Tree-Fiddy's page

Not sure how far you've gotten into the AP but I think book 3 has a easy solution you could reskin into the vampire noble house.

Do you mean counter performance?

If so, fireball cannot be countered since the spell doesn't have the

Auditory or visual effect

Fireball ( evocation, fire)

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=119

Counter performance

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=381

You can also check here for the whole traits list ( click on any of them to see all the related stuff ).

https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx

Note that both Auditory and visual are in the first part.

Yes sorry meant counter performance.

So what we are trying to solve is can a bard who is around the corner use countersong to counter a fireball that he can't see with his auditory performance.

Does he need to be able to identify the spell being cast?

Wait I think we found it. Under the spells the traits listed have to be auditory or visual. Player was under the impression that if they were countering a spell that had verbal or somatic components they could counter. It felt really off to some of us but we are still learning.

So what we are trying to solve is can a bard who is around the corner use countersong to counter a fireball that he can't see with his auditory performance.

Does he need to be able to identify the spell being cast?

So, assuming the following

-Sorcerer level 20
-Quicken Metamagic feat
-Maximize Metamagic feat
-Empower Metamagic feat
-Spell Perfection: Battering Blast
-Mythic tiers (Archmage)
-3 Path Abilities of Arcane Metamastery

Round Zero
-Swift action to activate Arcane Metamastery picking Maximize Metamagic

Round 1
-Apply Maximize metamagic with Arcane Metamastery (no change in casting time or spell slot)
-Apply Empower Metamagic with Spell Perfection (no change in casting time, spell slot would be 9 or less, no change in spell slot)
- Spell casts as a standard action level 3 slot

-Swift action
-Apply Quicken Spell with Spell Perfection (no change in spell slot but spell must end up as 9 or lower including quickens +4)
-Apply Maximize Metamagic with Arcane Metamastery (no change in casting time or spell slot)
-Apply Empower Metamagic: increases spell slot by 2, would make spell casting a full round action but quicken keeps it swift
-final spell slot is: 3 + 4 Quicken + 2 Empowered (Maximize does not count against)=9 so Spell Perfection can work and brings final slot down to 5

End result

1 round use a standard to cast Maximized Empowered Battering Blast for a level 3 slot, and again as a Swift action for a Quickened Maximized Empowered Battering Blast with a level 5 slot.

Is that the correct interpretation?

As a coda, we spoke again a few days later and GM conceded that most of my actions were probably reasonable. To provide context, possible spoilers ahead;

Rise of the Runelords, we were assaulting a goblin stronghold and came across a human mercenary who we overheard was fed up with working there. We rushed him, he surrendered and we offered him a way out, if he helps us clear the place out he gets to live but his gear is forfeit until we say otherwise. He agreed and we gave him his armor and weapon, but he added one more stipulation, he wanted to have the chance to recruit one more to our side. We agreed, and allowed him 1 minute to convince her by himself while we waited in ambush by the door. The one more turned out to be a scantily dressed wizard who was not as eager to leave with him so we rushed her and took her prisoner.

This is where the GM started with the "do you take her cloak?" as the cloak provides most of her covering. She resisted and with some GM prodding some players voiced that we should let her keep it, to which I replied she could if the wizard declared it mundane and it was searched for hidden pockets. The cloak was magical so she didn't get it back and instead of asking for another non-magical cloak the continued arguments became she wanted her spell book, scrolls and cloak back since she was helping us.

Now since the fighter prisoner had taken a front line role in several fights and been very close to death I had decided that he had earned his gear back and felt relatively safe resting with him unguarded. But the wizard had been shooting daggers at us (me mostly) and had been magically compelled to tell the bard that she really wanted to stab us. So we left her chained to a bed while we rested and I refused to give her her stuff back.

The GM seemed to be arguing that we (I) shouldn't be treating her this way and was not buying my counter that one of our prisoners is acting like he wants very much to earn his freedom while the other seems like they want to kill us and run. Since without our intervention these people were about to be part of the massacre of the nearby town my personal take on it was getting to keep their head was already extending mercy.

As far as the spell goes some of the fault may lie with me, perhaps I was less clear at the table with what was OOC and IC, the conversation went something like;

OOC voice: I go up to the cleric (GM controlled as player absent)
IC voice: Oi, dat girl downstairs broke me weapon wit magic, fink you can unbreak it?
OOC voice: Specifically I'll be looking for a Make Whole its a level 2 Cleric spell, I looked up Mending and it wont work for this.

Maybe the delineation between my voices wasn't as pronounced as I thought, or he got offended that I was implying he needed my help. Regardless I was planning on hashing out with him before the next game if he would prefer my asking, then waiting while people look up their spell lists themselves. Either way I will be asking the GM at the table next session to set clear boundaries on what I should and should not have knowledge of if this is a problem

So during, but more after a session I argued a few points with GM. Neither of us has convinced the other so I wanted to see what an outside consensus was.

1. How much do your characters know about items in their world. Specifically when taking a prisoner would they know to remove any rings or cloaks that might be magical until they can have someone detect magic on the items.

2. Tactical forethought. If a character with a low Int but average wisdom chased off after an enemy and came to a T junction is it reasonable for them to stop and suspecting a possible flanking ambush wait and set up their own ambush. For this one ignore the “depends on the actual character” as the conversation dealt with mental stats.

3. Expediting game play. For this I had my primary weapon destroyed at the end of a session and knowing about spells that could repair it looked them up to determine that our cleric could indeed do it after resting. Since some other players don’t level up and choose spells in between sessions, eating into gameplay I was hoping to save a 2 minute conversation asking if anyone could fix it, waiting while everyone checks their spell lists and determining that the cleric could. The GM felt that my going straight to the cleric next session and asking if he could magically repair it was too metagamey even after my explanation.

I’m not looking for any kind of “I told you so” out of this I just want to see if there are lots of people who feel that these would be meta gaming, or if they would be reasonable

Either way the friendship is fine we weren’t mad and the game proceeded on.

I'm looking to put a "festival" of sorts in between books 1 and 2 to give the PC's some time to enjoy the city and to help.... spread money around..... I was planning on giving the PC's each a number of "Action Points" and a list of the days events and they can choose to participate in whichever events (or none at all) they want. One of the ones I'm most keen on is a sort of scavenger hunt to help give the PC's a sense of the city that they are going to need to care about. Where there are say 10 locations and each group that is participating is given one of the clues and must solve the riddle, reach the destination, collect whatever token, (like a wooden rabbit or something) is there to prove they found the correct place and return it to the main stage to receive the next clue down and so on until the first team solves all 10.

For example;

"Gold is my head, Gold is my tail. I make my home amongst the Sails"

-Would refer to the bank of Abadar, since a Korvosan gold coin is called a Gold Sail

As far as locations go I was thinking of;

The Bank of Abadar
The Acadamae (Or the Gilded Orrery)
The Iron Works
The Temple of Aroden (Or Exemplary Execrables)
The Pantheon of Many
The Great Tomb of Leadership
Kendall Amphitheater (Or Gatefoot)
The Marble Dome
Orsini Academy
Avenue of Arms

Any help figuring out some neat riddles would be greatly appreciated. Bonus points if the riddle uses Korvosan lore (The naming of the Kendall Amphitheater) to reward players who have read the Korvosan history primer I made. Any PC making a Knowledge:Local, or an Int check will also "figure out" the clue if they are stumped. With rerolls every in game 30 minutes.

You're playing a character that picks fights, never backs down, and is looking to die. Now you're upset that the DM hasn't killed you but admit it would have been a dick move to kill him without you there. The other players are probably already suspending character motivation to stay with/protect him. In all honesty just pretend he died gloriously and roll something up (that isn't a giant middle finger to everyone else). He wasn't messing with you, you are over reacting.

I dont know if I would have Lamm fire first salvo then retreat where he cant be caught. As a player I might feel a bit cheated. Honestly keeping the party together after Lamm shouldnt be *too* difficult for IC reasons. As soon as they step out of the Fishery the city has exploded so that should be incentive enough to stay together for a while. I would probably give them a "fighting" (not nessecarily combat) withdrawl/advance throughout that night to give the characters a sense of "I should stay with these guys since we make a strong force". You could also have Gaedren have ties reaching back to Devargo (but dont reveal exactly who the ties lead to just yet). As far as fostering a desire to remain in Korvosa just step up the RP encounters to have the PC's form attachments to NPC's ( this will pay off in spades later);

Have a small group of Lamm's former Lambs show up at the PC's inn, their leader, in a cockney defiant manner, tells either one particular PC or the group that Lamm, while a right bastard, DID provide them with at least moudly bread. Now that he's dead or gone he feels that the PC's owe it to him and his "boys" to provide for them.

RP a trip to the shopping district. If there is a Paladin or some sort of well behaved strong looking character have "Maghda" who runs her shop with her husband and daughter dote on the PC's. Demanding that her husband bring tea up for these strong young lads. Perhaps telling her daughter to bring a few biscuits, remarking to the "Paladin" how pretty she is and still unwed, and my arent these biscuits wonderful, my daughter bakes as well.

Grau would make another good one to use, if you think your PC's aren't up to a fight you could have Kroft assign him to work with them occasionally.

Kroft herself is written to be another. She practically goes out of her way to accommodate them.

Vencarlo depending on how you want to play him off could be another.

Trinia's another.

Then theres whatever NPC's you want to just home brew.