Talking Skull's page

I have the first entry in Homes' adventures in the Giantslayer AP posted. Wish me luck in keeping a YDFC Cavalier alive for any length of time!

Alive or dead, doesn't sound like it'll be boring. You're running around with an MMO staple, a leftover Candybar, and two writers.

Looking forward for the gigantocide to come!

No comments on Sorshen's +87 Bluff bonus? Add on a +23 from moment of prescience, the Runelord of Lust can lie to a friggin' Gawd and probably pull it off with a +110 bonus on a Bluff check.

*le sigh*

I didn't catch that combo, which is admittedly very sweet, because I'm still working my way through Sorshen's...comprehensive spell list. That, and I start to weep uncontrollably when I see that many 9th level spell slots on one individual.

One question I have is : What is the Automatic Bonus Progression? You mentioned it gave you some extra vorpal nastiness with the already unbelievably nasty weapon, but it looks like it's giving her some other bonus.

They beat Volnagur, the End-Singer.

Volnagur. The End-Singer. And eight jubjub birds.
okay maybe not against the real thing, but they could probably pull that off too

Your PCs have hit critical mass, Turin. I'm looking forward to the final write-up with their slobberknocker session against Sorshen.

Only thing I can find on the subject is a couple threads dating back to the playtest. No mention of errata or FAQ clarifications.

Obviously, this is all rhetorical until your fellow party members yay/nay, but...Well, despite all the Pally abilities that use Charisma, and the obvious benefits that come with a higher score, it doesn't need to be any higher than a 14. The main places you'll be feeling the low(er) CHA will be save boosts and smite attack rolls...and saves will receive some compensation early on from Dwarfdom, in the Hardy racial ability and, if you want, Steel Soul. Spells are only good for buffs, and you can use a feat and likely a magic item to increase the daily uses of Lay on Hands and/or Channel, if you use either of those a lot.

Concerning the spells, the only one that looks too powerful for it's level is Volley, and that's just because all the 2nd level damage spells are...underachievers. Volley's a late bloomer, comparatively, but it hits it's stride after Scorching Ray loses it's luster. I never questioned that Barrage is fine where it's at, and I'd certainly get some use out of it(especially with a Magus). Swarm I vacillated on, because it has more competition than the others at it's spell level, but ultimately I think it's fine where it is now. So, yeah, these spells receive my Seal of Approval.

I suppose it is pretty neat for the GM to outright confirm that, yes, you would be powerful enough to solo this AP.

...I think you should roll a paladin.

no wait don't go hear me out

At level 11, you'd get aura of justice. For 2 uses of smite evil, you can grant party members in 10 ft. the ability to smite using your bonii.

"But Talking Skull, you putrescent hot air balloon, that only lasts 1 minute! There's better uses for Smite. I only get 6/day, max!"

Even if the duration was one round, it would be worth it! ...as long as one of the beneficiaries was an arcane spellcaster with magic missile, or one of your variants, which I'd comment on if I had any notion of spell design. That magic missile spell will now do 1d4+17 damage per missile. If you have one of those magic items that boosts the level of your class abilities(Silver Smite Bracelet, Bracers of Avenging Knight, etc.), that's 1d4+21 damage per missile. Against evil-aligned dragons, which I've heard exist in this AP, that's 1d4+41 damage per missile. An archer with rapid shot and manyshot or a two-weapon-fighting build would also be ideal targets.

This isn't quite the same as your previous build, capable of doing so much worse without needing to expend dailies, but it serves much the same purpose. And AoJ is just part of the basic Pally package, so you pretty much have carte blanche for builds.

Hunter's Bond (companions) is really nasty when you can share half of a +20 favored enemy bonus against a single target for (WIS) rounds as a move action. It gets better when you have favored defense (mountain terrain enemies) and there's a wee bit o' emphasis on Vital Strike... ;)

*THWACK!!* "Shoot 'em there." *group gains +10 attack, +10 weapon damage, +5 dodge bonus to AC*

Oh, man. Combine that with a Pally's Aura of Justice. Whole group will get massive bonii against evil mountain dwellers.

Good luck to you Mrs. Turin both!

If Zecara's got a good CHA score, I'd go with Swashbuckler, myself. Brawler looks to be pretty nasty, though.

That Giantslayer build...oh, man. Nasty, nasty s+*%. Especially since you spend at least half the AP in the Mindspins. Sounds like you'll be focusing on the Horizon Walker, though, and that means you'll miss out on some of the higher-level ranger goodies. Still, +20 vs. mountain natives is disgustingly awesome.

** spoiler omitted **

Talking Skull wrote:

Well that was ominous.

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **...

Well that was ominous.

If memory serves, an example of how tapped out the spellcasters were when the battle with Xin was concluded is how many of her spells/day she had remaining: 2 1st level, 3 2nd level, 3 each 3rd - 5th level, 4-6 6th level, 2 or 3 7th level and 2 8th level. Zabba's remaining spells/day were a bit lower than that. Keep in mind "Sorshen" has a 34 Charisma while Zabba has a 32 Charisma. They cleared out the entire top floor, the seven starmetal vaults and Xin's entire workshop in part of a day of game time.

(0_o)

Now that the group is 18th level Kit Kat's first 9th level spell known is wish...I've not heard if Abba Zabba plans to similarly select miracle as his first 9th level spell.

It begins. Wish-boosted attributes! Miracle-replicated spells! Combat rounds that didn't happen!

Good thing Wish's material component's so costly. You need a 50 Str to Blood Money this - not something you can do on a lark. And you have some say in what Miracle does - if they try to do too much with it, you can tax them a Wish diamond.

Making matters even more entertaining/complicated is that the group has a pile of artifacts asides from the Sihedron: the guardian key major artifact; two (2) philosopher's stones, the four surviving spellwells, the timeglass, the spindle of perfect knowledge and the flamma horacalcum. I've let the players know that there are definitely some parties that would purchase them, which would give me an excuse to ramp their WBL up to ~20th and be done with worrying about loot until the end-game of Chapter 7.

That's...a lot of loot. I'd usually be worried about dropping this many artifacts on the players, but I don't know what half this stuff does, and I know the Spindle's obsolete, and all the philosopher's stones are good for is literally liquid cash.

The guardian key might be useful, if Kit Kat wants her iron golem shield guardian(125,000 base! That's 5 Wishes!), or dabble in her own clockwork army. I know it gives bonii for constuct building, just forget what.

But really, I can't really think of anything that could make your party stronger that they don't already possess.

The magma flow obliterated what remains of Xin's Palace as Our Heroes returned via teleport to Magnimar.

So, no more miscellaneous adventures on the rest of the island?

Well done! Both to the Candybar brigade, and to you as well, Turin. 8 1/2 rounds is a long time, especially in high level play - test of endurance for everyone involved.

Think you tuned up Xin just right, Turin. Wonderful job and write-up!

Eagerly looking forward to the big fight, Turin! You always manage to come up with a twist your players don't expect.

Will the PCs hang up their choice bits of uber-magical bling after this, or are they going to continue risking life, limb, and lucre in "Chapter 7?"

Take that "ignore 1 thingie that makes me fatigued or exhausted/day " human racial trait and you can smear all kinds of bad guys in a right hurry.

*Splortch!*

NEXT!!!

O.O <-- googley-eyed foes.

Gets worse with a wayfinder with a pale green prim Ioun stone inside. Then it becomes 3/day, to better facilitate smearing bigger, meatier baddies.

Highlights included:

Dodging a high 30s touch polar ray from one of the final spellcaster npcs (dodge ac with combat expertise was about 44-46, iirc)

Stabbing several NPCS to death via rapier, including an "eye patch for you" triple damage crit card on one that already had just one eye.

Melee'ing a solar with near impunity (granted he tore into the alchemist more than I but still would have a hard time putting serious hurt on my pc)

snrk hehehehehehehehehe. Nice!

Now to twin out a single-hit high damage fighter type...perhaps a titan mauled two-handed fighter with all the vital strike deats?

That's certainly an effective build. I would also ask you consider the Titan Mauler Barbarian, but mostly for Furious Finish. Nasty spike damage, and the fatigue can be a small price to pay, depending on your feats and equipiment.

I don't believe it.

I'm... I'm actually learning more dirty tricks from the players than from Turin.

Still, one hell of a fight, Turin. Hopefully the next wyrm will get to eat Candybar.

Said new member said he got captured by a mummy-wrapped gangly figure with a large crossbow and a big hat. The party is rightfully panicked that the Cinderlander might be back. I'm wondering if mummy rot-inflicting crossbow bolts on a Bolt Ace Gunslinger pale stranger/mummy combo is too over the top... =D

Probably not, even without foreshadowing it. Your party has the knowledge and resources to mop up mummy rot when it comes up, and it takes a full minute for the initial effects to sink in(if the fort save isn't made, that is). Unless the Cinderlander can hold out for 10 rounds, he's not going to be benefiting from it much.

Now, putting him just before another big fight might make things much more interesting...

I look forward to the reactions of the players during the Dovan and Co. fight, for sure. It seems funny on the outside, but imagine a whole lair like this! Open to the sky and still full to the brim with incorporeal undead, getting by by possessing objects like statues, zombies, or even the occasional PC? Player's worst nightmare, DM's greatest dream...

Excellent. Takeshi ate most of it due to his not-exactly-spectacular Will and being the first to get into melee with him, and got driven into negatives once by it, but they figured out what was going on and stopped dealing damage until Elegy got close enough to keep him healed with Faith's Reach, so while he dealt tremendous amounts of damage, he didn't quite manage to kill anyone. Takeshi survived melee primarily by his 20% miss chance, and Elegy nuked his ability to damage them with ranged attack thanks to fickle winds in the first round, after Lilith ate about six arrows in the opening volley and got knocked down into near-single digit HP.

So yeah, a few close calls, but sadly not quite over the dead line.

I'm fine with that, really. With only three PCs present, killing one might've been too great a loss to recover from. And it sounds like he gave them a sound thrashing regardless, so I can't complain much. I'm no Turin, after all.

Also I did a mean thing. I found some stats for some critters on a 3.5 conversions website... okay basically they were Pokemon, which a couple of players figured out fairly quick, but hey, free stats and they worked for what I wanted. Anyway they were ghostly things with a lick/slime attack that dealt negative energy damage. I had them hanging out inside the floor and popping up to turn his regen back on whenever the party hit him with positive energy.

Hehe. Not quite as mean as turning Dovan Scissorhands into an incorporeal clown car IMO, but I approve.

I aim to please!

I see no new entries in the obits. I take it the players don't hold any grudges? And how was Transcendent Pain's trial by fire?

I offered to bring back to life one of the party members if they'd be willing to give up their first born child to "The Green Lady" of book 6. The player took me up on it. :-)

I believe that's number 53. Nice, J-Bone!

Orthos wrote:

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

Orthos wrote:

Need to have some kind of stone sealant then, to cover it up.

Put up a tarp. Enough to block sunlight, but not enough to walk on. Will just need to watch it at night. Perhaps have some sort of containment spell at the ready. Walls of fire would so it, though a bit high level and ostentatious.

If it gets splashed, though, the ooze'll eat right through.

If you put a stone slab on top it's not really a moat.

Solid Fog, perhaps? Can't support people, blocks out most light...can be made permanent at higher levels...

Pretty sure that's not the case when you're running from an angry dragon.

Ladies and Gentlemen, here's tonight's entertainment!

Didn't realize the thing with the name until just now, typing it into the post. Completely not intentional. Might have to change it later. In any case, thanks for the questions, Daniel Stewart!

Been pretty quiet in this corner lately. Everything all right on your end, Orthos?

Loving the encounter ideas. Especially the return of the Maestro - seeing him return to horrify and disgust PCs again brings a tear to my eye.

Rathendar wrote:

I think is a fairly cool sounding idea/premise. You could enforce the 'hard' borders of the region with extreme weather effects or brutal terrain.(lightning storms, magma fields, etc) Gives me an old Star Frontiers-Volternus saga vibe.

Merging the magic into nanites works well enough in theory since arcane can detect divine and vice-versa.

random idea: The trolls could be a survivor fragment group that was infected by something, causing degeneration/bulk. Could even give Hargulka a less monstrous name and have him be met on the ship in transit and the one in his chapter is all he can manage to say now.

Hank Gulka's Mutant Kingdom

"No, Charles. I am called Magneto now."

Bonus points if home base/nation is on an asteroid

Granted, none of them really can make use of it - between the curse, the difficulty to destroy, and the fact I switched up some of its enhancements in a way that no longer favors a party member, with two people dropping out - it seems to be doomed to be forgotten in a vault for now. Perhaps some time in the future a third Armagk will come seeking it.

Still, that's a pity, especially the players dropping. There's this nice long list of Undead baddies that need exterminating, too.

Speaking of which:

So during normal travels, Dovan plays the part of a gaunt, pale, heavily-garbed humanoid wanderer, while his four companions simply hide inside his body, emerging as needed.

hehehehHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHOHOHOHOHOHOOOOOOHAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAA-

The Cinderlander, pale stranger gunslinger (bolt ace): I think rebuilding him using the bolt ace archetype will make him far, far more effective than a one-shot crossbow-using ranger. We'll see =)

-HAHAHAHAHAHAAHEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH -

Kargadd, dreadnaught multi-headed rock troll mohrg: In addition to turning the dread troll into a mohrg, Ibrahim also grafted several heads from other dead trolls, including both of Nagrundi's, onto Kargadd's body, in an undead imitation of a Jotund Troll.

-*

0_O

That...that's not funny...that's not...

Seriously, though, awesome stuff, some of which I'll be stealing for later use. Love me some Wendigos! Also, looking forward to seeing how the Arcanist works, haven't toyed around with that one yet.

DC 24 is admittedly pretty high for a CR 12 beastie.

Of course, he probably has the least room to complain, since Fort is far and away going to be his best save. And boosted by a +5 cloak at 11th level, too! That's a +12 before Con mod, or the 50% chance of even needing to roll.

In any case, congratulations to everyone for making it out alive - that goes for you too, Turin, for putting up some nasty roadblocks. :)

On the maps, the lower parts of the Hooktongue Slough, Narlmarches, and Kamelands are pretty much the boundary between the Stolen Lands and Mivon. Placing it around there should be fine.

I'm curious who you suspect, because I did set up a couple of red herrings, but I'll go ahead and reveal =)

The actual traitors are Avinash Jurrg and Nakamura Shinobu, Shadrach's General and Marshall respectively. Jurrg is, as in the book, an Oni; I'm debating between making him a nastier breed of such or just giving him more class levels. Shinobu, on the other hand, is the renegade father of Iomrall's general Takeshi, who the samurai came to the mainland and got lost in the Stolen Lands pursuing in the first place.

Well, d@mn. I fell for one red herring; Jurrg, I'd suspected, being an ogre magi, but he wasn't my first choice. Gaetane was my number one pick, since he'd been pretty unreliable in the source material, and figured he'd be easy to bribe and turn, not to mention his similarities with Skather, mechanically(archer assassin) and narratively(assassinating enemy leader). Shinobu wasn't even on my radar at all.

On the other hand, that's a really cool backstory for a villain, and it sounds like the perfect lead-up to the Betrayer template!

**spoiler omitted due to overload of awesome**

Somehow, that is even better than what I had imagined. Nice work!

That's a great idea! The module presents a framework that could apply to almost any 'war-between-two nations' scenario, and I can see some geographically similar points between the Elsir Vale and the map of Pitax Book 5 provides, so fitting the areas together won't be too hard. Plus, frankly, I love the Spawn, especially the Godslayer. I do hope the Rushlight tourney part of Book 5 stays, however.

Unfortunately, RHOD isn't perfect. There's one bit in particular that really doesn't work in the module as written:

Minor idea - while I can hazard a guess who the 'untrustworthy' members of Havelock's cabinet are, here's some food for thought:

Lastly, a question.

Just going to copy-paste those last few posts here into the Evil-GM-notes-folder. Don't mind me.

Going to give you guys kudos here, and you deserve it, because I think this is the first time I've seen someone end a war by re-enacting a lost script from Leverage.

What about barbeque sauce?

Andrea - might I recommend, in the future, taking this sort of comment to Orthos' thread on the Kingmaker section of the forums?(called I Don't Believe in Faeries!) Players don't peruse it at the GM's behest in case something spoilerish needs to be discussed.

Like Orthos says, he takes a -2 to his touch attack roll, but he can still take it. While obviously a little suboptimal against a Monk, Vordakai can still try using his paralysis touch as a desperation move. After all, if it works, it's permanent!

Lastly, a reminder about the other big effect a lich has: FEAR AURA! It would basically give the shaken condition to characters of this level, and even a -2 to CMB and saves could make a difference in the coming fight. All he has to do is fail a will save at the beginning of the fight.

So, how low did those Soul Eaters bring his Wis down again? >:)

Touch spells can be 'held,' so if he can cast it beforehand, it should be fine. He might not even need to cast - a lich's paralysis touch should stop any grappling going on if the monk fails his save. It's a touch attack, and he can do those if he's only grappled.

Ray of enfeeblement is a possibility, if V's CMD is high enough, but I'd combo it with Ray of Exhaustion, myself. (But then, I'm evil, and I'd prepare two just in case he resists it the first time.)

Anything that gives a miss chance should be considered as a buff as well. Blur, displacement, heck, even darkness(since he's a human and doesn't have darkvision) can work. I'd probably combo darkness and fly, and if he still manages to touch V, much less grapple him...I tip my hat to him.

Seems like you've adapted pretty well to the surprise. You've got a working plan, and most of the original 'big' events of BFB are still intact.

I suppose one thing that bugs me most, looking at this, is why Marae and Ngara have this particular arrangement in the first place. It looks as though it is more of an inconvenience for both than anything. Rusalkas tend to prefer a core group of strong thralls to act as enforcers and guardians, mostly, and they look to whole communities for adulation and tribute, which Ngara seems to be getting from the Boggards. As for Marae, if she needs to disappear someone, I'm sure she doesn't need to send them to go "sleeping with the fishes." Perhaps they are simply acting on the behalf of their patrons, and you can look to their cooperation for reasons why they'd gather more young women.

But then, that's just how I'd go about it. I'm sure you can think of something that works for you and your setting if that doesn't work out for you.

Yeah, I think these Faerie courts are going to stop making new deals with these PCs soon. They're clearly getting too good at haggling and bargaining for it to be fun much longer.

Also, a wedding where no one dies? Scandalous! Looking forward to seeing more of Casimir, in any case. Seems to have it together for a 'dilettante.'

Why a liliend is in Thousandbreaths...well, Liliends are like celestial muses with a great love of nature. This could've been a favored grove of hers, either before or after it was assimilated into Thousandbreaths, or she could've just gotten lost inside when she visited the area around the entrance to Thousandbreaths.

Instead, after some false starts and debating, she offered a counter-offer: the potential unborn children from her human life instead. While a significantly lesser amount, the fact that that phase of Elegy's life was currently non-existent made the deal much more appealing to Oberon, and he accepted for the chance to seize something forever lost.

...

First: mad props to Elegy/Scintillae. That was...inspired. Played right towards the sensibilities of Fey nobles, and completely out there. My hat is off to you.

Second: Orthos, what I wouldn't give to see what you have planned for this!

They proceeded to spend the next three days in the enemy camp making the soldiers' lives a living hell of faerie pranks, while the spies rode out along the edges of the camp and reported things back to Elegy via Glaicyd's sendings. Lilith herself even snuck into newly-named Count Medvyed's tent and spent the entire trip dosing him with Insanity Mist poison, so that by the time the army reached Iomrall he was a WIS-dumped, raving, hallucinating wreck.

And the mad props keep coming! Sounds like it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. I am impressed by Lilith's skill and chutzpah, for daring to do and doing... while never getting caught.

And, of course, diplomacy roll of 60.

'Nuff said.

FWIW, Scintillae is the player of Elegy, our Viscountess and the person behind 9/10 of the nonsense that happened to Staggy in that fight.

Which makes the dedication doubly suitable!

But...better than Vordakai? Now I know you're pulling my leg, man. Your version looked pretty mean, and that's before getting buffed up for the next fight.

Congratulations on your success here, pennywit! I tip my hat to you, and your crazy awesome adventures.

I'm back, baby! And to celebrate my return, I'm giving out presents! Behold, Staggy 3.0, firmly nestled in CR 20!

Which leads me to field an important question:

Do female redcaps have beards? My money's on "yes," personally.

Glad you like it, although Talking Skull came up with most of the guests.

Still a pretty piddly amount compared to the work you've done here, pennywit. I like what you've done so far, and I'm looking forward to the Feast!

Pity the redcaps won't be coming back. Banjos set a mean vibe.

+1 for the Cinderlander! Man's badass enough to earn a second shot against those meddlesome PCs. You know what you're going to make him, yet?

How badass is Maure Castle? I'm not familiar with that one. Now, Ravenloft, on the other hand...

Stag Lord is still being re-worked and customized for your party's eventual power levels. Don't worry, I'll do him better justice this time.

"This is why I am the King!"

Hoid, bard ruler of the kingdom, as he prepares to leap from the back of Tenzekil's Giant Bee animal companion to, hopefully, land on the back of the wild-shaped, bee form, Tenzekil who is engaged in an aerial dog-fight with the Tyme, the party druid wild-shaped as a air elemental, involving call lightning, at 300+ ft above the ground.

Okay, this? These balls-to-the wall, (N)ucking (F)uts actions PCs end up doing? This is the sort of stuff I live for, and want to see crop up in my games.

Same!

Gloomhorn the Untamed, CE debased faerie sheep fighter 3, and his flock.

Um.

Ewe?

I'm a bad person