Thorn's page

willfromamerica wrote:

Book 2 seems very promising from what I’ve read so far. Each chapter is a trip to a different area of Geb, and while the purpose of each trip is to hunt down a different hag, the methods by which the PCs do so varies considerably.

In terms of spot checking, it looks like one of the new spells, Web of Influence doesn’t list what traditions it’s available to. I would probably lean toward it being arcane and occult.

How viable, in your eyes, would a Changeling PC related to one of the hags be?

Very viable. My group is getting ready to start book 2 and has a Changeling PC that is related to Sahni and doesn't know it yet.

For the dinner with Ortagar, I really want to channel some Sean Evans (Hot Ones)and inflict the PCs with increasingly spicy hot sauces throughout the meal. My Ortagar actually is a bit of an evil mastermind who knows about the contract and is sending the PCs in to see if it is still there or if the three fingers gang has stumbled across it. Of course, the PCs won't know this and will surprised when goons show up after the bank run to relieve them of the contract.

The point of the hot sauce challenge is distract the PCs (and players) from any strangeness from from Ortagar, who will be trying to subtly feed the PCs the answer to the Builders' Vault riddle("Death and secrets"), which I don't think shows up anywhere else in the adventure.

The exact phrase "Death and Secrets" is tattooed on the skin that the key to the Builders Vault is wrapped in.

Thorn wrote:

Gortle wrote:

So how would you build it then?

I wouldn't say it is fully optimized, but here is what I am using.

Str 10 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 18
Ancestry: Human, Dhampir 1st: Adhyabhau, 5th: Feed on Pain, 9th: Multitalented (Rogue), 13th: Form of the Bat, 17th: Symphony of Blood
General Feats: 3rd: Ancestral Paragon (Arcane Tattoos - Evocation), 7th: Toughness, 11th: Diehard, 15th: Fleet, 19th: Canny Acumen (Reflexes)
Class Feats: 2nd: Sorcerer Dedication (arcane bloodline), 4th: Basic Sorcerer Spellcasting, 6th: Divine Access (Charon), 8th: Debilitating Dichotomy, 10th: Bloodline Breadth, 12th: Expert Sorcerer Spellcasting, 14th: Mysterious Repertoire, 16th: Forestall Curse, 18th: Divine Effusion, 20th: Master Sorcerer Spellcasting
Skills: Arcana, Intimidation, Stealth

I considered dropping Forestall Curse and either Divine Access or Bloodline Breadth for Advanced Revelation and Divere Mystery (Whirling Flames or Interstellar Void).

Not a lot different to what I did, you have a more positive attitude about the curse. I took a familiar and a spellbook, over Divine Access, and Debilitating Dichotomy. Not sure what the Rogue Dedication is giving you skills plus light armour for one level?

What I want is to see an idea like Divine Access Nhimbaloth (1 Grim Tendrils, 2 Entangle, 5 Cloudkill) To use CloudKill as close range. But I'm unconvinced that either the effect or the curse is strong enough to be worth it.

That is a fair assessment. The rogue dedication was purely a roleplay choice. If I was going to optimize, I'd replace all the sorcerer feats too. I thought about it when first creating the build, but the sorcerer part fit his backstory too well to give up. I had some rough ideas what I might do instead but never fully fleshed out the feat selections.

My attitude towards the curse started out like yours. I had already played a flame oracle and wanted to play another oracle with a different mystery. Flavor wise, I really liked bones but hated the curse. I ended up deciding to give it a try and found it not to be nearly as bad as I had anticipated. In my playing experience, the flames curse was more often a detriment then bones.

Domain Acumen: I saw that several of your builds take this feat. Maybe it is a personal thing, but for most mysteries I don't see the need in having both initial domain spells. I would rather take cantrip expansion or a dedication feat. Perhaps you missed that all oracles start with one initial domain spell?

Debilitating Dichotomy: SuperBidi and HumberGamer are correct; it is a great spell. Even if you aren't a dhampir with Feed on Pain like my Bones oracle. Which leads us to...

Bones: I don't have any difficulties with the curse, and it isn't unusual for me to purposely advance it quickly. The minor curse is only really annoying at lower levels when magical healing is less readily available. The hit point loss from the drain on the moderate curse, is mostly made up with a single application of Soul Siphon if the target has a successful save. On a failed save, you gain more than you lost. The minor negative to fortitude saves is more than made up with the various bonuses versus disease, poison, and death effects...most of which are fortitude saves. The major curse could get you killed, but, in my experience, is scarier than it seems. Sure, you're one step closer to death, but you can choose to directly control every other step along the way.

How about Dire Sloths? And Rodents of Unusual Size?

Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

1 - 5: An errata and FAQ that was updated several times a year.

You can take it, but you will have to use intimidate for the check. Scare to Death is not a Demoralize check.

A Heal will damage a Dhampir.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd7XQMuuLWk

The typical fundamental flaw with this sort of build is: What do you do with your prisoners???

Generally speaking, fantasy campaign worlds don't have extensive prison systems because they are extremely expensive to run (you have to feed, cloth, and care for (to some degree at least) the prisoners while paying people to guard and manage them) and fairly ineffective once you start taking magical abilities into account: A high priority prisoner might be kept at a castle/fortress, but that goblin tribe that has been raiding the local trade routes will probably just be executed if you bring them back to the village alive.

So, what do you plan to do with that ghost you just captured somehow???

Keep it in the ghost trap until your can transfer it to your Ecto-Containment System, of course. Who you gonna call?

Thorn wrote:

Wouldn't this also mean they don't have a turn to end and so wouldn't take persistent damage?

Possibly not by a technical reading. Unlike the Slowed/Quickened thing that doesn't add anything to the game though, so I'd ignore it.

I would disagree that that slowed/quickened adds something to the game, but that is a subjective opinion. I like my rules to be relatively consistent and don't want to have to figure out on a case to case basis when a zombie has a start/end of turn and when it doesn't.

I think a better argument is that the zombies slow 'feature' and the slow spell both give slow 1 (unless the save is a critical failure) and redundant conditions don't stack.

Technically, minions do not have a turn and Slowed kicks in when you take your turn, so they have two actions.

Whether that's intended or your GM will agree with it is another question, but those are the RAW.

Wouldn't this also mean they don't have a turn to end and so wouldn't take persistent damage?

I would let them stack but probably use the multiplying rules (CRB, p. 444). So the example of a 10th level character with a Con Mod of +2 used by Old Man Robot would end up with a recovery rate of 60 hp.

You are more likely to gain panache with Battledancer than the other styles. The number of targets for fascinating performance goes up as you skill level does. Expert is four targets, master is ten, and legendary is unlimited.