forger03's page

Can I get a touch of Help?

I'm working with a Cabal Devil, which turns out to be from council of thieves.

Now, the issue I'm running into is that they have the incorporeal subtype... but still has a str score and took the feat weapon finesse... but don't incorporeal creatures lack that ability score, and basically get free weapon Finesse? And no, it's not listed as a bonus feat.

So should it actually lose that score and gain another feat?

I'd link, but not positive on etiquette of linking to pfsrd and such here.

I'm in agreement that with the elimination of item boosts to stats beyond a +2, Stat boosts by level should grant +2 even above 18 instead of only +1 above 18.

I'm also in agreement that all armors giving the same AC bonus if you meet the maximum dexterity is... kind of stupid considering the penalties for wearing heavy armor vs how easy it is to get a 16 dexterity. This results in making medium armor nearly universally a better option outside of Paladin and Fighter, who have superior proficiency bonus to heavy armor. It's relatively easy to get a 16 or 18 dexterity through level up boosts OR items, meaning medium armor gives you that +7 AC total without the penalties of heavy armor. Paladins getting legendary proficiency with only heavy armor means that for pure AC Paladins get more from Heavy armor than medium (a one point difference). The same is true of fighters, who gain master proficiency in heavy armor but not medium. Again, there is a one point advantage to wearing heavy armor, which is not at all significant given how much this system ultimately relies on the d20 roll anyways.

As a replacement for point buys I like this system. It's less complicated than old PF point buy and has a similar end result to the 1-1 point by from Starfinder, but still ends up more or less the same as that. Actually, I think this ends up with better stats than Starfinder Point buy or Pathfinder 25 point buy, while being much less complicated (to me). Given that rolling is and will always be an option, I don't see a problem with using this ability boost concept to replace Point Buys.

Thank you very much, I couldn't find any specific indication one way or another in the book.

So if I start as a level 1 ranger with a 12 intelligence I start with 7 skills + the lore skill from background, right? If my intelligence goes up at level 5 to a 14, do I gain another skill like I effectively would in 1E?

Thank you!

I'm probably blind and went right past it on some page early in the book. Probably. But I genuinely can't seem to find it. Where is it? How does one calculate them? Any exact page numbers are appreciated.

Forger's List of Amazing Bard Options

Hey, and welcome to my little post about a list of awesome stuff for your bard. this is not a proper guide, just a list (with hyperlinks and short summaries) and only a small scattering of suggestions for awesome stuff for your bard! Make a better bard today!

Suggestions/additions welcome.

Shyvana the Half-Dragon, statted up for Pathfinder (with a little 3.5 thrown in for rounding).

Shyvana she is.

sadly, I can't seem to post images here, so I'll have to let the link do the work.

Forger's supplemental Guide to the Updated Magus

My own supplemental guide, augmenting the old "Walter's Guide to the Magus." Posted previously on the boards.

I should probably have thought to mention that Joker is my BBEG. An amalgam of all joker versions. At any given moment he can appear as any given joker and even change form from one to another. typically he appears as whichever joker creeps/scares whoever is viewing him the most.

I've been running a game inspired by the basic plot of part 1 of Sword Art Online/Log Horizon (mostly SAO at first, I hadn't discovered Log Horizon at the time this began). People playing an MMO of Pathfinder get stuck in the game, death in the game=death in reality, no respawn, no log out.

My big personal spin on all of this was the setting is a world I call Tropegeist. I took appx. 40 entries from the TV Tropes Pantheon section of TV Tropes, and used those as the campaign deities. So players could Worship Mr. Rogers, Darkseid, Jack Sparrow, Azula, Hannibal Lecter, Kamina, etc.

The campaign and the world are highly meta and influenced by a massive mixing of all the various shows (and more besides) that were poured into the Campaign's pantheon. These deities were not the original deities of the world. Those deities managed to kill themselves/get killed, and have been replaced again and again in an ongoing cycle every could tens of thousands of years. Whenever a pantheon manages to wipe itself out, the world causes new deities to rise up and replace it.

Well, I'm currently on the hunt for a variety of fun to use villains from across fiction to use as both current and future villains and possible new deities, should there be a sudden lack of evil deities in the pantheon.

I'm especially hunting for a couple of guys whose preference is total annihilation. As in, they want to end the world. Jealousy is a preferred trait. I've got some ideas of my own, but I'm not arrogant enough to believe I can find the best villains for the job. So, does anybody want to help out?

The emotion component is specific. It states that only effects with the fear descriptor impeded spells with the emotion component. Since intimidate lacks this descriptor, which is a specific and seperate object relating to spells, intimidate does not impede the casting of spells with the emotion descriptor, except perhaps for concentration checks.

I think I've got what I needed. The following is quoted from Core Rulebook.

[Descriptor]
Appearing on the same line as the school and
subschool, when applicable, is a descriptor that
further categorizes the spell in some way. Some spells
have more than one descriptor.
The descriptors are acid, air, chaotic, cold, darkness,
death, earth, electricity, evil, fear, fire, force, good,
language-dependent, lawful, light, mind-affecting,
sonic, and water.
Most of these descriptors have no game effect by
themselves, but they govern how the spell interacts
with other spells, with special abilities, with unusual
creatures,
with alignment, and so on.
A language-dependent spell uses intelligible language
as a medium for communication. If the target cannot
understand or cannot hear what the caster of a language-dependent
spell says, the spell fails.
A mind-affecting spell works only against creatures
with an Intelligence score of 1 or higher.

Here is the full quote of relevant lines for this topic:
"It is impossible to cast a spell with an emotion component while the spellcaster is under the influence of a non-harmless effect with the emotion or fear descriptor. (The emotion descriptor was originally introduced in Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic.)" Quoted from page 144 of Occult Adventures. Descriptor is bolded for emphasis by me.

The Emotion descriptor was introduced in Chapter 2 of that book. Specifically, the section on designing new spells.

The Fear and Emotion Descriptors are thus something that comes attached to spells. As Intimidate is not a spell, Shaken does not have the Fear Descriptor, which is separate (as in not the same) from a fear effect. Therefore only SPELLS or Spell-like abilities (the only things possessing the fear and emotion descriptors) can impede Psychic Spells with an emotion Component.

I apologize profusely for not doing proper research myself. I am deeply sorry.

Here's a new question: It says non-harmless effects. What counts as harmless?

The emotion component for Psychic Spells explains that whenever a caster is under the effects of a non-harmless effect with the emotion or fear Descriptor they can't provide the emotion component.

A friend has suggested that this means Intimidate, which causes the shaken condition, can shut down psychic spellcasting.

Is this true? My understanding is that the shaken condition itself lacks an actual "Fear Descriptor" and does not actually invoke this clause in the Emotion Component.

forger03 wrote:

According to my Errata document Flamboyant Arcana still provides Opportune Parry and Riposte. Flamboyant Arcana is modified starting with the second sentence, but does not modify the first sentence, therefore Magus was the ONLY non-swash to keep access to Opportune Parry and riposte.

By golly, you are right! Sorry for the misinformation. I got it mixed up with the Amateur Swashbuckler feat. Thanks for the correction!

Not a problem. It's silly to me but I'm happy about it just the same. I love Magus and I'm glad to see they at least kept such an awesome ability, even if nobody else did. Honestly, the fact Magus DIDN'T lose Opportune Parry and Riposte actually kind of puzzles me as much as their extreme hatred of letting anything else have it.

Kineticist looks delicious, reading through it. Simply Delicious.

I enjoy the blending of function and thematics with the Occultist, and the Pscychic is a fantastic spont caster addition to the game, in my own opinion. I also love the undercasting it gets access to.

PMSchulz wrote:

Well, that kind of hurts my fencer magus. The whole point of doing him this way was to get the low and mid-level swashbuckler abilities to try and match the creature he is modeled after (The Night Fox enemy from the Dragon Quest series of games). Having your arcane pool not count as your panache pool, and that your swashbuckler level is zero for all abilities pretty much makes that arcana pointless.

And removing Opportune Parry and Riposte from the Flamboyant Arcana list pretty much makes that arcana pointless too.

According to my Errata document Flamboyant Arcana still provides Opportune Parry and Riposte. Flamboyant Arcana is modified starting with the second sentence, but does not modify the first sentence, therefore Magus was the ONLY non-swash to keep access to Opportune Parry and riposte.

Edit: For those commenting, What I've read of Occult Adventures thus far suggests a vastly improved degree of quality.

Boy am I glad I don't have the Advanced Class Guide :-)

Almost out a year and it's getting everyone even more frothy then when it came out :-)

I like you. Though I think even with all the changes it might be worth giving it a chance for you.

Here's to hoping that paizo takes note of the new feedback on their possibly rushed errata, which was prompted by guilt/feedback from their rushed book, and slowly and carefully craft improvements that make real differences and are not arbitrary or without necessity.

I still want an answer as to why they went to war on Opportune Parry and Riposte. It was perfectly sensible for both Daring Champion and Kata Master to get. If anything, Daring Champion should have lost Precise Strike, not Parry. Static damage + even MORE static damage is a way bigger problem than Parry ever even possibly could have been.

That's what is so aggravating to me. They clearer developed a swift hatred for an ability that's fun, but not that overpowering. Taking signature deed from it was really all they ever needed to do to keep it from becoming too strong. And If their worry was for the sake of the Swashbuckler, then as was said, they went WAY too far. And that's just one example of how bad I consider this errata to be.

Sacred Fist archetype of Warpriest is what I felt got needed repairs. I wasn't talking about the main class.

I'm curious to hear thoughts on the recently released Errata for the Advanced Class Guide.

I'd like to express my own to get things rolling.

I'm... equal parts so dissappointed I would honestly like to see someone fired for what came out, and grateful that some of the major problems I saw in the original printing in terms of things that worked poorly or not at all getting fixed.

Examples: The fixes to the Warpriest Sacred Fist and the Slayer Sniper Archetypes were repairs I was glad to see for things that had been in some need of fixing because as written they were of questionable effectiveness in areas, or entirely pointless in others.

I was, however, severely disappointed when I read what was done regarding the Opportune Parry and Riposte deed. It was deliberately removed in almost every location where It was possible to do so, except Swashbuckler itself, and the Flamboyant Arcana Magus Arcana. Kata Master lost it (even though parrying a blow is actually something a martial artist does), Amateur Swashbuckler lost it (Why I can't concieve of). Divine Protetion was a decidedly fun and enjoyable power feat that worked great according to all those I know. Now it's... a feat I don't think anyone I know would ever bother taking. Including myself.

I suspect I will both not be alone in these opinions, and not universally accepted in these opinions. What parts of Advanced Class Guide's errata were you happy to see, and where did you see things that sent you shivering or shaking with rage or disappointment?

What didn't get fixed that you thought need to be attended to?

What is the action to activate Aspect of War? Is there no limit to the number of times per day it can be used, as is suggested by the lack of anything saying there's any limit besides the fact the ability lasts for 1 minute when activated?

Thank you for the quick response!

If I am using a shield to bash and I have weapon finesse, does the shield count as a light weapon for weapon finesse?

Feel free to indicate a particular class. Otherwise I'll get creative.

Non-core races encouraged but I'll do whatever.

Samsaran Magus? I've always felt their ability to remember past lives would fit well for the classes that often seem a molding or meshing of two other types of classes, like Magi are combination mage/warrior. Not specifically the hybrid classes, but you get the idea.

Slashing grace allows dex to damage, but not dex to attack. That still requires something else. In addition, Slashing Grace doesn't apply to anything that weapon finesse normally applies to. Swashbucklers can have take Slashing Grace and have dex to damage with whatever one handed slashing weapon they choose, but not the Magus. Slashing Grace is therefore vastly inferior to Fencer's Grace and Dervish Dance.

Kestral, You're clearly not going to let this go. If you don't want to combine fickle attack with spell strike in games you run or with Magi you make, that's perfectly fine. Other players are welcome to, however, and I encourage them to take advantage of it.

I would also like to apologize for being rude to you. I allowed my emotions to get the best of me. You always did have that effect on me. It was crass and unbecoming of me.

Where is your evidence that Fickle Attack was meant to be used with Sneak Attack? Nothing in Fickle Attack says or implies that.

Do you have any Rules as Written evidence that Spellstrike allows all modifications to weapon rolls to apply to the spell, rather than only the ones that it explicitly allows?

Fickle attack appears amongst the mythic powers of the trickster, a mythic path all but explicitly suited to augmenting and empowering the the Rogue, the Ninja, and the Alchemist (all three of which can use sneak attack). In addition, the fact that this ability is so deliberately worded should serve as a clue.

It specifies an attack with a weapon, but it NEVER specifics that it affects only the damage of the WEAPON. It instead states that any damage rolled as part of an attack with a weapon (which would include spellstrike damage, sneak attack damage, and even the damage of an alchemist's bombs using specific archetypes) OR with attacks made with Alchemical items treats ones as the highest number on that die.

Most abilities that specifically only affect the damage dealt by the weapon specify that they ONLY affect the damage dealt by the weapon, and do not affect other aspects of the attack or damage. Vital strike, as an example. Critical hits and enchantments such as shocking use similar language. Fickle attack does not.

Your question regarding what spellstrike allows to affect the spell is invalid to the argument, because it presumes that fickle attack is first a modification to the damage of the weapon rather than modification to the attack itself.

I wouldn't waste time arguing with you if I didn't need to clarify for the sake of other players. I suppose this means you don't realize what Fickle Attack was meant for. Sneak Attack. Fickle attack's wording is very specific. It says damage rolled when successfully attacking with a weapon. It does not say weapon damage, or the damage dealt by the weapon. It says damage rolled when successfully attacking with a weapon or alchemical item.

Sneak attack occurs when an attack is successful while flanking the target or while the target is denied its dexterity bonus to AC against that attack. The damage from sneak attack is added onto the damage dealt by the attack... but the damage from sneak attack is NOT weapon damage, it comes from another source. Just like the damage from spellstrike. If fickle attack doesn't work with spell strike, it also should not work with Sneak Attack... which betrays its entire purpose.

So let me go over this one more time. Fickle attack states: "Whenever you roll damage for a melee or ranged attack with a weapon or alchemical item..." I am a magus. I spell strike with shocking grasp. I make an attack roll with my scimitar. I have now attacked with a weapon. That attack is an 18, which beats my opponents AC. I have now HIT my opponent with that attack. I roll damage for the attack. That includes the damage of both the scimitar, and Shocking grasp, since it is all one attack. Fickle Atttack triggers on a weapon attack, regardless of the source of the damage being added to that attack. All ones I roll will be treated as the max number on that die, for both the weapon and for shocking grasp.

Fickle Attack (Ex): Whenever you roll damage for a melee or ranged attack with a weapon or alchemical item, you can treat any natural 1s on the damage dice as if they were the highest possible number on those dice. You can select this ability up to three times. The second time you select it, treat 1s and 2s as the highest value. The third time, treat 1s, 2s, and 3s as the highest value.

It says whenever you roll damage for an attack with a melee weapon. It does not say whenever you roll damage for a melee weapon, but whenever you roll damage for an attack with a weapon. The spell is a rider, and is part of the attack. The whole thing is a single attack roll, therefore the spell's damage is affected.

... huh. I could have sworn there was a statement that a rapier was treated as a light weapon even though it wasn't one. Ah well, thanks for catching that.

Kestral... of course you'd be here.

Str Magi, when not using spell combat, can two hand their weapons. That's 1.5x str score, as compared to a 1x dex (and only once they get all the right feats). That means that over the length of a campaign, a Dex Magus will deal less Damage than a Strength Magus, but only just barely. This is actually covered by Walter's guide, which I repeatedly instruct readers to view FIRST.

Spire Defender requires one feat to get back light armor proficiency, and those skill bonuses can be very useful. Never underestimate skills.

I missed that on Greensting.

Arcane Deed: Precise Strike considers Flamboyant Arcana a feat tax... sometimes. It depends on whether the Magi is a dex build and has combat reflexes. If they do, Flamboyant Arcana is awesome in its own right and there is no problem(unless you have a low attack bonus). Str Magi will barely, if at all, benefit from Flamboyant Arcana, which means it is a feat tax to get Arcane Deed: Precise Strike.

Clearly I was not clear enough for Fickle Attack.

That's not an average damage increase of 2 points... that's an average damage increase of 2 points PER DAMAGE DIE. With spell strike, that can be as high as an additional 32 points of damage over non fickle attack average damage. Higher still depending on the enchantments on the blade, and the potential for foebiting and Channel Power to kick in.

@Azoriel: I am aware, however the Elemental Spell Feat is not all that useful on its own, and is meant to be purely a prerequisite for Elemental Admixture. Thank you though.

Forger's Updated Guide to the Magus

Ladies and Gentlemen, my Sister and Brother Magi, I welcome you to my small contribution to the world of Pathfinder. I welcome your feedback on this endeavor.

I have immense respect for Walter and his Guide to the Magus. However, Walter has not, to my knowledge, updated his guide since he posted it. Certainly not in a long time. So I made the decision to provide an update using all the new feats, spells, and features that have appeared since Walter published his Guide to the Magus. This is intended purely as a supplement to Walter's work, and is not a replacement.

Thank you.

My email refuses to recognize paizo's customer service email address as real, so I am unable to send you an email about this. And I didn't discover it till 11pm on a friday, and have little interest in waiting till monday to work this out.

I preordered the Advanced Class Guide on August 6th. I preordered the Strategy guide at the same time. I just checked my order status. It says both products will ship together in november. When I placed the order, I was informed they would ship as they were available.

Does this mean there will not be an available copy of advanced Class guide till November? Can I get this fixed so that I can have my advanced Class guide shipped as soon as possible?

Am I merely misreading the order's information? Does it simply not show that it will ship as available, or something?

I have a somewhat different question. I checked both Barnes and nobles.com and paizo .com for prices and shipping dates on this book... and Barnes and Nobles shows a different cover for the book than Paizo.com does... though both show the "pathfinder roleplaying game" logo. Was that explained somewhere?

Beastmaster Two weapon fighting human Ranger. Katana user. lvl 16. Animals: Tiger and owl. 3.5 and dungeon/dragon magazine material allowed. started in 3.5, converted to pathfinder.

current str score is 42. I used the combination of girallon's blessing and Fuse arms from 3.5 to get her a +16 untyped bonus, and a fully empowered Belt of Giant's Str.

I'd like to ask for suggestions to further improve the character's combat specs, because we're running a high powered campaign and i don't want her to fall behind what some of the other party members can accomplish. I may not need to use all or any of the advice given, but thank you in advanced for all rendered assistance.

hmmm... rules for making magic items, if DM allows, I could pay 2000gp, or no, 4000gp for a pouch of abundant ammunition, or like 1800 for a command word pouch of abundant ammo.

I have a Monkeigh Pistolero Gunslinger.

Mon - Keigh, or monkey folk, are an (i believe it was) 11 pt race built using the race builder. They are small sized monkey like creatures with tails and climbing abilities. They have improved wisdom and dex at the cost of str.

Pistolero Gunslinger, two weapon fighting using Pepperboxes.

lvl 7, with about 17000 gold to spend. Suggestions for Magic items to help make him better? Or spells that can be put on items/potions.

So far I've thought of Cat's Grace, Divine Favor, Barkskin, and Shield, and I might give him a headband of +2 wisdom.

Bloodrager is a new class from the ADvanced Class guide playtest. Fusion of Sorcerer/barbarian.

Multiclassing might be a thing...

So Lock Jaw spell,

Rending Claws, Rending Fury, Improved Rending fury, Bleeding Claws?

Yeah, Multi-attack.

Anybody know of feats, spells, or rules that would allow a half-dragon to use their wings as weapons?

I've got a build being worked on.
Bloodrager, draconic bloodline, has the half-dragon template. That means I have 1 bite, two claws, and I'm not sure if I can use the wings as weapons or not.

I know Necklace of natural attacks, and Improved Natural Attack Feat. I think i remember a spell that improved the attack's size category, but I can't recall it.

What else is there to help improve natural attacks for a build like this?

Note: I'm trying to do as much as I can with this particular build, not looking to change the build outright.

I know intensify, i have a fun magus build with it. 10d6 damage at 10th level with a first level spell. Makes for a great day.

I'm looking to make sleep a bit more effective, things like that.

How do i increase the number of hit dice affected by a spell such as, say, sleep? Is there a way to make this happen?

Thank you! I'm aware of the details on Metamagic Mastery.

The other info is great though. I think i can find a way to get around the whole rod issue... maybe. Store a rod in my sword? I mean, you can store wands, maybe i can find a way to store a metamagic rod inside the sword. Only holds one, but still...

I know of both Magical Lineage, Metamagic Master, but not of anything else i can find.

I am especially interested in anything helpful to the magus.

I don't care how specific the circumstances of its use, but i want to know about it.

For those who don't know, Metamagic Master and Magical lineage both allow you to select a single spell (Metamagic Master requires you to select a 1st through 3rd lvl spell, Magical lineage has no restriction) whenever you modify the selected spell with a metamagic, reduce the spell increase by one.

Now, This is NOT a discussion of the above listed traits, i just put them there for reference. I am only looking for OTHER ways to reduce the spell level increase caused by Metamagic.

3.5 conversions are good too, my DM allows them on a case by case basis.

I'd house rule otherwise on impact and leadblades. The requirements for impact use the word "OR" meaning Lead blades does NOT have to be the spell used to add Impact. So I'd house rule, personally that they can stack as long as you don't use lead blades as the base for impact.

Oversized weaponry, lead blades/impact/enlarge person or giant form 1/2/3(is there a 3?) seems thus far the best way to make really big weapons without houserules and conversions from 3.5 (mighty wallop anyone?)

Thank you to those who have already replied, if anybody knows another method, please feel free to mention it!

I'm trying to hunt down all the spells, feats, magic items, weapon enhancements, etc that increase base weapon damage size.

I am NOT worried about the charts.

We have always gone 1d2, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d6, 3d6, 4d6, 6d6, 8d6, 12d6, 16d6, 20d6 etc...
and 1d10, 2d8, 3d8, 4d8, 6d8, 8d8, 12d8, etc... and we've handled alternative dice (like 2d4) by switching them for their equivalent in single dice (2d4 becomes 1d8 when figuring out its next die step)

What I know of so far:
Spells: Strong Jaw (only affects natural weapons), Lead Blades (melee), Gravity Bow (ranged)
Feats: Improved Natural attack
Weapon Enhancements: Impact

Alternatives: Giant Forms, Righteous Might, Enlarge person (it DOES get at least one increase in base size, even if they don't stack with each other).

Does anyone know of any others, or will my players and I simply have to get creative with our magic item creation and base spell usage?

So at the beginning of this school semester, I made either one of the best or worst decisions of my life, and watched the entirety of Sword art online. I was inspired.

I took the concept of the first half of Sword Art Online, and created the following Campaign, combining it with a homebrew setting of my own design I had originally created for 3.5, back before I knew Pathfinder existed.

Players will take control of themselves as player characters in an MMORPG guilt around the pathfinder rules set. ALL pathfinder books and rules, with up to date Errata, are included (and because I knew they would, the 3.5 third party rules from "Book of Erotic Fantasy,"). Players starting race must be human. Campaign begins at level 1. This is a virtual reality MMO, so just like in Sword Art Online, players are fully immersed in the game. There are no full caster classes available. Players cannot select: Sorcerers, Wizards, Witches, Clerics, Druids, or Oracles. Any other class, alternate class, or applicable archetype published by Paizo is legal. Variance allowed, at GM discretion, for traits, feats, items, or features designed for specific campaigns and settings, if the original version was made by Paizo. GM has control of necessary changes to make the above function in game, if the gm chooses to allow them.

Shortly after starting the game, the players would discover the following. There were no resurrections. As far as the character was concerned, death in game would also result in death in real life. The following exceptions apply. The Paladin feat that allows a player to burn 10 uses of lay on hands to use the equivalent of raise dead, with the caveat that the paladin MUST begin casting the spell-like ability within 6 seconds of the targetted character's death. Also, spells which instantly resurrect someone who has just died the previous or current round can still be used, IF a player somehow gets their hands on that spell (there is a druid spell whose name escapes me with this power). Items with the same affect also still apply.

In addition, players could not log out. They could only escape by winning the game. Attempts to remove the VR equipment would result in death. To win the game, any player may complete (if possible) the main quest line, bringing together 12 jewels found in 12 ancient cities named for the Greek Zodiac. Success by any one or more players freed everyone. Finally, player's avatars, just as in SAO, were made to look like the player's actual self. (In this instance, this was less to follow SAO and more to facilitate my player's ability to recognize each other in game and team up, rather than go through the drawn out process of not knowing who the hell anyone is until a great deal of trust or a few wrongly or correctly chosen words are said).

Lastly, the setting. The only really important thing to know about it is that all my deities are drawn from modified entries from the Tropes Pantheon. As such, they are all nerd/pop culture icons and characters and references, and the entire setting is very lampshade heavy and rife through with tropes of every kind. Thus far, this has only served to increase how much fun we've had with it.

I have 24 players in 3 parties... it is week 4 of the campaign.

My first party is a group of my best friends, my regular gaming group. We have gamed together for years. There are 5. The Power Gamer. The Power Gamer's apprentice. The casual gamer (when it comes to dnd/path) The guy who tries to power game and play a character. The Sheltered one ("If you mock him you will die" is our general motto. Only we get to mess with him. Not that such a warning stops anybody here, but hey, the more you know). They've been a blast.

Starlancer is my bard (you will discover I love bards if you read this long enough, so i'm putting that out there now). He spawned in front of a temple to Fred Rogers, supreme deity of Good. He sends out friend requests to his buddies' screen names. Then he goes in the temple, chats up a dedicate, and scores an easy quest. He's also my Beta Tester, as he is the only guy who has properly experienced this campaign setting before. He goes off on this quest, a simple delivery and return job... and because he's not watching where he's walking, falls into a river and is rescued by Skip. Skip's cousin Ray is also there (they look like identical twins), as well as Skip's sister Chey and his other cousin Anne (ray's sister). Chey and Anne look like Identical twins, but are cousins, just so that's mostly clear. They talk and chat for a bit, then walk with Starlancer to the shop to make his delivery, cause they aren't in a rush yet. They are looking for their 5th player, their friend Froggy.

Tarius is my power gamer(nicknames used to protect the guilty and the innocent), and he spawned in a fountain... because it amused him greatly (and me) to do so. He there met an NPC named Froggy, who spawned in the same place. The two quarreled, as boys do, and then Froggy, because Tarius won't get out of the fountain, he's stubborn, hits him with a ray of frost. Meanwhile, Sir Chaos (my tries to power game player), has just failed (with a 1) to separate perception checks, and STILL doesn't know Tarius is right in front of him. Tarius is mightily upset by this, and attacks Froggy with his reach weapon. Now, battles in towns, just like SAO, are auto-nonlethal... but force still applies, and while you can't even actually knock them out, you can still mock fight, etc. So these two go at it, and Sir Chaos FINALLY notices this.

Tiger, my sheltered one, has meanwhile wandered around the inside of this giant mountain the starter city, Hellas, is built around. He just keeps wandering, and eventually stumbles across a shop... the very shop Starlancer is heading for. Meanwhile, Sir Chaos, Tarius, and Froggy finally leave the fountain behind, and go off to try and fine Froggy's friends. The problem is, Froggy's message and friends list systems are glitching, so messages and friend requests are bouncing like Froggy doesn't exist. So Tarius decides to meet up with Starlancer.

Tiger is already in the shop, and comes across a whole lot of different knicknacks. He muses around, eyes a few things, then asks me if there are any snowglobes. I think for a second, shrug, and say yes. It is important to note Tarius was wearing a deadpool shirt (with the little round deadpool face) that night. he buys a snowglobe with Deadpool's head in it... then the shopkeeper says, "Wait! No, i can't sell that, it was reserved for someone!"

Starlancer arrives, delivers his message... and discovers the item he was sent to fetch has just been bought by Tiger... and Deadpool is now talking with Tiger, breaking the 4th and 5th walls in the process. Then Tarius arrives, reuniting Froggy and co and turning everything sideways. Tiger won't give up his deadpool snowglobe. Deadpool won't let himself be taken from Tiger, he says he's his own snowglobe, and he's just visiting anyways (deadpool not being a deity per se in this campaign). Eventually, the go off to the campaign, and the presiding cleric says it is fine, have lifetime passes to Applecats ( a chain of bar/grill/inns in this setting, run by an extended family of what look like nurse joy/officer jenny situation character, you know, each one looks the same as the next, or nearly so).

Then the Joker warps them all to the town square, gives them his big spiel about taking over the game, changing the rules... and leaves. Well, Charlie turns to his left (he and Froggy warped into the fountain again) and Tarius sees some girl he doesn't know. Wait, no That's Froggy, she's actually a girl, except she's a guy. OH, she's pre-op... Well, Froggy and Co go their own way, and then Tarius discovers he's the lucky winner. He's got a mythic acquisition quest (a quest that, once completed, grants a character his first mythic tier) on his quest list... and it starts 20ft away. He walks 20ft over, and falls down a hole. He lands in a giant pile of ash, and he finds himself in a small chamber that seems to be a shrine to a Phoenix. Quest name "Phoenix Psalm." Tarius notices a deadpool face (like on the player's shirt) in place of the eye of the phoenix. There was an inscription, which said (I've lost the notes) how to activate the shrine, which was to light the fire in the brazier. (Deadpool, it turns out, is also the patron saint of the Phoenix in this setting, in addition to being a visiting deity from another world)

Not remembering that they had torches, Tarius climbed up the exit ladder to go look for some. He moves the manhole cover, and discovers a pretty young girl has almost fallen atop him because he removed the place her foot was about to step. Tarius asks me if he saw an upskirt, I say yes. He snaps a screen capture, and borrows a torch from the girl, getting her name and adding her to his friends list in the process (natural twenties on an untrained diplomacy had something to do with this). After some discussion, we determine her name is Rachel. he pops back down, and puts the torches into the brazier... then remembers he had torches in his kit. Well done sir. Anyways, they try using the spell "spark" as well as flint and steel, but nothing will light the torch inside the brazier. lighting the torch and setting it into the brazier extinguishes the torch. Tarius decides now is the time to go DOWN the exit ladder, to whatever is below. They go into a sewer, which is slanted slightly, and discover a larger than average lizard (small size in game terms). They have no clue what to do, so Tarius spends a hero point for a clue. Luna Lovegood (Goddess of the Meta) whispers in his ear, "Do not go up until you go down 3 times. Go right." Due to player misunderstanding, they go UPhill, and continue to run into left turns, right turns, and stairs going up... until finally they find stairs going down. The stairs are guarded by another lizard... one that sparks. The senior players reading this know exactly what's going on here. Tarius, the power gamer, who also knows what this thing is via meta knowledge (which is applicable because of the campaign setting)... goes up to the damned thing and gets shocked by it. He panicks, he doesn't know what to do. Then Tiger figures it out. They'd been going UP. They hadn't gone DOWN first.

After smacking themselves repeatedly for almost failing the test of the friggin shocker lizard, they go down, down, then down again, and always go right when the choice presents. THEN, they find a blank wall. Tarius uses perception, and finds the clue. I had expected someone else to find it, because Tarius has only a +2 to perception... but find it he does. It is the deadpool face. He risks everything and touches it... revealing a staircase. The stairs ascend into a sealed off basement full of giant casks of Ale and other alcohol. Tarius swipes a mug and 2 small kegs that are portable, about 15lbs each. Then the group troops into the only accesible room, after a little searching. It contains a phoenix statue, with the deadpool face for an eye. They puzzle about the statue, trying to make it do something, but nothing happens. Then Tarius frowns, looks at the beer casks he has, and experimentally pours some on the statue. It glows. He pours more, going through the entire cask onto it. It shatters, revealing a glass d20 with the deadpool face inside it... and a scroll no one can read.

Starlancer uses linguistics to determine it is music, meant to be whistled... but he can't actually read the notes to perform them. They troop back to the shrine. Tarius notices the d20 he is holding grow warm, and rolls it across the floor. It rolls a 20, cracks just a bit, and suddenly Tarius can understand the scroll. He whistles the song, and the brazier bursts to life.

Quest rewards: 1 15lb cask of well aged ale, 1 d20 useable to gain automatic success on a task for which Tarius could not otherwise perform or attempt with a die roll, such as skills that cannot be attempted untrained, etc. It can only do this so many times, and cracks a bit each time it is used. Tarius also acquired a recipe for Chimichangas (which he was forced to cook for Deadpool, not that he objected), and Mythic. I also forgot WHEN this occured, but Sir Chaos annoyed the snowglobe of Deadpool at one point, and he's been silent since them, except for a whispered comment to Tarius inside the shrine.

More to come when my brain is ready to recall more of it. I still have... oh lord, like 8 sessions to record, and it'll be 9 by thursday.