Zorblag's page

Here is Zorblag's Dromite Tactician (Battle Medic) who could step in as a healer/support long term either replacing Krat (skill monkey/striker,) or, if need be I could play both at table one while we get things going. I think that at this point I'm happy enough with both builds that I can play whichever is more convenient for the table.

I don't know if it's in the character creation details, but the Spheres classes had been decided against for character creation earlier. I guess I'd assume that would go for archetypes as well (as adding a Spheres archetype is essentially just making something a Spheres class.)

Krat is now upgraded and ready to go. I've added a couple traits and taken away drawbacks, added a bit more vigor, and now have the circuitbreaker archetype, though it doesn't do that much. It's mostly the same Krat as before. Let me know if anything looks off!

Now I'm taking a look at a tactician.

I think that with the new build rules and a free archetype I'll probably just teak Krat slightly. Adding the Circuit Breaker archetype to what I've got now would fit the setting well enough I think.

I think I'm also going to see what I can put together for a Dromite Tactician (Battle Medic) just to see what I think of it and then decide which to play. I should have time to put that together by tomorrow or Monday at the latest as we're starting at level 1.

From that first set I can make a 18, 16, 16, 14, 14, 10 spread, so let's plan on that.

Sounds good! Just making sure I wasn't missing something!

I've changed up the talents to match the new alteration sphere changes and now I can throw a dagger at an enemy and try to turn them into a fish, not because it's particularly effective, but because it's fun.

There's nothing I desperately need from this batch of treasure, though holding onto the potions of pass without trace might come in handy for the future, and anyone who uses arrows regularly should probably grab those seeking arrows or sleep arrows just to have them.

Just as a heads up, I'll be taking my daughters camping this next week so I probably won't be able to post Monday through Friday. If Krat manages to get down to join the others then he'll follow along quietly. The group can have him be sneaky and check things out if they like, but hopefully I'll be back in time to help with anything major that might come up!

Vhinservun Tekra wrote:

Is either Fort Zeltan or Ryuona's Den on the way to the other or are they in different directions? I'm all for going to whichever is first on our path. Or if they're equally accessible for narrative purposes perhaps stopping by Ryuona's Den hoping to pick up information and meet with our incoming Alchemist and then hitting Fort Zeltan.

It's basically a side quest off the road to the east, further into the center of the Duchy of Urnst. It definitely works to go to the Den first and then head off to check up on the Fort.

My vote is to make that quick stop at the Den and then hit the fort in that case. Unless the Den is interesting we'll get through it quickly and get into some new sort of trouble (which we'll know to buff up for and scout this time!)

One ability I think we could benefit from as a group would likely be some version of speak with the dead (given Krauz's Oath against Mercy we're not going to be able to ask survivors of battles questions very often.) I haven't done an exhaustive search of SoP, but I do know gravetongue from the Death Sphere doesn't do it (it just lets you learn what the corpse knows after it died.) Vhinservun can cast it via scroll (and once per day she could not use the scroll, but rather a third level spell slot, though there's likely to be competition for that ability from other scrolls.)

But that's not really something that would work as an extract anyhow as the target is a corpse rather than a player. I assume you're looking at the instill talents from Spheres of power; that's the mechanism that I'm aware of that really lets you use SoP as potion-like stuff. The Alteration sphere has a bunch of potentially interesting stuff (which has the benefit of combining a number of effects into one instillation.) Fate motifs are nice in that they do a number of potentially interesting things and have a duration of an hour per caster level. I don't have any particular recommendations beyond that though, whatever seems fun to play around with is probably worth it!

Joke's on them. Krauz works better when he's not out in direct sunlight!

Hearing the voice order an attack Kazu focuses on the enemies he's detected up the southern slop. Losing himself in a rage and letting out a battle cry to strengthen the resolve of his comrades, he then focuses on his arm and warps above the head of one of the archers lurking up the slope to the south.

Stance (the one listed as current before combat started): Primal Warrior Stance (attacks count as two size categories larger)
Combat Style Master and Wild Card Style: Starts the Fight in Dragon Style with Dragon Ferocity
Terrain Effect: +1 for being on higher ground
Free Action: Berserking: +11 temporary HP for the round, -2 AC
Free Action: Assume Radiant Dawn Style (stacks with Dragon Style)
Free Action: Hardend Fists (attacks count as one size category larger for the round)
Swift Action (Boost): Encouraging Roar (All allies within 30 feet get +2 morale bonus to hit and damage)
Standard Action: Pouncing Teleport with Distance teleport (more than 40 feet away) and an attack action at the end (costs 3 SP)
Float: To stay floating above the archer Kazu teleported over
Attack Action: Using both Monk Weapon Training and Advancing Carnage (-4 to attack and bonus monk attack, -2 to all other attacks for the round)
Vital Strike: First attack gets damage rolled twice
Power Attack: -3 to hit, +6 Damage on all attacks
Tight Focus: +3 shield bonus to AC after using an attack action.

First Attack on Archer directly below Kazu: 1d20 + 23 + 1 + 2 - 4 - 3 ⇒ (5) + 23 + 1 + 2 - 4 - 3 = 24 (hits)
Damage (B): 8d8 + 26 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (1, 5, 7, 6, 1, 4, 8, 7) + 26 + 2 + 6 = 73
Vital Strike Damage: 8d8 ⇒ (1, 4, 5, 7, 3, 7, 7, 4) = 38 = 111 total, archer down.

Using Reaper's Momentum to make an free attack after reducing an enemy to 0 hp.
Reapers Momentum attack on Archer to the west of Kazu: 1d20 + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (19) + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 = 40
Confirming Critical: 1d20 + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 + 1 = 26 hit, critical
Damage (B): 8d8 + 23 + 2 + 6 + 8d8 + 23 + 2 + 6 + 8 ⇒ (8, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 8, 2) + 23 + 2 + 6 + (5, 2, 4, 4, 1, 7, 5, 8) + 23 + 2 + 6 + 8 = 131 archer down

Using Reaper's Momentum again (can only use twice per round) to make a free attack after reducing an enemy to 0 hp.
Reapers Momentum attack on Archer to the southwest of Kazu: 1d20 + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (2) + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 = 23 hit
Damage (B): 8d8 + 23 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (3, 3, 4, 7, 1, 6, 5, 3) + 23 + 2 + 6 = 63 not down

Using Advancing Carnage to attack an enemy adjacent to the first one attacked (the one to the SW, 1st use of up to 4).
Advancing Carnage attack on Archer to the southwest of Kazu: 1d20 + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (16) + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 = 37 hit
Damage (B): 8d8 + 23 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (4, 1, 1, 4, 3, 3, 1, 6) + 23 + 2 + 6 = 54 117 total, down

Using Advancing Carnage to attack an enemy adjacent to the last one attacked with advancing carnage (2nd use of up to 4)
Advancing Carnage attack on Archer to the south of Kazu: 1d20 + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (2) + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 = 23 hit
Damage (B): 8d8 + 23 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 5, 2, 3, 6, 7) + 23 + 2 + 6 = 60 not down

Second attack from Monk Weapon Training
Advancing Carnage attack on Archer to the south of Kazu: 1d20 + 23 + 1 + 2 - 4 - 3 ⇒ (10) + 23 + 1 + 2 - 4 - 3 = 29 hit
Damage (B): 8d8 + 23 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (2, 6, 4, 6, 3, 3, 2, 4) + 23 + 2 + 6 = 61 121 total, down

Using Advancing Carnage to attack an enemy adjacent to the last one attacked with advancing carnage (3nd use of up to 4)
Advancing Carnage attack on Archer to the southeast of Kazu: 1d20 + 23 + 1 + 2 - 4 - 3 ⇒ (10) + 23 + 1 + 2 - 4 - 3 = 29 hit
Damage (B): 8d8 + 23 + 6 ⇒ (5, 8, 6, 6, 7, 6, 2, 6) + 23 + 6 = 75 down

Using Advancing Carnage to attack an enemy adjacent to the last one attacked with advancing carnage (4th use of up to 4)
Advancing Carnage attack on Archer to the east of Kazu: 1d20 + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (15) + 23 + 1 + 2 - 2 - 3 = 36 hit
Damage (B): 8d8 + 23 + 6 ⇒ (7, 4, 4, 3, 4, 7, 3, 1) + 23 + 6 = 62 not down

That should take out the one below Kazu, the one to his west, the one to his southwest, the one to his south, and the one to his southeast. The one to his east has 2 hp.

Kazu's AC for the round is 35 (-2 from berserking, +3 from tight focus)

Let me know if you have any questions about any of that or if it doesn't look right for whatever reason.

Not as of yet, but let's see if I can make one.

As he turns to look for a way down into the newly formed chasm Krat sees Eleven_Zee_Alpha tumble into the pit below. Swearing under his breath he turns to Transient. "If you think you can climb down now without a fall like that check on her as quick as you can."

Turning back to the crowd the "kobold" calls out, "You all heard Seer Zorotaer! He knew we had a purpose and it was down there. I don't know what that purpose is yet, but we'll need to attend to the one who just fell quickly so that we can get to it and avoid the doom the Seer hinted at. I need someone to bring some rope and I need it now!"

Krat watches the elder ophiduan's entrance with interest, but then his eyes narrow when he seems to be singling out their group. Glancing around quickly to make sure he's not mistaken, he's then taken by surprise as the earth begins to shake and throw himself to the ground to avoid being knocked over by anything else. When the shaking has stopped, as Eleven_Zee_Alpha and interact with Zorotaer and those around him, his words echo in Krat's ears, "The ground will split and the Flow will be torn asunder! All will be lost... Unless... you, you! And... And you and you! ... Cut the strings ..."

Given his status as a revered seer Krat decides to take Zorotaer at his word and looks around frantically to see if there's any evidence that the shaking of the earth has opened up some sort of chasm in the ground or if there's anything that might be classified as a string that there wasn't before (it seems unlikely he'll find the strings right away, but splitting ground would fit in with the scene quite well.)

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

@Soto, one thing I'll add to that archetype is that if you have free feat available you can take Channel Life which would let you use any of the spell like abilities as part of your channel. You'd still pay the cost and it would only affect one person unless you spent the extra SP to have it affect more than one, in which case it would affect everyone the channel does. It'd be a way to combine some healing/restoring functions in terms of action economy.

@Krauz, the obvious sources of AC for you are Natural Armor, Deflection and Shield. You're wearing armor now which only gives you 1 AC over what you'd get from the Defense Bonus you'd get for not wearing it (and the defense bonus would catch up next level), so it might or might not be an efficient use of gold (though I know you reference it in your backstory.) A ring of protection or amulet of natural armor would both add some if you can afford them by switching out equipment. If you can find a way to get either two feats or a feat and a talent in you could pick up Shield Focus (or the talent Shield Expert) and Unhindering Shield you could pick up a +1 Mithral Buckler would give you +3 shield bonus to AC without any penalties to attack or casting spells.

Others are using Oaths to get some bonuses to AC without having to pay for them which is making them higher than they would otherwise be. In Kolvar's case he's actually applying the Enhanced Defenses to the Defense Bonus when as far as I can tell it's supposed to be applied to a shield or suit or armor (or clothing if you're using armor AC and not wearing armor like a standard Monk.) The Defense bonus specifically says it's there to replace the need to add enhancement bonuses to armor, so by default it wouldn't apply to that, though it's up to Sebecloki how he wants the mechanisms to interact here. In Rhûnn's case he's getting Str to AC as natural armor that says it doesn't stack with other sources of Natural armor from muscles of steel (listed as Str to AC in his character sheet) so it's not clear that the NA he's getting from Inhuman resilience would also apply (though that one is an enhancemnt bonus to NA, so it's more likely to as you can usually apply enhancment bonuses on top of other bonuses.)

With the hitpoints we've got probably high healing is going to be enough to offset getting hit, so you're probably OK regardless, but those are some thoughts from my end.

Actually, I promised simple, so here's an archetype that you could add no matter what else you're doing with your build. You'll fight like normal and cast the spells added like normal. It gives you a small additional smite option (which lasts one attack, costs an immediate action and will usually be usable once per fight,) and gives you some more healing and restoration spells. Let me know if it all makes sense or if anything looks like you'd hate to have it. While no where near optimized, it should be pretty easy to use to supplement the rest of what you're doing.

This all sounds good, I just need a compilation when you're all done so I have something to work w/ when I throw references to this stuff into the campaign.

Here's what I've got so far for the Companions of the Broken Band. I think that I've got all the current completed builds, but if I missed anyone do let me know (Vargarn's not in there because he's been replaced by Avira I think.) If anyone wants to be able to edit the document just send me a request and I'll give permission, and if anyone's not happy with how I wrote anything up or characterized anything do let me know!

I suppose the other option for gestalt would be to have one psionic class and one path of war, though I don't know if that would actually fill the roles that might be missing (Krat would almost certainly want to gestalt into Harbinger for example.)

It seems like we have at least 4 or 5 still about and interested in playing at this point, so I wonder if gestalt is really needed? I guess of the two options I'd prefer some minor gestalt option to cover things that aren't just now (mostly healing if Gigar is gone, though he was actively fairly recently, so I'm not convinced we've lost him,) to new recruits for now.

How about Yorlak the Butcher, a Graveknight that the Companions defeated some time ago only to have Sir Falgorn claim his armor as his own and then be killed by it when Yorlak's rejuvination kicked in a week later (another Companion lost, alas!)

Yorlak, a particularly brutal mercenary captain in life, had been the undead lord of a keep that the Companions cleared out back in the day, but since being defeated and coming back he's now become the field general for some more powerful enemy that we won't know yet (which Sebecloki can do whatever he'd like with.) Of course Yorlak's grown more powerful himself, and is now in command of some formidable forces so he'll be a challenge in and of himself the next time we cross paths.

So for group planning purposes, I went with the Companions of the Broken Band for the name of our mercenary company in my backstory because someone else had used that. Is that something that everyone is happy with? Does anyone fancy being the initial member of the group that's survived all the (mis)adventures so far and recruited the rest of us over the years?

Further, we're collectively supposed to have three persistent enemies that our group has managed to aquire over the years. I've tentatively put an aboleth (unnamed, but I'm sure we could come up with a good one,) in my backstory, but I'm not wedded to it if someone else has a better plan (though for long term enemies I think an aboleth is up there.)

Yeah, we'll cover things for a bit while you focus on RL. Your health is much more important than the game! When you're up for being back we'll be thrilled to have you!

@Transient, you're lurking and following us based on the post from before. Why not be in the alley behind the merchant depot that we're about to try to sneak into? You could offer to draw any attention away from the Gigar carrying Eleven_Zee_Alpha over his shoulder for reasons that we don't understand and we could go from there perhaps?

I'm fine with you taking the adventure where ever it makes the most sense to you and from whatever sources you like. Other than working with psionics instead of magic as the supernatural force in the world and more lizards and insects than mammals (not that you can tell from our characters,) I don't have that many expectations you can shatter by using multiple sources.

So I'm fine with whatever division happens, but Eleven_Zee_Alpha, Gigar and Krat have a potential start to a connection and would probably make a fine group with a fourth (perhaps ideally a melee type, so Transient or Tai Pao Leng?) thrown in.

Krat the Brutal is here. Other than fixing the formatting from the recruitment thread there are no changes, but let me know if anything looks off.

By AC bonus do you mean the defense bonus or the bonus you get from armor?

I mean the defense bonus we're (potentially) using in place of armor. It's not clear that the ABP armor attunement would interact with it. By default I think it wouldn't, but the purpose of the armor bonus is to allow for armor-free swashbuckling action, so I'm hoping that we can enhance it with ABP.

24d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 1, 2, 6, 3, 5, 5, 3, 1, 1, 3, 5, 3, 4, 2, 4, 2, 6, 4, 5, 1, 1, 3) = 80
24d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 5, 5, 3, 5, 4, 6, 2, 1, 1, 5, 6, 2, 4, 2, 6, 2, 4, 4, 1, 1, 2, 1) = 74
24d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 5, 2, 4, 1, 1, 4, 3, 3, 2, 5, 1, 6, 5, 1, 3, 6, 6, 2, 6, 5, 4, 6) = 90
24d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 4, 5, 3, 5, 2, 3, 3, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 3, 3, 6, 1, 6, 5, 1, 3, 2) = 81

5d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 1, 4, 3) = 12
6d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 6, 6, 6, 6) = 32
4d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 6) = 12
4d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 6, 3) = 18

So from the second set of those (the best by just a bit I think) I'd have 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 2

Perhaps an 18, 18, 16, 16, 12, 9

My first inclination would be to roll up a Blue Cryptic, but if Today ... was looking at Cryptic already I might explore some other options. Maybe a Tactician of some sort would augment the rest of the group nicely. I'll see what I can come up with in the next couple days.

It's true that Mythic is a bigger power jump, but it's also one that adds flexibility. I mean, being able to cast any spell on your class list, even if you haven't prepped it for the day, is powerful but also hugely flexible. And really, even some gestalt builds have more options than actions. Tristalt and above give you more options than you can actually use. How helpful is it to have three things to do with your swift action when you have one swift action per turn?

Besides that, there's actually building the character. I, and surely others, generally build in HeroLab, which has an option for gestalt, an option for mythic, an option to add class levels to a monster, but not for tristalt and above. I can build a Gestalt Sorcerer/Paladin 20 Archmage 10 Great Wyrm Gold Dragon in HeroLab right now. I can't build a Tristalt Fighter/Rogue/Sorcerer at all. Adding the third class by hand is, of course, doable. But it's a lot harder.

First up, the important bit. I have no issue at all with what you're saying. We're going to put different spins on some of the topics, but you're describing your preferences and I'm describing mine. That they don't match up exactly is absolutely fine.

For your second point, as someone who doesn't and hasn't used HeroLab, it's not a major consideration for me, but I can see why it would shape your preference.

For flexibility vs. power, I agree that for some classes adding the ability to cast any spell from your spell list is a nice boost in flexibility. If you're including, for example, a wizard or cleric as part of your gestalt that's a really nice boost for different things you can do with an swift action. It increases with level and it's also not the only way that Mythic can increase flexibility, but gets to be less of a flexibility bonus for gestalts that don't pick as varied a spell list (6 level caster, characters without a spell list at all, etc ...) I think that adding an entirely new classes set of abilities (spells, powers, whatever comes with the class,) will usually trump that flexibility for me, but mileage will certainly vary from build to build.

For the swift action bottleneck, you're certainly right that it's a thing. For some classes it comes up even before you try to add anything like mystic, gestalt, morestalt or whatever (Warpriest springs immediately to mind, but I'm sure there are plenty of others.) If you're talking about mystic and adding the ability to cast any spell, that's going to eat the swift action just as much as any class ability would. Not being able to gain extra swift actions in (almost) any way is one of the big limiters on any of the characters we'd be building using these expanded rule sets.

I guess that when I talk about the extra classes adding flexibility, I'm not expecting to use them all at the same time, but having more options to deal with a variety of situations. There are bonuses that will simply get added all the time (I view that as more of a power boost,) but having more tools to deal with different types of obstacles, or more limited shot abilities to spread out over the day is where the extra class features shine for me.

Right, so I've updated the loot sheet with a bit of new information.

I added the potions we got from Chief Sull (distributing 1 potion of healing to each party member, and putting the 3 potions of lesser restoration on Petsha for now, though if anyone else wants to carry them they're more than welcome to.)

I've added a column in the Item section to indicate who is holding the item. That's separate from who's using the items so that the scroll of remove fear or the potions we've found now aren't counting towards the shares of the person holding them, but we still know where everything is. I split items up as seemed to make some sense to me (so, for example, Fley has the potion of invisibility,) but we can absolutely find other places for them.

I assumed that Ardriel and Petsha would sell their old chain shirts when they replaced them with the masterwork ones. For items we find in the future, it'll be easy enough to change the status from whoever was using them to sold, but for starting gear (which doesn't show up on items,) I simply added the items to the crafted/purchased column with a negative cost (so that the money is going back to the pool of money we have to spend.) This should also handle how we're tracking items that we purchase and then sell back in the future if we want to do it that way.

Right now I'm assuming that consumable items should not count against a character's share of the treasure. They're counting to our total value as we could sell them if we needed to, but once they're used that value will go away. When we purchase or craft things like that in the future I assume that they'll come out of the group share that we've created, but we can discuss that further if people like.

As far as purchasing items from the group shares, right now the spreadsheet isn't tracking that exactly. Instead it tracks how much value each person has from the treasure we've found, or what's been purchased otherwise. There's a bonus for using items that we find or craft built in, in that they contribute half of their value the character's share. There's also a tab of the currently available gold that doesn't assume that we've split it up among the party.

By my thinking, for example, if at some point we had enough for Leothar to purchase an appropriate suit of armor he should go ahead an purchase that without needing to wait until he's personally saved enough for the share. As long as we're keeping the track of the value each person has from the general treasure and we work together to keep the party in general well equipped. If there's a dispute about spending the money, then the obvious default tie-breaker would be that the character who has less value so far would make that decision, though I hope we can avoid needing that to be a huge issue and mostly just play nice and take turns with the cool loot. Perhaps I'm being overly idealistic.

So rather than cluttering up the game thread with what we're going to try to sell, would anyone like any of the following items? They're the ones that I assume it makes the most sense to sell if we're not going to immediately use.

Flint and steel
Caltrops
2 Oil flasks
Masterwork Warhammer
Dagger
Light Crossbow
10 bolts
Masterwork Chain Shirt
Masterwork Chain Shirt
Glaive
Glaive
Spiked Gauntlet
Spiked Gauntlet

It sounded like Ian would use the masterwork warhammer if no one else wanted it, and that Ardriel would use one of the masterwork chain shirts. I would probably upgrade my chain shirt to masterwork as well if no one else would make use of it. I'm inclined to sell the rest now (as well as at least the chain shirt I was wearing before upgrading,) unless someone sees something they'd use.

I also saw that Leothar would purchase a masterwork buckler if one was available. I'm fine with that. Are there other immediate purchases anyone would like to make?

I'd probably make an AI Empiricist for this setting. He seeks knowledge not because he hopes it will give answers that are satisfying or that things will fit together to make the world make sense, but because it's another sort of toil. Surely someone needs to understand how things work, and even if they don't he doesn't have a greater purpose to work for, so he might as well do this.

Having said that, how common is alchemy? Are alchemical items commonplace or are they more along the line of the arcane? I assume that potions, mutagens and extracts would be as rare as arcane magic, but items like smokesticks and defoliant might be less unusual?

I've updated the loot sheet (and added a column so that we can more easily find the posts where things were first introduced in case we need to later on.) I'm not tracking on the sheet where the potions currently are and am leaving that to players to record on character sheets. I'm also assuming that we did take the ring off the Hecuva back at the temple; we would have checked in for magic back when Ardriel did the potions I assume, though we didn't mention it. There are a few items now that could use more examining (the ring, the statuette, the spellbook.)

In any case, if you see anything out of place, do still let me know!

I've got a link to a potential loot sheet in my header now. I've tried to make it mostly automated so that there's not a lot we have to do other than entering what we've found, its value (or for items the sell value) and what's currently being done with it. It in theory lets us know what an approximate share of the treasure would look like value-wise, and where everyone is sitting. I'm not all that worried about who's going to get the valuable stuff in this case, but the sheet should do the tracking in any case.

If anyone has changes they would like to see do let me know (or you're welcome to make them as anyone can edit it.) I'm also happy to answer any questions if anything there isn't clear. The second sheet is just there to do some calculations behind the scenes, so you can leave it alone.

Congratulations to those selected! Have a fun game!

Well, the term comes more from a wandering band of driftless adventurers who go around "solving" problems by killing everything they encounter. They're the hobos doing the murdering, not a party who murders hobos.

I'm inclined to leave them unconscious rather than dead. At least for sentient enemies. Especially in this bit where we're trying to get them to move on out rather than kill them. Were this a more typical murderhobo party then death would be simpler, but I think we're more nuanced than that (I hope at least.)

Assuming we're out of the keep and headed back to the inn to find Augrok.

Pajet nods. "That sounds like a plan to me. Oh, and I might have picked up a couple things on our way here. Nex and Ekaitz, you might make use of this scroll. It seems divine in nature and from what I can tell that's up your alley. There's also this amulet here which looks interesting. Near as I can tell it can protect the wearer for demonic possession and the like. Does anyone feel like they might be in immediate danger of such things?"

The gnome passes the scroll over to whichever of Nex or Ekaitz acts to take it first and holds the amulet of life protection up for all to see. Should anyone express interest she'll hand it over without reservation.

"Now then, where did that half-orc get to I wonder. Think he'll be excited to try to route some bandits?"

As Yantri approaches the meek looking worker at the front desk she takes in all she can of the shop, it's contents and workers, trying hard to figure out the purpose of anything she doesn't immediately recognize (which, given her experience, is most of the equipment.) When she reaches the woman she gives an awkward bow and introduces herself. "Good afternoon your ladyship. I'm new in town and trying to orient myself, but I've been assured on good authority that you'd be the best option to help me with a project that I'm working on. You see, the duchess, Lady Origena Devy, has asked my friends and I to do a bit of scouting that might be a bit dangerous, and I was hoping that I could do a little work on this musket that I've put together to help make it more reliable."

As she speaks, the dwarf pulls out Penance, being careful to keep it aimed at the ground at all times and presents it to Phaedra for inspection if she's willing to take a look.

"I know that it's pretty rough work, and I'm hoping that you, or whoever the most familiar with such things in your shop might be, will be able to give some professional guidance."

Perception to spot an interesting process/machine in the shop: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Knowledge (Engineering) or Craft (Alchemy) as appropriate to try to discern what that task is and if it's relevant to musket work in any way: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Diplomacy to Influence Attitude: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19

Yantri will attempt to spot some process that the workers are currently engaged in, or for which the appropriate machinery exists, which seems relevant to the tinkering she's about to do. If she can then identify what it is she'll attempt to engage Phaedra in a conversation about it, asking questions that she hopes show some knowledge, but also drawing her in as something she's interested in and might want to share. She'll apply praise where it makes sense and will genuinely be interested herself in whatever process. The goal is to get Phaedra interested enough in the work that Yantri's going to be doing in a reciprocal way that she'll provide better advice or prices for parts than she would have otherwise.

So at this point those rolls are very makeable for both Ethana and Lady Zal-Azra. Given that they seem busy IRL I'd support making the rolls for them at this point to move things along.

Without using any resources (I don't know the characters well enough to know if they have resources that would help,) it'd be something like

Ethana Knowledge History vs. DC 20: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (2) + 17 = 19

Right, easy I said.

Ethana Knowledge Geography vs DC 30: 1d20 + 17 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 17 + 2 = 39

Ethana Intelligence Test: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Ah, there were the easy parts.

In any case, if you'd take those as proxy rolls for Ethana who's busy with finals or like to make your own, I'm all for seeing what we can do to get back to moving again. Exciting times are on the horizon!

I'm switching to this avatar just so we don't have two characters with the same one. Sorry for any confusion for those that have been with me in the other thread!

Here's to the end being in sight! Given our posting rate as a group jut now I think we'll make do with what you can get us.

Best of luck and let us know if we can help in any way!

Yantri's attention is focused on the tunnel, but when the bars slide down she briefly turns back to watch and nod. As she turns back towards the tunnel she sees Sheridan moving towards the chests. Having learned that the Ifrit's attention is prone to wander she calls out a reminder. "Nice work there with the bars, but don't forget to check the chests for traps before you start poking at the locks."

I sadly don't have precise shot yet (as point blank shot is the prerequisite,) so cover and in melee do both apply.

I do wonder if the monster (I'm assuming ghoul) moved before attacking Stone though. If it was right there at the front of the tunnel and didn't need to move then it doesn't help, but if it did move so it should probably have only gotten one claw attack in. If so, that one probably missed and that makes things better for him.

"Nice work Kane. Seems that your kindness to the suffering and your memory paid off handily. You're showing your bravery too. It's good to have you with us here."

Yantri looks to the rest of the group. "Now that we know the pass phrase we can probably get people in any time we please. Do we want to send a scout, Sheridan or I as we can see the best in this environment, to see if the room seems safe? Or do we want to get everyone in and start poking around when we're sure we've got the numbers to take anything that might jump out at us. So far I haven't seen any indications that the kobolds have been here. I don't know what to expect past this or if it's going to lead us to whatever brought the tower down today, but there's clearly been enough danger to proceed with our eyes wide open."

Right, here's some work on my best guesses for the sub-abilities and what they will affect. I looked at the reference document to make educated guesses where I could, but some things (like Charisma for Use Magic Device, which I don't really think should be charisma based to begin with,) I'm just taking wild guesses. The bonus abilities per day based on stat I used the passives for, partially because they tend to be less used and partially because it made sense for Stamina in particular, but perhaps they should be active or a mix. I'm happy to have any changes made, but I figured I could just in and start some of the work. If there are other bonuses and penalties that should be added in then do add them!

I'm too lazy to look it up, but are we talking goblin ninjas in the comic? That's an early one.

I can't wait till we go up a level. Or down one? It's so confusing.

So if Surtur needs a cover story for where he's coming from, I might suggest that we take what's actually happening and use as much of it as possible. He's left the traditional tribal lands as the efforts his people were making to reclaim them weren't working. Instead he's been wandering the past couple years assembling a team specifically designed to take out the threat. After assembling the team here from all over the region (mostly not in the dragon's lands, but it might be suspicious if none of us came from there,) he's just finished hiring the mercenaries that will come with and is making his first move.

@Surtur, I think that Kulwa is likely to confront us fairly early after we get there. He won't be out fighting the Mantids and reading between the lines he's likely to want a share of our take to leave us in relative peace. I could be wrong, but I think we'll need to do something about dealing with him (even if it's paying him the protection money,) almost from the start.

Sheesh. I think that most of the time I'll be able to spell Antonio. Not that last one though. Sorry!

Given that that shot took the 5 foot step, and not Yantri's movement action, she'll spend her movement action reloading the musket (rapid reload and alchemical cartridges reducing it to a move action for now.)

As she reloads her musket, Yantri mutters under her breath, "Good, I knew it would work this time."