Nikolsi smooths himself down while still in his hiding spot, then exits it without trying to be stealthy. He makes his way towards the members of the group, stopping by Craven's side to check his condition.
Search Posts
AC 35, 73/132 HP TAC 32 Nikolsi's eyes widen as he sees the incoming juggernaut heading for him. He quickly focuses his defenses , but even that isn't enough to save him. He struggles for breath as the massive being tries to crush him, manifesting a power that might - maybe -give him a chance to escape.
He disappears for a moment, reappearing 30' away from Bash. After pushing a wave of ill luck towards him, Nikolsi skedaddles off as fast as he can, searching for a hiding spot away from the manor.
Nikolsi lets fly another series of blows, adding an extra one just to be sure!
Nikolsi's eyes widen as a massive ball of flame enters his view.
The flames seem to wrap around him without harming him, as he gracefully spins in a circle and lets the swirling eddies of flame go by within a hairs breadth of hiimself.
Nikolsi charges back into the fray towards the fighter, ducking and weaving between the fiery blasts, having taken a temporary breather and feeling much better for it.
Nikolsi is staggered by the waves of attacks, and cannot keep up with the punishment he's taking. He retreats, moving away from the battlefield to catch his breath.
Nikolsi takes a fast step to get behind one of the Sun Falcons, and then starts swinging his quarterstaff around like the expert he is.
As Nikolsi moves forward, dark fog swirls around him and then rushes forwards into the Sun Falcons.
Free action K. Local vs 10 + CR to scout the humanoids:
OOC is being weird again. -.-
Nikolsi steps forward through the ether from the front of the mansion, moving closer to the group of combatants and appearing near Iko.
Standard Action:
Move Action: Mass Challenge
Swift Action: Time Skitter boost on self. (Haste for 7 rounds) For some reason the ooc text isn't displaying...
Nikolsi looks up from his book as Salvis enter's the library, Aella curling around his feet. "Ah, Sir Salvis. Do you have news of some kind? You have been most gracious to allow me the run of this library." Salvis does not respond; simply eyes him sitting there at the table, and then snaps his fingers. "What the.. " Nikolsi's voice fades away, as does the rest of him. Aella startles with a loud "Meow! and fades away as well. As color comes back into his vision, Nikolsi looks around to take stock of what just happened. He is standing in front of a large house, not quite palatial. Across from the drive, a small group of people stand in a rough circle. To their right, Nikolsi sees a group that is more familiar to him, being composed of several of the... unique... characters he had met previously at the Crossing House. "I wonder what was so important that Salvis sent me here in such a rush? Doesn't look like much, does it Aella?" Aella ignores him, focusing instead on the wealth of new scents around her.
Nikolsi laughs at Salvis' words. Don't worry about me. You know why I'm here. I'll be around.
As Salvis explains the role of the teams, and lays out the consequences for betrayal, Nikolsi lets out a quiet laugh. Now there's a stick if I ever saw one... Decide to betray us in the future, and we'll teleport to you, drop you in a dungeon of your worst nightmares, and laugh as we lock the door. Yeah, count me in.
Nikolsi pushes forward enough to draw some attention to himself. You can call me Endrigo. I'm on board with the planning so far, but I've a question for our host; what happens after this? You've called us out, and for our own reasons we have answered. Say we do this job for you - what happens then? Nikolsi is not being belligerent, but is concerned about this beings knowledge of things he should not know, and what he could do with it. He also doesn't trust most of the beings in the room, but that just goes with the territory.
Translation: Don't wish to risk your own team. But that's ok. I don't think anyone here minds getting their hands dirty. As Dymer lists out the apparent options, Nikolsi muses over the response. There really does seem to be a lot of people involved for something that needs to be simple. I wonder what's not being shared? The less we know, the more valuable extra talents become... To Ozzie/Dymer/anyone else far enough from Salvis to hear the quiet mutter: I wonder if any of us are Salvis' inside guy already... after all, what's to stop us from taking the plans and ske-daddling to another plane?
Nikolsi catches Dymer and Ozzie's attention, having followed the earlier byplay between them. Convince some entitled rich guys to let us steal from their granddad's tomb, or sneak in and out with none the wiser? Gee, I wonder which makes the most sense... His chuckle is slightly dark as he adds I know which could be more fun, but I'd rather a quick in and out over ...persuading... the heirs to go along.
Nikolsi strolls in near the back, having let a number of folks precede him into the room. He knows there's no point to staying in the background - obviously, the celestial knows who he is to have issued the invitation in the first place - but old habits die hard. He's curious to see what the job is, and what kind carrots - or sticks - might be in place to keep a group such as this working together.
Nikolsi draws his attention away from the game, leaning back with his drink. This, then, was the being who knew more about Nikolsi than he ought to. Keeping quiet and waiting to see how things developed, as were several other members, Nikolsi kept his patience. He had no idea who this person was, and could not even guess as to the meaning of his position... But he was dressed for war, and had assembled a group of dangerous and not very law abiding beings, so something fun was definitely in the offing.
And with a drumroll, Nikolsi is completely finished except for anything I've forgotten.
Question: when you calculate EDV, do you include precision damage and things like Smite? Or is it base damage only? Include everything that you can reliably proc. If your precision damage triggers on flanking, and you have a way to "guarantee" flanking (companion, TW feat, spell, etc) that you intend to use, include that precision damage.
Yeah.... My first go round was looking at all the different passive bonuses I could stack, leading to whopping high attack bonuses. Even for a 20th level character. I scrapped that one entirely. On a not entirely unrelated note, I think I've made most of my mechanical choices now. Going with Fighter 10 / Cryptic 10 / Incanter 10, replacing hedgewitch instead of cryptic. Had to drop a few things and switch some stuff up to make the swaps, but I'm happier with it now and not dipping for select abilities anymore, which keeps the character sheet cleaner.
Nikolsi looks at the exuberant goblin. Liar's Dice, eh? Can't say I'm familiar. Why don't you explain the rules and I'll finish this drink?
That's what I get for diving into an idea too fast... Thank you for pulling that up from the interwebs!
Nikolsi perks up at the news that someone else is running the tab. Looking down at the drink he had just finished, he focuses on the serving woman and catches her attention. If you would, I would like a glass of whatever you most recommend - cost being no objection, of course. If they are going to string us along like this, they may as well pay for some of our time! And I still want to know how they knew my name... and who "they" are...
Question for @VoA, and the group: I realized that spheres can almost entirely replace the Cryptic, so I'm looking at dropping the Cryptic in favor of a full-casting sphere class. Not sure which one yet, but I do not already have a full-casting class so that's fine. The question is, do I need to give up the Hedgewitch leg of the Tristalt? If not, how does that work - stacking talent access and take the best caster level, or keep everything separate and track caster level by which side of the tristalt took the talent?
Agreed with the prior posters. If you remove CHA the second time from Fort / Reflex, that might be sufficient without tanking your charisma down... Having high saves isn't necessarily bad, even by the table. If you are the one person in the party that won't fail a Will save, great! No TPK solely from a group save or suck. But if everything you can do is equally past the 10th/11th blue marks, maybe tone it down then? I guess what I'm saying is to look at the overall picture, and not necessarily jump to nerfing one of your primary scores just because one area is high.
Much higher than mine. I’m about +16, and can situationally get another +4-5 depending on the circumstances and save type.
Nikolsi looks down in surprise at the drink, then back up to short being who gave it to him. متشکرم، دوست., he replies to him, and accepts the drink. When the tall bare-chested man speaks, Nikolsi holds in a laugh. While it is possible his analysis was off, he strongly suspected the man had no idea who was in the shadows. Regardless, his stated desire to enslave others has Nikolsi looking to avoid getting too friendly with the man. Looking over to Nephre and her casual reference to himself, he nods his head. I am acquainted with it, but no. I am not really from anywhere... material. Call me Endrigo. As if to accentuate his statement, a small, almost transparent creature crawls out from the cuff of his shirt, and then flies up to perch on Nikolsi's shoulder. It has no wings, but is clearly flying; it looks like a cross between a squirrel and a fox, with a golden tinge. The little one is Aella. Don't let her fool you - she's a prankster, no mistake. Shadowtongue:
My thanks, friend.
Nikolsi shifts in his perch as the voice speaks into his mind. Nicely spotted. I suppose I may as well join the party. Nikolsi lowers himself to the ground and steps out of the shadows to lean against a wall nearby the mechanical construct. He takes the time to openly look at each individual, challenging no-one and refusing to be challenged.
Nikolsi stifles an immediate urge to provide a “grand entrance” right after the woman mentions it; as enjoyable as that would be, his plan to wait for the authorities behind the letter was still good. Still, he couldn’t help but imagine warping into the middle of the room, surrounded by shadows and with the fanfare of trumpets echoing away. Nikolsi grins at his imagination, knowing such an entrance would not impress most of these fine, upstanding members of... well, some not quite as upstanding groups.
Nikolsi crept slowly down the hall of the mansion, looking for any sign of the guards having changed their patrol again. He freezes in place against the shadow cast by a column as a guard walks out of the room two doors ahead on the left. That's the third time they've changed their pattern tonight... I must have spooked the old hag. Shame. If she'd only have offered me that box, these guards would still be falling asleep in their regular beat. My offer to buy the box offended her somehow... I wonder if she knew I didn't want the contents? As the guard moves out of sight around the corner, Nikolsi walks ahead to the first door on the right. Approaching the jeweled box holding pride-of-place on the mantel, he easily checks for traps around the box. Finding none, he hesitates. Eyeing the box suspiciously, he focuses his psionic power on it and determines it is a fake. Tempted to take the box anyway - visually a perfect replica, and after all, the reason he wanted it was because of its appearance - he backs away from the mantel. It had become a point of pride now, not just desire. Stepping back and examining the room, he finds a discolored patch of wall. Within the patch is a hidden keyhole, which his picks make short work of. Opening the hidden compartment, he smiles as the real box comes into view. With a feeling of delight, Nikolsi picks up the box and, with a sudden grin, looks at the fake. He begins to transfer the contents from the real box to the compartment, pausing as an ornate envelope comes into view. He has no interest in the box's contents, but... this letter is addressed to him. Moreover, it is addressed to Nikolsi... not a name he had used in these parts. Curious, he takes the letter and stows it away in his shadow. Finishing the transfer of effects, Nikolsi places the real box on the mantel, shuts the compartment, and holding the fake box walks to the window. Looking out across the street, he focuses for a moment and then dissappears. In the same moment he steps from the shadows to walk into the night, leaving the mansion and it's successful job - putting down a haunt for the mistress of the manor, the box was a bonus - behind him. After reading the letter, Nikolsi is tempted to burn it and move on with his life. Unfortunately, that would leave unanswered how someone had learned his name - and more importantly, who had done so, and why they had placed this invite in such a tempting spot. Nothing needed to be sent, no tasks delegated or neighbors informed; Nikolsi valued his freedom from such attachments. Activating the transfer token, Nikolsi gates to Hyrataen and makes his way to the Crossing House. He keeps to the shadows, slipping around the crowds and travelers as if he were insubstantial. Entering the building at the same time as the massive man wearing the skins of others, Nikolsi makes his way to the shadows in the upper area of the roof, spying out another watching from the back. When the other moves forward and introduces himself, Nikolsi stays back. None of these were the ones to suss out his identity. He takes the time to study them and their interactions, waiting for someone carrying the mantle of authority to step forward.
Yep, my post will be going up this evening. And hopefully I'll be moving my background and most of my crunch into the alias as well so others can take a look.
Yep. May 10, 6:14 pm. Edit: I think I have a way to make it work with Race Builder and some of the alternate traits... if I take an alternate trait that leaves the Elan with a “small portion of their original race” (strong blooded), can I take that races FCB in place of the normal Elan one? I do not want to give up the 1/6 of a new cryptic insight FCB.
@Voice: You stated earlier upthread that we can ignore racial pre-requisites for feats and traits... does that also apply to racial archetypes? I would like to take the Pattern Wielder Cryptic Archetype, which is Elan-only. Can I ignore that restriction, or spend some amount of racial points in the race builder to also count as Elan?
Never used Spheres of Might before, to the talents replace the feats? It depends on how deep you want to dip. You can buy talents with feats 1:1, or trade a set of feats for a greater number of talents. It’s difficult to work the progression into an existing build, though, so I only recommended the two feats “Extra Combat Talent” it would take to get a better speed bonus. Edit: since you are unfamiliar with SoM, taking two feats from Fleet x2 to Extra Combat Talent x2 for Athletics: Run and Swift Movement would give you: 10 ranks in acrobatics, a 20’ competence bonus to speed that will eventually reach 30 if you put ranks in acrobatics, and the equivalent of the Run feat.
Cool feat! Just need top give up one of the three fleets, but that puts my movement at an even 100, and that's fine with me lol. If you don’t already have a competence bonus to speed, you could look at using the two feats for Fleet to get two combat talents from spheres of might. Specifically, the Athletics sphere (run) and swift movement. It gives a scaling bonus to speed that will be better than two Fleets.
@MG: thanks for answer! I kind of expected that. No problem and I’ll drop out the extra archetype. Edit: Valanaestra, take a look at canny tumble. It’s somethimg you are already setup to do, and while it requires movement to setup it will help with your to-hit.
stuff... and Ring of Protection. Take a closer look at ABP; you get a +2 deflection as part of it, and cannot get a Ring of Protection with that ruleset active. Also, snake style uses your immediate action, meaning your next turn has no swift action; be cautious you are not loading up on things that use swift actions if you also intend to use Snake Style frequently. EDIT: I needed to take a closer look myself, apparently, as I forgot to include that in my first reply to you. With Barkskin up and with the Ioun stone, you should have an AC of 31.
Assuming I parsed everything correctly... you are going to be a switch hitter, using your kineticist blast from both range and as a blade? That's not a bad thing, but be aware that you will stretch your resources thin trying to optimize both while also focusing on being a speedster. Cracked Pale green prism Ioun Stones are 4,000 each, and can provide a +1 competence to saves or attack; Dusty rose Ioun stone is 5,000 for +1 insight to AC. Your AC calculation seems off; you should have 10 + 5 (dex) + 4 (wis) +2 (monk) +2 (ABP enhancement) + 1 (ABP Natural Armor enhancement) + 1 (dodge). With barkskin up that would be +3 more; it doesn't stack with ABP and will eventually be redundant. Barkskin is long enough duration to be considered up for combat, in general. That's 29 AC with the Ioun Stone. Fighting defensively or using Crane style can also increase your AC, at the expense of your attack bonus. I'd swap one of your formulae known - maybe CSW? for heroism; that will be +2 morale to attacks and saves. If you have the feat for it, Extreme Mood Swings increases all morale bonuses you receive by 1. The classes you picked do not really have built in accuracy buffs, so you may have to look at reducing your opponents AC; feinting, making them flat footed, attacking vs touch AC, becoming invisible (+2 to attack), etc. You could trade Stoneskin for Greater Invisibility; it would take a round to setup, but give you great defense vs most sighted enemies without True Seeing and increase your attack bonus. Those are the main things I can see from a quick look. You might consider copying the format of an established stat block for clarity - listing things out is great when you know where they came from, but can be difficult for others to parse. Edit: You may also want to double check the Feat tax rules in play; you may not need an Agile amulet.
So that benchpress bit is making me worried- I'm barely orange on most things except AC for certain attacks. Should i be worried? It really depends. As best I can tell, Valanaestra is going to be melee? A monk / vivisectionist, right? For melee, your AC and saves should be in the green to blue range, because you will be a target. EDV takes into account your to hit, though with a class like a monk - lots of accurate strikes - you can get away with lower damage values and still keep a decent EDV. If you can throw some of your crunch up, we can see if there is anything you missed. I haven't completely kitted out the number to compare to the table - hoping to do that this weekend now that I have a better idea of what talents / traits to take when - but I am hoping to hit at least green as a martial.
River of Sticks here. Alias set, still needs to be populated with relevant info. @Voice: My outstanding questions that are still relevant.
I hope you are recovering from your long weekend! |