I like big guns and I cannot lie!
All the other casters can't deny,
with the deadly power of powder and shot
You can shoot even more putz!
It's just fun, bigger shoots further too
But a blunderbuss has scattershot, true?
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Maybe a scaled down, non-combative variation of the Furnace Golem would do the job?
Might write an epilogue for Valda, if I get the time and energy. Sorry I'm being slow on my application, Rando. Depression has punched a lot of the energy out of me and I'm being slow to recover.
Automatic Bonus Progression basically gives you magic weapons, armour, and a Cloak of Resistance plus some other goodies automatically, at the cost of half your cash. Since they're also slotless, it means you can go and look up some of the more fun items and use them, instead of having to reserve those slots for things that keep you alive. It's a lot of fun.
So...who wants to wish that our next characters get large sums of cash?
Valda glanced at the others. "What would you guys say to 'the restoration of everyone harmed during there time in this realm?' Because I suspect some folks got hurt, between the heat and the, you know, dragon."
My character is a Starknife user, so mid-to-close range.
I can do both Healing and Trapfinding. Of course, so can everyone else - it is a campaign trait.
"Son of a donkey! Why do things keep setting me on fire?" Moving again to avoid getting caught in cones as well as fireball blasts, Valda took aim again and fired. Because this thing would loose one way or another.
Chambering another round, Valda noticed the steam hissing and fizzing as the gun's redhot barrel thought the fact it was firing huge blasts of subarctic death. Still, she was running low on Snowballs - the next would be her last. And then, onto less friendly things...
It was time to get a little more serious. Valda activated a power she rarely used, enhancing the enchantments on the Unreasonably Big Gun even more. And she added Frost damage because why the hell not? Racking another round into the monster gun, she fired again.
Valda moved fast, but still took a nasty chunk of flame. Thankfully luck and titanium plated biking leathers soaked most of the damage. Moving backwards, and out of the range of any more fireballs, Valda raised her gun to her shoulder. "This may sting a little."
Valda looked over at Maria. "Does that mean one of us has to accept on behalf of women?"
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Also, yeah, don't mind doing linked storylines.
Valda drew her Unreasonably Big Gun from the interdimensional gun holster it lived in. "We who are about to die utterly refuse to."
"...if that's the only option we have, then I guess it's the option we take?" Valda glanced over at 'Lord' Dave.
Valda watched how the doors were locked. She really hoped that treating them like powerful leaders didn't mean cutting their heads off now to leave there people leaderless, but if it did, she had no intention of being trapped.
"We spoke with those that made the deal that brought the city here, and understand that only by making a second deal can the city be returned. We would like to do that." Hopefully he'd accept burning up twice as much desert. No one would notice if a few miles of that vanished. Valda, however, wasn't good at multi-dimensional beings.
Valda bowed before the creature. "We of course offer our respect, but that is but part of the reason we come. We come instead to make a new deal. The lands that were given here were not those who gave them. The lives of the people here are there own. We know that this deal was struck in good faith, and ask that we be allowed to forge a new one, so that the lands and lives can be returned to where they came and that nothing is lost here." Valda chose her words with care, trying to make sure she didn't insinuate that this creature was the Pharoh, nor that the lands didn't belong to them. It wouldn't do to have a lackey think she'd mistaken it for the boss, nor would it be a good idea to insult his Flaminess.
I don't mind what folks call me. My brother usually refered to me with swear words, so... But Traditional spells do kinda appear in Spheres, but as Rituals. They take longer to cast, need time to prepare and a few other differences. You can also just have it as an additional system, along with normal Vancian casting (like you can do with Psionics). There's even a Prestige Class, the Bokor, that mixes Vancian and Spheres casting.
"If I could do science, I wouldn't break the laws of thermodynamics for a living." Valda opened up with rays of frosty magic, helping Isagoras cool the floor enough for them to walk on.
Well, Spheres is a lot of fun and not too complicated (the rules to actually use it are only a couple of thousands words long - the bulk of it is each sphere), and it works with pre-existing casting so it wouldn't replace Vancian for those who want it. Loosely how Sphere of Power works:
Basically, each class is either a High Caster (equivilant to levels 1-9 casters), Mid Casters (level 1-6) or Low (1-4). They each get a Caster Level which determines how powerful there spells get. In SoP caster levels stack between casting classes. Each caster gets a number of Talents. You get two for becoming a Sphere caster, possibly three if you're a High Caster. You also get Spell Points, usually equal to your cast level an casting attribute modifer. Each Sphere requires you spend a talent to get it, along with some basic abilities (in the Life Sphere, you would get the ability to grant temporary HP, or heal 1d8 + you cast level for a spell point, and Restore certain things for a spell point) but if you want to more abilities (such as Restoring 2d8 hit points, or restoring lost limbs, removing curses, etc) you have to spend another talent to buy those, too. You'll notice that restoring Temporary Hit points is free, and can be done as often as you like, but proper curing and Restoration costs Spell Points, limiting what you can do. Each Spheres has something similar. So with three talents, you can either choose three Basic Spheres, or choose one Sphere and be better at it. The reason Spherecasting is a bit stronger at the start is you can get access to things like Hold Person and a weak Haste from level 1, and some basic abilities can be cast all day (the Destruction Sphere allows you to throw around 1d6 bolts of Blugeoning Damage all day). The reason that it isn't as powerful later is...that's it. You can make abilities stronger, increase the DC, maybe add an additional effect, but effectively you'll still have the same powers you had access to at level 20 that you did at level 1. You simply diversify. The other reason is there isn't an Arcane/Divine split. Want to take both the Life and Destruction spheres? Or the Light and Dark Spheres? Do it. You can have a healing Wizard or a blasting Cleric. There are some more things, like Casting Traditions, but they aren't something that's required.
Anyway, if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer. I love Spheres of Power - way more fun than Vancian, and it allows you to build any kind of caster you like, so I'm happy to work to get it allowed. EDIT: Yup, Paizo ate my post. Place your bets now - will it appear once I do a second post? I bet yes.
"If I was any good at science, I wouldn't be breaking the laws of thermodynamics." Valda raised her hands and also cast Ray of Frost, chilling the ground so no one died from the horrifying heat.
Well, if we're bombarding poor Rando with 3rd Party Requests, can I use Spheres of Power instead of regular casting? It's a little stronger for the first couple of levels, but doesn't have the same 'fail a save, fight is done' spells that the Vancian system has. I personally much prefer it to Vancian casting.
I'm thinking of going for an Oracle of Desna. Fear Death by Starknife! Also, I wholly support doing Automatic Bonus Progression and Background Skills.
Looking at the Pyramid, Valda repeated her earlier sentiment, "Do you think anyone ever told these guys that Pharoahs only lived in these things after they died?" Probably not. Then again, maybe this Pharoah had come first. As they approached, Valda called out, "Hi! No need to burn us to death is as horrible a fashion as you manage. We've some to see the Pharoah and make a deal."
We kick ass...and will soon have dragonskin boots to do it in.
"There are days when you have to wonder 'If Karma is real, then what the hell did I do to deserve this crap?" Reloading using her new belt, she took aim once more. Still, she was disturned by the huge, winged creature that laughed mockingly in the face of physics. So did she, but at least she was polite about it.
Valda calmly and rationally assessed the situation. "So...either I am doing far more drugs than I remember, or that is a mother lovin' dragon. Isagoras, please tell me if we're going to have Smaug that thing." Leaning out the window, Valda aimed, waiting for either the dragon to attack or her allies to give the world to fire.
Valda suffered through the heat with clenched teeth and loud complaining. This was what you got for wearing leather armour in the planes of fire...
"Eh, they'll claim someone spiked the water, air, etc. Some political asshat will claim that this is why we need to blow up whichever people they're currently trying to vilify, Nazi-style, to rally the crowds. Then people will vote for the asshat, because clearly those people are evil, somehow." Valda shrugged. "Crazy is what people do. Most of the people here will buy it, because obviously an entire city getting teleported to the realm of fire is crazy, and the few that don't will either keep their traps shut or be labelled insane. 'Poor dears, shouldn't have sucked down so much of the crazy gas, I'm glad I'm not like them.' And wait until you see the Health Insurance spike this one will cause. Whoo. Glad I'm not a poor person." Valda certainly didn't have views or anything. Nodding at the red spot, Valda shrugged. "Who wants to go knocking on hell's oven door?"
Valda nodded, and followed. It seemed as good a plan as any. A giant pyramid that was likely on fire would likely be easy to spot, assuming he lived in a pyramid. Pharaohs hadn't done so in actual Egypt, but no one had likely told this one that.
"Nothing much, but if you see Dave growing a black beard or muttering about the younglings, give me a yell." Glancing around at the others, Valda added, "So...we're off the see the Pharoh. Anyone see a giant pyramid of fire?" Valda continued to ruffle through pockets.
"Maybe," Valda replied, "But remember - you don't use monsters to fight monsters, because at the end, you still have a monster. We aren't going to win by being like these guys." Raising her gun, Valda knelt and checked the corpse. Maybe he had something useful on him.
Valda looked up in surprise. "I admit, he was a piece of crap, but was that really the answer?"
"And don't say 'kill the Pharoah of Fire'. Everyone says that." It was also likely to be borderline impossible to actually do.
Tapping the barrel of the Unreasonably Big Gun into the man's groin, Valda added, "Allow me to condense this. How? Why? And how do we correct it?" Pulling back the hammer, she added, "Answer my riddles three, or without thy nuts shall thee be."
"Hi, remember me? Valda Simmons. Nice to see you again. Now, here's the thing - I don't enjoy second degree burns. They hurt. I have received just such burns from the elementals you guys called up. I am not in my happy place." Valda aimed the unreasonably large gun she had built at his genitals. "Answer our questions, or I will remove your happy place in a permanent and spectacular fashion. And no, having your junk shot off will not prove terminal. You might wish it did, but you'll live. So if you make me do it, I'll find more bits to shoot off. Welcome to my bad day place."
Valda grunted as she caught flame. "Son of a donkey lover, I'm on fire!" Flinging herself down, Valda tried to not be on fire.
Glaring at the gun, Valda's hands blurred across the breach, unloading the damaged shell and reloading the heavy gun in a shockingly fast set of movement. "Oh, think jamming is clever huh? How'd you like that?" Raising the gun to her shoulder again, Valda squeezed off another shot against the large Elemental.
Valda chambered another round, and then shot the giant again.
No, only crits. It's a x4 modifier, so it's normal damage is 2d10+6. To make it x4 just add the other three loads of damage, as it were.
Valda advanced into the area as best she could, hoping the heat wouldn't cause her to melt and die. She kept an eye out for whatever monstrosity was likely to be around. Or monstrosities. Idly, she wondered what the collective for such would be. An apocalypse of monstrosities? A goddamned lot of monstrosities? Maybe Isagoras would know. Once she spotted them, she raised the heavy gun she carried and pointed it at the monster. The gun had an ungodly range. Looking at the two options, she aimed at the bigger monster. The smaller ones would fall easily once the big one went down.
Valda watched the strange abominations that Isagoras summoned and shrugged. "Seriously, that is just wrong. All the wrong, all the time." With another shrug Valda pulled out her newly made gun, like a magician pulling out the world's angriest rabbit. The massive, heavy barreled gun clicked ominously as she cocked it. She also cast as Shield spell on herself. Better to add as much protection as she could before wandering into the path of something that looked like it had escaped from Hell.
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