor counts as movement or if it's free. The evil GM side of me wants it to be free so they don't move down just to be hacked to pieces by the party's meat shields.

Can't find a definitive answer for this, which is probably a failing on my part, but anyway - is a monk's slow fall considered movement or is it a free action?

Gotta agree that the payment for the assassin was kind of low. But in both JR campaigns I ran, she almost killed her target ( one time Koya, the other time an unarmored bard character ), where the "save" came from unlikely sources ( Sohei special ability to act when surprised, and two hero points for the bard to not be dead ), so maybe the problem here is that you attacked the fighter character, not the poorly armored vulnerable one?

During Combat Hekja makes a ranged sneak attack against the most heavily armed and armored PC on the surprise round. On following rounds, she fires at the PCs as long as they remain in sight.

I've learned that my instincts might be a better idea, hence the thugs mixed in as part of the surrounding crowd. I think you're right and attacking the damn wizard would have been the better call. He's super clever and min/maxed his stats so he's tossing around insanely high DCs for the level. I'm going to toss a mage with ray of enfeeblement at him and his 8 strength and see what happens :)

I'm tinkering with NoFS almost constantly - the leaps of knowledge it requires are almost silly (A magic helmet to provide a crucial link? Really?). My PCs happily figured out the Rimerunner/Frozen Shadow connection by keeping one of the ninjas from Snorri's boat alive and using Charm Person on him. I mod's flat statement that the entrance to the back door of Ravenscrag simply can't be found irked the hell out of me, so I was happy to give them a chance to find it using the info from the ninja (they hit a DC30 survival check, but if they'd thought of it the wizard's raven familiar could have found the back-door valley with ease). I will give the writer kudos for the ochre jelly, which befuddled the wizard who had been blinding/greasing everything in sight. Even his pit didn't work as they made so many ochre jellies that it overflowed. heh.

I also had to pump up the NP archer assassin encounter as it's woefully underpowered. A single archer with arrows of seeking is supposed to take out the fighter? Her surprise round shot did 24 points of damage, which didn't even bloody him. The wizard threw up a silent image of a wall between them and her and it would have been over if not for the thugs I'd tossed in. Also - she's getting paid 500gp to kill someone. She fails and them spends 0ver 2000gp on an arrow of slaying? I'm not a stickler for details but that's just ridiculous.

Thanks for the feedback. I had misremembered that when I did the earthglide the sphere just sat on the ground until the wizard moved it again. He also jumped on his floating disc so the elemental couldn't tremorsense him, the clever SOB

The other night I attacked the party with a large earth elemental. the wizard dropped a Flaming Sphere on its head. On the next round I said it reached up and put out the fire with its hands, thus sparking an argument between myself and the player. I reasoned that it was basically smothering the fire between dirt (its head) and more dirt (its large hands), which he disagreed with. In order to keep the game moving I said that instead of that it's slipped into the ground and did an earth glide instead, extinguishing the sphere. But I'm still curious what you all think about the smothering attempt.

My group is in Brinewall castle now, having found the back door and having the battle with the creature there turn on a lucky crit. I've had to pump up the monsters considerably (making trogs all advanced trogs, adding another ogre and making them both advanced) to keep them challenged (we have 5 PCs and a Luckbringer/Cleric NPC). They hit Brinewall at 3rd level due to a few road encounters and a memorable chase in Riddleport (during which they angered the Sczarni, and that will make for a fun trip home). I haven't decided about how to handle the harpy's possible betrayal yet but I like the idea of her wanting the Pazuzu statue (which is currently being carried by the very pissed-off wizard) and willing to take it and go.

We've also pretty much scrapped the caravan fight rules and just have straight fights instead around the wagons.

One of my players who had just leveled up used Pyrotechnics last session for the first time. He had his familiar fly out and drop an Alchemist's Fire flask for the fire, then he cast the spell. The party had pre-arranged a code word for when the spell was going to go off to close their eyes. It wreaked havoc on my bad guys.

To be honest, he caught me by surprise with this one. I've already ruled that next time the other members of the party are going to have to make perception checks (with big penalties if they are in combat) to hear him calling out the word in time. I'm also considering allowing solid objects (like a wagon) that block line of sight negate the effects. But is letting his familiar deliver the flask and having him be able to cast the spell in a single around giving him too much power? I know there's other ways around this (creatures with blindsense, undead, etc) but I don't want to penalize him too much for a pretty good idea (although he's already got a 20 INT so the save is 17, pretty tough for CR 4 and 5 monsters). Thoughts?

yes that is a limiting factor purposely built into the spell so your pool of extra hit points can't be 3 miles away relaxing in a medic tent.

The spell is intended to be constrained into a combat environment so your foes have a reasonable chance to threaten the caster, not just the warded creature.

Be thankful for this, elsewise every BBEG you encounter would be using this to connect to a protected hit point factory hidden elsewhere.

Cool. thanks for taking the time to answer me.

Running Jade Regent and the group's samurai now has possession of a repaired Whispering Shrike. My question is about the Shield Other spell. here's the spell info:

Shield Other

School abjuration; Level cleric/oracle 2, inquisitor 2, paladin 2; Domain community 2, martyr 2, protection 2
CASTING

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (a pair of platinum rings worth 50 gp worn by both you and the target)
EFFECT

Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature
Duration 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

DESCRIPTION

This spell wards the subject and creates a mystic connection between you and the subject so that some of its wounds are transferred to you. The subject gains a +1 deflection bonus to AC and a +1 resistance bonus on saves. Additionally, the subject takes only half damage from all wounds and attacks (including those dealt by special abilities) that deal hit point damage. The amount of damage not taken by the warded creature is taken by you. Forms of harm that do not involve hit points, such as charm effects, temporary ability damage, level draining, and death effects, are not affected. If the subject suffers a reduction of hit points from a lowered Constitution score, the reduction is not split with you because it is not hit point damage. When the spell ends, subsequent damage is no longer divided between the subject and you, but damage already split is not reassigned to the subject.

If you and the subject of the spell move out of range of each other, the spell ends.

My concern is the last sentence. I see in the description that the spell's range is 25 feet +5ft/2 levels, but is that just for casting it on your target or do the two have to stay within that range during the duration as well? That seems unreasonable as the protected fighter suddenly can't charge anything or else she'll move out of range and negate the spell. Am I missing something here (entirely possible) or is the required proximity a limiting factor purposely built into the spell? Thanks in advance for help!

Fun, fun class. Using one as an NPC with the party and really enjoy the flexibility it gives me, as she doesn't outshine them at anything and yet is still very useful. In fact she saved the samurai from a possible critical that would have killed him from Gutwad's spear with a Fatespin that turned it into a miss. I would play this class in a second.

Plus I LOVE that it's on Herolab for easy updates. Excellent job.

Buri wrote:

taepodong wrote:

All Inquisitors are Neutral Evil.

Surely you jest!

I have GMed one and played in a party with one, and they both were a Good alignment on the sheet. The way they played in game was Evil in both cases. The alignment shift thing was abused in both cases, and I can't see myself taking the class seriously until I either play one myself or play with one who doesn't abuse the shift ability.

Had the game I was GMing not went off the rails, the Inquisitor in the game I ran would have come to a very gruesome end. Good characters do not repeatedly torture and/or kill people they know are only guilty of x by association or ignorance, that is the M.O. of Evil characters.

I have to disagree, but it might only be because the person playing the inquisitor in our game is perhaps the best player I've ever gamed with. He is incredibly adept at interrogation and gets by on the threat of torture, like laying out his tools before asking questions. He recently coerced an Ulfen into talking by threatening to 'cut off his hands and feet, put him in a pink dress and parade him through town in a giant baby carriage.' When the Ulfen laughed he had him put to sleep and then brought in his sorcerer. After tying off his hands and feet so they'd go numb, he put him in a giant pink dress and had the sorcerer Major Image the table he was on into a giant baby carriage while making his hands invisible. Once the Ulfen failed his Will save the GM just laughed and had him spill the beans (once he stopped freaking out and was told that MAYBE we had a healer good enough to restore him).

Long story long, our inquisitor is easily LN and probably shades toward LG. It's possible.

I agree with what KrispyXIV wrote - voice an objection now but don't act until your party ends up somewhere where slavery isn't as accepted. Then an 'escape' in the middle of the night with a pouch of gold takes care of the situation. You might want to speak to the GM privately on this one and take care of any necessary rolls then, which allows the GM to say, "Okay, you wake up. Dude, your slave is gone. His collar is on the ground and you quickly lose his tracks on the rocky terrain. Did anyone see him leave? (chorus of noes) Well, what do you want to do?"

Ha! I sent my entry in an hour before this thread posted. Bummer, as there's some great advice here. Think I'm okay, but I suppose the judges will be the judge of that.

judge judge judge judge

We fought Xanesha a few sessions ago. We'd mopped up Ironbriar with our group of 6 6th level characters - human barbarian; human inquisitor; dwarf witch; halfling bard; half-elf sorcerer; and gnome cleric (NPC). I do not believe the GM weakened her but he did admit afterward he was worried about a TPK at session's beginning.

When we got to the tower my sorcerer looked at it and said, "Hey, I'm just guessing here, but I bet this Wanton Nature thing is going to be up top, so why don't we go up the outside instead of slogging our way through the defenses?"

Lucky idea. We had a couple of fly potions, the witch can do it by himself, and the halfling is still riding Ripnugget's gecko from the skull island. We came up over the side buffed up and caught her unprepared, yet it was still a pretty hairy fight. She went invisible and mirror imaged and after I dispelled the invisibility she hit me with the Medusa mask and I rolled a 2 for my save . . . and the bard invoked her Lucky Halfling feat to reroll for me and hit the save on the nose. We had buffed the hell out of the warriors (the barbarian was at +20 to hit at one point) and the witch got lucky when his summoned grell grappled her (it was quickly reduced to a catatonic state via wisdom loss, but we didn't care). The final round the barbarian critted after the inquisitor had already clocked her and they combined to knock her out before she could escape.

Of course I cast Feather Fall on her so none of her equipment would get ruined when she hit the street. Love that snakeskin vest!