Mi'al's page

"I'm back."

I'll read through the gameplay I missed, and see what's going on.

"Leave now? Where do you suppose she should go? It's not like even we could just turn around and... Gale?" she looks around for the woman, who's mysteriously absent. "Where'd she go?"

"You didn't... Sign anything, did you?" The man looking for his spellbook had raved about a contract.

Mi'al detects evil on the girl.

"What happened to you?"

She stepped closer somewhat cautiously.

This was hell. Devils were trickery, even if they liked to talk a lot about laws and contracts. Mi'al was going to be keeping her guard up. Although she did want to free the girl.

Sense motive to determine if she's hiding something, or if there something untowards with the way she's behaving.1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27

Mi'al intones in prayer - her voice is monotone, it's clear that's she's reciting from scripture. "And the Empyreal's eyes fell upon them, and their foul corruption were revealed. He smote them down in righteous vengeance!"
Casting Litany of Sight, swift action.

At the same time, as the stalkers come into her view, she strikes at them.
Flurry of blows, Power Attack, with fists, targeting the one labelled '6' first, and if it dies partway through the flurry, spending the remaining attacks on '4'.

Attack 1: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33, Damage 1d6 + 14 ⇒ (1) + 14 = 15
Attack 2: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21, Damage 1d6 + 14 ⇒ (4) + 14 = 18

Attack 3: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25, Damage 1d6 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20
Attack 4: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23, Damage 1d6 + 14 ⇒ (4) + 14 = 18

Attack 5: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19, Damage 1d6 + 14 ⇒ (2) + 14 = 16

For the purpose of Damage Reduction, attacks are considered Magic, Cold Iron & Silver.
AC is 33, 31FF
Effects: Litany of Sight(1rd), Ironskin(12Min-1rd), GMW(Longspear) 12hours.

Confirmation roll for attack 1: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16 for 1d6 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17 additional damage

@Arvaldo, I don't think you can act yet - drbuzzard needs to start off the rounds proper first. That's some crazy good preparation though, props for that.

Init count, for those interested:

31, Invisible stalkers <- their turn
21+, Mi'al
21, Aramus
20, Gale
18, Irra
12, Arvaldo
4, Rogard (Rawr!)

Nope, no skill checks auto fail.

Nope, concentration is not a skill check. I get why you thought so though; it was a skill back in 3.5e. Pathfinder changed that up.

Edit: Looking it up, I can't see any references that it auto-fails on a nat 1 though. There's nothing that says caster level checks auto-fail on a nat 1 either, for some reason. It seems that rule only applies to CMB, Attack rolls, and saves. I was wrong, it appears.

Mi'al rambles off a prayer, brandishing her holy symbol, smudged by a pinch of soot, but takes care to keep up her guard at the same time. Her skin takes on a metallic sheen and gains a rough texture with sharp-looking edges.

Spending my standard action to cast Ironskin on myself, defensively. AC without dex (& dodge bonuses) is 31, otherwise 33.

Concentration, DC 19: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (17) + 20 = 37 I believe concentration checks auto-fail on nat 1's, so that's why I'm rolling it.
Ironskin has 12 min duration.

Initiative: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

Also, this sohei ability Mi'al has is probably going to be important here:

Devoted Guardian (Ex)

At 1st level, a sohei can always act in a surprise round even if he does not notice his enemies, though he remains flat-footed until he acts. In addition, a sohei gains a bonus on initiative rolls equal to 1/2 his monk level. At 20th level, a sohei’s initiative roll is automatically a natural 20.

Mi'al followed Gale along.

"What has happened to your book, sir?"

The man was obviously in some distress, and probably not quite right besides. Mi'al talked to him with a reassuring tone to her voice, as one might a scared animal.

Diplomacy, if neccesary, to get him to calm down a little bit. 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (1) + 24 = 25

The link is above the campaign info tab, where you usually have a blurb about the campaign.

Mi'al listens to Irra's explanation with rapt attention. "So, this is like, hell? Maybe we can save the souls of the people who went in the other years."

That was why she'd been called here, obviously.

She briefly rifles through the table, looking it over for anything like a Clue, or that might be useful, then moves on to stand by Irra by the door.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30

"Couldn't we just, you know, dispel it?"

She looked at the oversized tiger that was following them around. "You're a mage, right mr. Skybeard?" He was also sort of cute. She supressed the urge to pet the druid. That probably wouldn't go over well.

Mi'al lowers her head in brief prayer, and a soft light flares up in her spear.

Yes. Let's go.

She follows Gale along, on the lookout for something that might look like a key.

They're supposed to be hidden, right? I wonder if they used magic to hide them. That'd make this a little harder. She looked briefly worried. It'll be all right in the end though.

Casting Greater Magic Weapon on my spear. Lasts 12h.

"I don't know what you did. I'm just here to get you back on your feet."

That's a wierd way to react to nearly being killed. Mi'al concentrates, and takes a look at its aura. Is it evil?

Details about the person? Gender, looks, dress, so on.

Mi'al continues forward, falling to a knee besides the downed student, lays a hand on the person, calling forth empyreal grace.

Lay on Hands: 6d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 6, 5, 1, 6) = 24.
My take on the whole knowledge thing; I personally think players shouldn't be looking up monster stat-blocks. That said, replying that 'it's a retriever' doesn't give the players much to work with regarding deciding what their characters do and don't know about the creature. At that point, you can either decide that your character knows everything you know about retrievers off-hand, or you can go look up the creature and pick an appropriate number of facts about it your character knows. I can see how this might feel like a reasonable thing to do, even if I'm not quite sure I agree. Regarding templates, the advanced template itself exists in wierd territory, in that it's an entirely metagame construct. It exists because sometimes fights aren't quite hard enough, and it allows for an easy way of bumping a creature +1 cr. This is hard to describe in an appropriate in-character way, because it's not an in-game mechanic. Which is also why I personally loathe its existence, but that's besides the point.
If it'd been an Invincible retriever, maybe there could be some fluff about how its chitin is really thick, plate-mail grade stuff, and a knowledge check could turn out something like "That Retriever was created with heavier armor than they are normally forged with - hacking through it will be at best a difficult prospect."

"Step away from the mage, monster!" Mi'al bellows at it, before running towards the downed student.

Swift Action Smite Evil on the spider. Double Move Action to the placement indicated on the map. It probably provokes an AoO from the the thing. That's okay. With Smite, AC is 35, touch AC 20.

Erhm. I did roll initiative. It's the last line of my post.

Oh well. It's not like it'd change my rank in the round.

I guess spending a ki point won't put me further into the room. That makes sense I guess, we arrive in order of initiative.

Wordlessly, Mi'al springs into action, rushing towards the nearest staircase, making for the source of the scream.

It's become a habit so ingrained it's almost an instinct. If there's screaming, she runs towards it and try to help. Quite often this means slaying things.

Spending a ki point to increase movement rate. Her speed for the round is 45ft. Should we roll initiative? 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20

Mi'al looked a little lost, and perhaps also a smidge embarrassed. "Erm. I'm confused. What are we supposed to do, precisely? As I understand it, we enter that hallway place, and then our job is to attempt to get out of there alive, first person out wins?"

Mi'al looks suitibly alarmed. Not that she's scared, but to have a hundred and fifty years without a winner... That's a lot of dead people. She was beginning to think that maybe there really was a reason for her being here. Hmm. But the contestants participated of their own free will, so it couldn't be bad, right? She'd have to investigate more.

"Are the traps really that dangerous? No-one has survived them in a hundred years?"

"That's a lot of money..." She almost looked disappointed. "I don't normally do things like this for money - are you sure there aren't anyone in danger you need me to save?"

Mi'al almost sat down again to continue her meditation, but there was a nagging feeling she couldn't let go of that she ought to follow this man. "I suppose it's all right. I'll go with you."

"Shoot, I almost forgot!" She picked up her spear where she'd left it on the ground, focused, mumbled something, and her spear flared with a soft golden glow as she picked it up. "All right! Do I need to take your hand, or something? For the trip, I mean."

Casting GMW on my longspear. Should we have an OOC thread to post chatter and comments in?

Mi'al had been sitting crosslegged, periliously perched on the top of the archway, that served as entrance to the city of riddleport, surveying the harbor.

"I, ah" she paused, momentarily disoriented. Her armor clinced as she got up from her cross-legged position on the rock. "Hello. Not much sneaks up on me these days." She smiled disarmingly at the mage. "I'm afraid I don't really follow. What's this breaching festival affair?"

OK, characters seem to be shaping up and we'll get the first table launched.

Irra Sarusek Gnome Bard (Sound Striker)13|Oracle (Heavens) 13
Aramus Half-elf fighter (Duelist) 13|cavalier (Daring) 13
Arvaldo Gnome Kinetecist 13|Rogue (Unchained, Carnivalist) 12/Shadowdancer 1
Gale Stormborn Slyph Shaman 13|Slayer 13
Mi'al Aasimar Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) 13|Monk (Sohei)
Rogard Skybeard Dwarf Druid 13|Alchemist (Beastmorph, Vivisections) 13

report to
Table 1

Sweet! The link is broken though.

I'm ready to start, if you want.

All right. Mi'al is now a paladin. Also fixing the table to reflect that Lucian is a scout.

Completed
Irra Sarusek Gnome Bard (Sound Striker)13|Oracle (Heavens) 13
Aramus Half-elf fighter (Duelist) 13|cavalier (Daring) 13
Arvaldo Gnome Kinetecist 13|Rogue (Unchained, Carnivalist) 12/Shadowdancer 1
Gale Stormborn Slyph Shaman 13|Slayer 13
Mi'al Aasimar Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) 13|Monk (Sohei)
Rogard Skybeard Dwarf Druid 13|Alchemist (Beastmorph, Vivisections) 13
Lucian Threll Half Elf Fighter(Two-weapon Warrior) 13|Rogue(Scout) 13

No sheet
Raphael Anaviel
Gavmania

Table update :)

Completed
Irra Sarusek Gnome Bard (Sound Striker)13|Oracle (Heavens) 13
Aramus Half-elf fighter (Duelist) 13|cavalier (Daring) 13
Arvaldo Gnome Kinetecist 13|Rogue (Unchained, Carnivalist) 12/Shadowdancer 1
Gale Stormborn Slyph Shaman 13|Slayer 13
Mi'al Aasimar Cleric (Divine Strategist) 13|Monk (Sohei)
Rogard Skybeard Dwarf Druid 13|Alchemist (Beastmorph, Vivisections) 13
Lucian Threll Half Elf Fighter(Two-weapon Warrior) 13|Rogue(Knife Master) 13
No sheet
Raphael Anaviel
Gavmania

All right. I believe I'm done enough to begin. Spells are prepared on a day-to-day basis anyway, so I'll finalize the preparations in-game. No reason to fill all my slots even then either, I might need to pick up something specific during the day to respond to situations.

I really wouldn't mind at all if I could be put in a party consisting exclusively of good characters - I plan to fiddle around with Holy Word, and that one gets iffy with neutral characters.

If that doesn't work out, that's okay though - it just means I'll have to shuffle some things around to get Magical Lineage and Selective Spell in there.

All right. I believe I'm more or less done with Mi'al, the mounted monk/cleric.

I still need to finish gear and spell selection, but that's about it. I've the cliff notes for her personality and story written down elsewhere.