| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Dang, it was down for a while!
While waiting for Mahmoud to return, Aerith spends several hours tracking down the location of the Dark Depository. Despite being part of the Grand Library, this section isn't located in the building. Instead, due to the dangerous forbidden knowledge housed within, the entrance is located at the bottom of an abandoned well in the district known as Wadjet's Walk. You're warned that things have spawned there that have never seen the sun and that few scholars tread the dark halls, so no help will be coming if you run into something beyond your capacity to handle. Mahmoud, meanwhile, is kept busy entertaining Muminofrah for almost the entire day until she finally grows bored and sends him away ... with a letter granting access to the Dark Depository for three days.
Thanks for the offer, but I'm a weirdo who prefers GMing to playing. ;-)
Between the waiting to start the race and the initial jockeying for position, there's a bit of time to get buffed up. :-)
It did sound really good.
As you can see, gaining access to the Spiral Archives is the focus of this part of the adventure. Both the legal and illegal routes have complexities. ;-)
Sounds good! Divination is a very underrated Sphere, in my opinion, so I'm glad you're dipping into it. Don't forget that you have access to a few 'alternate divinations' based on your other known Spheres. Most aren't particularly useful in the majority of situations, but there are a couple interesting ones.
Magic items with constant effects continue to function while polymorphed, so the deathwatch eyes will grant their benefit in both elf and dragon form. I have no issue with making the item a tattoo although I will submit THIS as an argument in favor of a spectacled dragon. ;-)
Back at the Grand Mausoleum, Sebti and Nakht are quite pleased to hear that you've located the source and slain the necromancer responsible. After examining the mask you found, they believe they can use it as a reverse-engineer the ritual in order to lay the undead to rest on a mass scale. It'll take a few days, but the threat to the city should be at an end. In the meantime, they're happy to give you access to the temple records if you're wanting to conduct further research on the mask. Alternately, you can aid in returning the undead to the Boneyard - or take some time to rest and recuperate from the trials you've undergone.
No worries; I figured life's been busy. I hope your pet has a speedy recovery.
Only one undead remains...
Aerith smashes two of the skeletons as Mahmoud magically scans the area ... and discovers a gold-masked woman lurking invisibly near the doorway where the cultists entered. As she chants an invocation, she becomes visible, but then you're both bombarded with a cacophony of sound.
Meanwhile, the last skeleton continues to chase after Mahmoud. The erratic movements of your dance severely hamper it, but it's still able to get close enough to attempt to swipe you with a claw.
Not a problem!
The talking skills stay as we currently have them (Deception for lies and Influence for everything else). Eliminate PSB and PSD (the latter is basically calculated the same as vanilla PF's feint/demoralize defense, so it's unnecessary). Feint is a Deception skill check; demoralize is an Influence skill check - link in vanilla PF. Instead of free skill ranks, Fencing and Gladiator give a bonus equal to +1/2 BAB to feint and demoralize maneuvers respectively. This is the same way that the Athletics Sphere works with consolidated skills and uses the Warleader/Leadership skill redundancy formula as precedent. This way, characters who don't put ranks in Deception/Influence can still use the maneuvers even if the other uses of those skills (like making disguises or eloquent speech) don't fit their character. From a defensive standpoint, both Spheres have a talent that helps (Read Foe and Uncowed, respectively). I'd be inclined to increase Uncowed's bonus vs demoralize to be equal to the character's level to make it in line with Fencing's Read Foe. I think over all, this would reduce the current compatibility issues. It doesn't solve excessively high bonus problem, but as Grumbaki noted, that's sort of a thing for PF in general. What are your thoughts?
Balancing feint is tricky, as it's easy to get high numbers. Boosting skill checks of any sort to ridiculous levels is simple, and as eriktd noted, there aren't really any ways to defend against it short of making enemies immune to precision damage. It's a similar issue with influencing an NPC's attitude in that the DC doesn't scale all that well. I started noticing this in my solo S&S game with Robert Henry, actually. As it turns out, a TWF Rogue who invests heavily in the Fencing Sphere can annihilate anything without breaking a sweat! Demoralize is less problematic but still has issues in that bonuses rapidly outpace an enemy's ability to defend against. Add in the Gladiator Sphere, and it's pretty easy to start a combat encounter by making multiple enemies flee - sometimes even if they're normally immune to fear. I'd hoped that incorporating psychological maneuvers would help balance this as per Grumbaki's suggestion. Feint and demoralize become combat skills, and influencing NPCs is exclusive to Influence and Deception. That doesn't address the numbers being pumped up, though, and adds the unintended side-effect of threatening NPCs being caught in a weird spot. What I'd originally intended was for the affected skill-granting Spheres to give a scaling bonus to the related use. This works out great for Athletics, where the Sphere's various packages can boost climb, run, jump, and swim - and then give free ranks in Fly as in the original version. For Fencing and Gladiator (and Warleader and Leadership to an extent - although I usually ban the latter), this gets complicated because vanilla PF makes feint/demoralize alternate skill uses. As such, no matter what the scaling bonus/free skill rank applies to, something's being shortchanged. One idea I have is to tweak the Spheres themselves. Thanks to eriktd's interest in the Performance Sphere, I've started rereading SoG and making notes about what I like and dislike. There are a lot of fun ideas (like Survivalism's [harvest] talents), so I'm currently making a list of adjustments so that I can eventually start allowing them in future games. Sometimes this has involved using drawbacks to change the base Sphere abilities to remove things like motivations. Maybe I can apply this to Fencing and Gladiator? There's a Fencing drawback that changes the free skill ranks to Sense Motive, for example, as you've become skilled at reading your opponent's body language. I'm definitely open to ideas. :-)
Attic Whisperers are an original Paizo creation, as far as I know. As you've seen, they're not damage dealers and don't do well as a solo encounter unless there's another factor involved (like the deeper darkness in the Strange Aeons campaign. I love the flavorful combination of lore and mechanics.
Good to know. :-) In that case, you do detect a few magical auras in the hoard - likely potions, scrolls, and a minor magic item or two. On another note, this encounter would have been a lot more difficult if there wasn't a dragon in the party. ;-)
Congratulations on completing Book One of the adventure path! Hopefully it's been an enjoyable experience for everyone. Normally, I'd tell everyone to level up here, but I actually think this is a great place to end the campaign. Book One, as you see, is nicely self-contained for the most part, so hopefully this makes for a relatively satisfying conclusion. My reason for ending is that work starts back up for me shortly, and I've learned that I'll be taking on several additional responsibilities. As such, my free time will be reduced and my mental load will be increased to the point that I'm not sure I'll be able to continue my full amount of games. I hope that things will even out for me, but I won't know for certain until sometime in December, most likely, and it's not fair to put all of you in limbo for such an extended period of time. As I said, hopefully you've enjoyed yourselves - I certainly have - and I hope to game with you again in the future.
As you exit the chamber and make your way back toward the chapel, you notice that the trio of oneirogens has collapsed and smoke is no longer emanating from their orifices. Over the next day or so, the mist around the asylum gradually dissipates, giving everyone their first view of the sky in who knows how long. It really does seem that Zandalus was the source, although a review of Administer Losandro's patient notes reveals that this wasn't by design. He did suffer from persistent horrible nightmares, after all, and the ritual detailed in The Chain of Nights appears to be very easy to perform incorrectly.... Regardless, as the fog fades, so too do the ghouls, doppelgangers, and other horrid abominations trapping you inside the asylum. You - and everyone else - are finally free to leave. Winter and Doctor Elbourne take charge of the other survivors, and after finding a boat tied to the pier on the southern end of the island, decide to ferry everyone to the nearby town of Thrushmoor. It will take many trips before Briarstone is fully evacuated, but with the worst of its dangers gone, time is something all of you have in abundance. As for the four of you, the matter of your identities and reasons for being here remains a mystery. It's possible that there are clues to be found somewhere in the asylum's records, but you already know that sorting through them is an incredibly time-consuming task with no guarantee that it will bear fruit. Many of the records were damaged or destroyed, after all. Now that you're no longer in survival mode, though, perhaps this is a task you wish to undertake. On the other hand, perhaps it's better to not know. Not many people get the chance for a fresh start, after all. Ultimately, the choice is up to you - for good or for ill....
At the bottom of the cavern, you find a small pile of glittering treasures, weapons, armor ... and the copper-wrapped quartz core of the elegiac compass. Before you can move more than a step toward it, a crystalline dragon bursts forth from the ground and roars. "Who dares sully my home with your-" She pauses abruptly as she notices Aerith. "I wasn't aware another dragon resided in the city. Or are you a newcomer?"
The two of you inflict heavy damage to the golem, but even caught in Aerith's jaws, it continues to mindlessly attack.
Yes to all questions. :-)
Tribim, by the way, has chosen to return to the temple to inform Nahkt and Sebti that at least one of the elegaic compasses has been damaged.
That sounds much better. :-) For the record, my main issue with Spheres of Guile is that it adds a great deal of additional complexity to the game. The new conditions don't matter too much, but the 'outwit' mechanic is a bit vague, and since I run prewritten campaigns, needing to incorporate 'motivations' and all of the other bits of "roleplay that has mechanical consequences" isn't something that I have the brainpower for.
Just a quick note that I'm really not wanting to delve into Spheres of Guile for this campaign. I'm okay with Performance [dance] and [trade] talents (I suppose), but I have no desire to go farther with the system at this time. I feel obligated to let Grumbaki select something because fair is fair, but after this, I'd really appreciate if the both of you stick with Spheres of Might/Power from here on out.
The Splatter Man is the most difficult opponent you've faced yet. Lady Shae's pushed to her limits making enough magical candies to keep everyone standing, but in the end, the three of you manage to put the evil spirit to rest by the skin of your teeth. Sariel's divine power is the deciding factor while Sorsul's shadow keeps the ghost's spectral minions at bay. Once the metaphorical dust settles, you find the warden's warhammer at the bottom of the oubliette. You know that Jominda will be very happy to have it returned. A few moments after your victory, Vesorianna appears before you, still holding her husband's badge. "Thank you for laying him to rest. Now I go to join my husband." She slowly fades away, leaving the warden's badge. You notice it's glowing slightly, a sign that the prison's ghosts have been safely locked away once more. As your time in Ravengro draws to an end, Sariel sets off home to Lepidstadt, the professor's chest of books in hand. He has a delivery to make ... and then a cult to track down. Lady Shae decides to remain with Kendra for a while longer. There's a certain charm to Ravengro once the people are no longer under the influence of hostile spirits, and the town could certainly use a candymaker. As for Sorsul, she finds herself in a position that's new to her. All of her debts have now been paid, so as long as she doesn't return to Shadow Absalom, she's completely free. For the first time, she can go anywhere, do anything, and be anyone. What will she do first?
Grumbaki, it turns out that you don't actually have to move to benefit from Mahmoud's dances. As long as Aerith spends the action cost, she can shuffle awkwardly around in her current square. ;-) A suggestion for eriktd: When they're active, add a blurb to the bottom of your posts listing your [dance] and [momentum] abilities with associated costs. Both Spheres potentially have reactive effects, and that sort of thing can be tricky to handle via PbP. I've used the War Sphere before, by the way, and can confirm that [momentum] talents are very nice. The 'shared resource pool' bit makes careful tracking very important though.
Fun stuff. Just remember that Appealing Visage has reduced functionality because I don't use Spheres of Guile. No 'impressed' condition or mechanical benefits for performing an 'impressive display of skill.' EDIT since eriktd posted at the same time as me: Just a note that I don't use Spheres of Guile in my games. Since it's just the two of you, though, I'll look over the Perform Sphere to see how crazy it can get and how much it relies on 'outwitting,' 'motivations,' and the various new conditions.
I completely understand about Kingmaker. I've tried running it multiple times, and it always gets bogged down pretty quickly. Doing it for an all-Goblin party is fun, though. ;-) The potential options I'd listed are roughly in my order of preference. Mummy's Mask has been a lot of fun, but I wasn't sure about the viability of continuing on as the "Two of Shadows" considering both Mahmoud and Aerith are quite martial-focused. Gestalting is certainly an option, but then action economy becomes an issue. As you've doubtless noticed, there are a lot of nasty traps and conditions throughout this Adventure Path. As I'm writing this, though, I might be able to mitigate that by adding a bit of the Mythic rules. Nothing remotely close to the full ruleset, of course, but some sort of "spend a daily resource to take an extra turn" combined with buffing my "hit die resting" mechanic should cover it. :-) Zeitgeist is probably the best-written adventure I've ever seen. It's intelligent, all mandatory combats are meaningful and/or have interesting mechanics, and it's even possible for PCs to change sides and join the villains if they find their arguments compelling. It's also an adventure that I'll never be able to run for my in-person group as they're very casual gamers. Definitely something I'd like to run again at some point, but I definitely don't want to step on Pasha's toes. I'll keep an eye on that recruitment and see how it goes. Grumbaki, what are your thoughts?
We've been in what's essentially a dungeon crawl for quite a while now, so I think it's better to keep things moving. Obviously, if something significant arises, we'll pause for interaction, but the standard "enter a room, read the flavor text, and move on" bits can be sped through unless people really want to slow down. :-) Also, that trip sounds like an absolute blast, Grumbaki. I hope you and your family are making lots of memories. :-)
As it turns out, your actions over the last few days have helped calm the populace enough for Menya the Whip to resume work. It'll take a day , but he should be able to craft some gloves of dueling.
Sounds good. Martial spontaneity has the same limitations as a Brawler's martial flexibility - it just costs stamina instead of daily uses. The sentence you're referring to just means that you're not locked out of using the ability if you want to grab a new combat feat before the 1min duration expires: you can pay the stamina cost to select a new feat and reset the duration.
Aerith: Safe travels! Mahmoud: Welcome back!
Since this has the potential to be a challenging fight, we'll wait for Mahmoud to get back and leveled before we begin. :-)
Potential Loot
As you finish your preparations, a vulture-headed creature teleports into the main temple flanked by two crocodile-headed quadrupeds. As they silently move forward, an adamantine scythe appears in the winged creature's hands. Nakht's champion has arrived.
Aerith identifies the crocodiles as esoboks: hunter psychopomps with an unending hunger. While they typically focus on undead, they have been known to accidentally attack the living on rare occasions. Those caught in their jaws risk paralysis. The vulture is clearly a vanth: guardians of Purgatory and watchers along the routes of the dead. They care only about duty with no regard for the rightness or wrongness of one's actions.
Mahmoud: My system doesn't have straight +X bonuses as that's integrated into character leveling. Upgrading something else to your agile dagger will cost at least 6,000gp. Tribim: You can get any weapon you want enchanted as long as you have the gold for it. The only limiting factors are the specific enchantment, as Clerics won't necessarily have access to the spell prerequisites.
Aerith goes to track down the High Priestess ... and finds her in the middle of a heated argument with Nakht Shepses, the commander of the Voices of the Spire! "It's too dangerous! Civilians will get caught in the crossfire!" yells Sebti. Nakht retaliates, "You'd prefer stronger undead reanimate while we dawdle? Even if - and that's a big 'if' - there's a minor amount of collateral damage, swift action will save more lives in the long term!"
Tribim: The Perform check is part of the same action. However, it wouldn't work on feint checks, as that's a psychological maneuver using PSB - not a Deception skill check. ;-) Aerith: Your breakdown is very close to accurate. The only issue is that the 2x Slam attacks would replace your 2x Claw attacks due to the "only one natural attack per limb" FAQ. Slam attacks fall into a weird spot because the limb used varies based on the creature, but the ones granted by the Alteration Sphere specifically use your arms.
With Sorsul's help, you discover a secret alcove in the stone wall! Unfortunately, it's securely locked .
Welp, this was the sickest I've been in years, but I'm finally on the mend. I'll try to resume posting tomorrow.
Welp, this was the sickest I've been in years, but I'm finally on the mend. I'll try to resume posting tomorrow.
Welp, this was the sickest I've been in years, but I'm finally on the mend. I'll try to resume posting tomorrow.
There's sickness going around work, and it's my turn to catch it. I blame the Kindergartner who sneezed in my face the other day. Hopefully I'll be back in the saddle in a day or two.
No problem; that's what I figured. :-)
Good discussion. The real issue is that the Scout ability is poorly worded, so it can be read a couple different ways. Honestly, as cool as Spheres of Might is, it would really benefit from an "Ultimate" version that consolidates the various system expansions and clears up rules language. I do remember that we had a similar discussion about the Scout ability very early in the campaign, but I haven't taken the time to reread the Discussion thread in search of the posts, so it's possible that I may end up contradicting myself here. I think my previous read would have been pretty comparable, though.
As Baldrek said, the Scout ability is meant to represent you using what you know or see to figure out how best to fight an enemy. A non-Spheres parallel would be the "Know Thy Enemy" class feature of the Lore Warden Fighter. That ability has an action cost and a Knowledge check as well. :-) There's also a logistical issue that arises if Scout-via-Knowledge doesn't have an action cost: it targets a specific creature. To use the encounter we just finished, your successful Knowledge (divine) check let you identify the creatures as ghouls and remember the risks of disease and paralysis. Which ghoul do the bonuses apply to? And if more ghouls jump out from around the next corner, would you automatically get bonuses against them as well because they're mechanically identical to the ones you just encountered? Things would get complicated very quickly, as we'd have to track each individual creature you encounter for the rest of the campaign - or you'll just automatically gain a bunch of bonuses, making Scout a must-take Sphere for every character to exist because there's zero downside to taking it. ;-) A much more reasonable reading (in my opinion) is to treat Scout like a Slayer's Studied Target: spend an action to gain various scaling bonuses against a specific creature until 24hrs have passed or it's dead, whichever comes first. Using Knowledge is probably easier as your bonus will generally be higher, but unless you spend a bunch of skill ranks, you run the risk of not being able to identify certain creatures. Using Perception is more difficult, but it'll work on everything you encounter with zero investment necessary. A last interesting feature - which also supports the argument that Scout isn't a passive Knowledge check - is that the DC is explicitly set to 10+CR. Monster Lore has a varying DC depending on how common or rare a creature is, with ranges between 5+CR to 15+CR. The Scout ability ignores this, so using it on a Goblin is slightly more difficult but using it on a mysterious obscure creature is slightly easier. This makes sense, as you aren't identifying a creature with Scout; you're analyzing its fighting style and finding weaknesses. :-)
No worries! That's the advantage of solo gaming: there's no timetable as we're essentially just taking turns posting. ;-)
Sounds good. One thing to remember is that Barrage and Deadly Shot are "special attack actions," so they can't be used together. Your Swift action bonus shot from Shortbow mastery can be used with either ability, though.
There aren't many things that can target a possessing creature, unfortunately. You're looking at certain dispel spells, the Exorcism talent from the Fate Sphere, or attempting to possess the body yourself via magic jar or similar effects. |