into the aether's page

Gravenail raises his fists and says, "Hey, who you callin' pasty!? Upon noticing the hue of his fists, he says, "Oh, I guess I am the color of a kindergarten art class adhesive, heh." Gravenail gets a slight grin and seems to become momentarily lost in thought. I always did love the taste that stuff.

Dudes. Great job. That was one of the rougher combats I've ever played in.

Gravenail pants for a minute or two, catching his breath, then sighs with relief as the entangling vines subside. "They're dead. The plants are dead. The plants are no longer trying to kill us." Gravenail seems to be thinking out loud, convincing himself as much as talking to the group. He then drops to his knees and groans.

He hears Sicaria's call and looks around, seemingly returning to the present moment. "Huh? Oh, right." Gravenail takes out the wand of infernal healing as he heads over to Sicaria. "Well, gather round everyone. Let's get you patched up. That was ... closer than I liked. Not to mention frustrating as a m#+~&+%$+~+~. What were those gods-cursed plants anyway, and why were they here?"

LMK how many charges of infernal healing each injured character needs.

Gravenail tries to wriggle out. escape artist: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

"Ugh, what the crap, I'm stuck! Stupid plant." Gravenail then looks at one of the plants and says, "DOOOOOOM!!!" (Using a Doom SLA but I as a player am pretty sure the plants can't be affected. Gravenail wouldn't know that though. DC 14 Will if it actually matters somehow). This entangle kinda screws most of my options at the moment.

Hello fellow miscreants. First off, a big thank-you to the new GM for cutting me a lot of slack while I was absent. And thank you to players for being patient. I was having a rough patch in my life. Things feel on the upswing now. I am glad my prolonged absence didn't get me replaced because I had a lot of fun coming up with this character.

As far as the questions from the GM a few weeks ago: Language, blood, and gore don't phase me and add to immersion if used appropriately. I love that PbP often offers more time for RP (and time to think up the RP) than in-person games. Whether or not I find the inspiration/motivation is a separate matter but before I went absent I was enjoying RPing this guy.

My only rules are: no bathroom stuff (not really offensive to me, just not funny/interesting), no sex unless it's just implied and off-screen, no rape ever ever ever. That's probably about it.

Thanks for the bot; my PbP games got away from me again. "Ugh, everything feels so heavy." Nyx says in an exasperated tone. "I can pray to Nethys tomorrow for magic to restore our strength."

"I suppose it's time to ride the waves further into this exceedingly-moist cavern?" Zelphar says with an exaggerated grin as he waves (heh) his scroll of Ride the Waves in the air for the other Pathfinders to see.

I like 4 players best myself. Modules were written for 4.

Especially if one of them is on Torrak's "no play" list (I like Torrak and trust your judgment).

Wolfgang von Erzteufel wrote:

Wolfgang snickers. "Speaking of Eeeeevil, you do know that you're going to have to make that noise every time you heal one of us from now on, right?"

NPC Hawthwile wrote:

"Oh joy."

Sicaria like pinches the bridge of her nose.

GM and Sicaria surely know there's a lot more Eeevilll where that came from (pronouncing it like that has been an ongoing thing in our in-person games). And 'boop'-ing to deliver touch spells just might be Gravenail's new 'thing'!

"If it's beddy-by time for the Miscreants perhaps I'll read for a bit while I take first watch." Gravenail takes out a well-worn printed text with a cover design similar to the symbol hanging around his neck, and his neck tattoo. "Anyone up for a bedtime story? Here's a nice little tale involving...let's see...maggots. Ah yes, one of my favorites."

As he is acknowledged and greeted his expression becomes almost a caricature of a sinister half-smile. ”I am Gravenail.” Appearing momentarily surprised by the offer of a handshake, Gravenail nonetheless accepts Wolfgang’s hand and he is met with a quick clammy squeeze.

Responding to Zeke, Gravenail’s expression doesn’t change as he says, ”Oh, whether or not you—or anyone else, for that matter, like me does not concern me in the least. But I have heard you and your crew of miscreants could perhaps make use of someone to patch up little boo-boos occasionally after you get into a little tussle. I am capable of that, and quite a bit more as well. And if what I have heard is correct—that allying with you all could allow me to take an active, productive role in, shall we say, thinning the ranks of Iomedaeans here in Cheliax, consider me,” Gravenail’s grin widens, displaying very white smile with noticeably prominent canine teeth, and his voice takes on a very affected tone, ”willing and eager.” His last words hang in the air as Gravenail’s eyes lock with Zeke’s, his sinister smile plastered on his face.

I tried to make the faithful of Iomedae who ran that horrible orphanage ‘like’ me for years. And what did I get from my efforts at pleasing them? Less food than the “normal”-looking boys. Constant bullying and ridicule about my parentage, appearance, and pretty much anything and everything else. And on top of all that, they named me Linwood Leopold d'Iomedae—though I doubt anyone around here knows my former name, and anyone who has the gall to utter it in my presence certainly won’t ever be saying it again.

But the Iomedaeans will pay. Oh yes. And joining with this lot looks like my way to ensure that they pay dearly.

Sorry all. I seem to have come down with food poisoning yesterday. Expect a post by eod.

If you don't have a post on my desk by EoD I'm going to have to write you up. JK—says the person who was posting maybe once a week for a while there. Good news is I myself am doing better and work isn't quite so crazy. Sorry about getting sick and I hope you feel better soon. Food poisoning sux.

Nyx, being a taller-than-average humanoid with a distinctly angelic look about him, with purple eyes and hair that is half black on one side and half white on the other, asks with a strange half-grin, ”That symbol you wear on your tabard—is it,” Nyx titters, ”MAGIC?”

Definitely still interested in continuing this campaign if the GM wants to. I like this character a lot (never been the sneaky-traps-guy AND the divine full caster before) and his interplay with his "leader" Rolf.

When the Pathfinders activate the boosted aid token, they suddenly hear a low rumbling growl coming from...somewhere. It turns into a dark, eerie rhythmic chant that they find strangely inspiring!

Valentino addresses the jovial face.

”We join you, you join us…’the more we get together the happier we’ll be’! But I’m afraid if we don’t team up...well I don’t want to make you sad cuz you seem like such a happy guy and all.”

Valentino’s expression turns exaggeratedly dour. ”But I’ve heard grave tidings about what’s in store for your lovely forest home. Deforestation. High-end vacation home developments for rich nobles who have a fetish for torturing talking trees. And worse. Best help us help you now, yeah?”

Obviously Valentino’s heard nothing of the sort.
bluff: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (11) + 27 = 38

Yeah, a colossal zombie-spider would be pretty cool too. But I don't really like the whole "being staggered" thing. And it's probably more of a hassle than it's worth to be trying to travel/adventure with. If we could make Fast Zombies in PFS I'm sure Valentino would have already animated it and be riding it by now :)

Okay, I must say that was the most entertaining, most grandiose of grand entrances I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Bravo, Spenser! I lost an hour or so down the rabbit hole of reading about the Voynich Manuscript. Wow.

After a few moments, the Pathfinders arrive in the second story reception room of the Guesthouse of the Cage. The reception room is tastefully decorated with ornate stone benches, tables, and chairs, and it overlooks an enormous circular plaza hosting the Eternal Emporium, a miles-wide expanse of colorful stalls that comprise one of the largest markets in the Great Beyond. From there waft the smells of spices, cooked meat, fresh fruits, and much more, and beings from across the multiverse are visible buying and selling all manner of goods. To the right, the Pathfinders can see one of the massive gates leading into Aktun, the center of Axis and domain of Abadar, decorated with gold- and silver-traced murals. Standing atop the wall looms the Lawgiver, Abadar’s herald who takes the form of a fully armored warrior made of gold and steel.

The reception room’s only occupant is Esfir, who looks like a miniature draft horse, with dark blue metallic skin, golden eyes, and a white star-shaped patch on her forehead. She is very excited to see the assembled group.

Using truespeech to use whatever language you are most comfortable hearing, she says, ”Ah, true devotees of the Master of the First Vault; the Wealthy Father! We have not had the pleasure of a visit by Abadar’s faithful upon Golarion in quite some time!”

How do you respond to Esfir’s presumptuous greeting?

Hey all, I need to apologize for disappearing. I got really really sick. I feel terrible for just disappearing like that though. I was hoping to get caught back up on my games tonight but I still don’t feel well and have no motivation. I’m thinking one more good night’s rest and I’ll be feeling well enough to go through everything I missed since the weekend. I’m really sorry.

Richelle deftly moves through the crowd towards the animated armor suits.

ROUND 1: THE BOLD MAY ACT!

Encara
Richelle (I moved your token 60’)
Geirahöð (ignores crowd)
Gaeldrung (ignores crowd)
Kegdrainer
Phantom Armor
Carax
-----------------
Notes: see spoilers re: crowd, NPCs. Undead foes are in the room on the right side of the map.

REF DC18: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23 Evasion (improved, even) means he takes no damage.
”Oh me oh my!” Riddywipple bravely takes the wand from Chaine and begins using it to heal him. Same rolls as you already rolled before, yeah?

sense motive DC11: 10 + 2 = 12
bluff: 10 + 2 = 12
”Yes, um, can we help securitize your business?”

Riddywipple cracks his tiny knuckles. ”Oh come come! You’ve surely heard of the Pathfinder Society, right? While I myself find the nickname “murder hobo” distasteful and an oversimplified stereotype, there’s a reason it exists!”

aid intimidate: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Final roll-call:
Izabela 9
Tiki 9
Rhosalith 8
Enora 7
Kije 6
Edmund 5
--
APL: 7.33 | Subtier 8-9 as 4 PCs

Got my question answered in the flaxseed lodge. I just sent messages to the two missing players giving them 48 hours. I'm going to proceed shortly with gameplay using the 4-player adjustment and if/when they show up I'll adjust as needed. One minor concern is that with the current active players we are low subtier, but if we actually had all 6 original players we'd be high subtier (with 4 player adjustment). I'll do my best to figure it out as we go. I had a message from another interested player if we end up having open spots.

You're welcome to interact more with the painting if you'd like but because of the recent problems with Paizo's site crashing I'm going to advance the story.

After a few minutes a woman with dark black curly hair, dark eyes, and an olive complexion, wearing reading glasses and walking with a cane despite her relatively youthful appearance emerges from another room and smiles as she greets you. (picture here)

"Ah, visitors, welcome! I'm curator Cincia Reviamo. What brings you to the museum today?"

After looking you over quickly, without waiting for a reply she says, "If I'm not mistaken, you're the Pathfinders I was told to expect. I've prepared several rooms for you to use while you're here in Ridonport. Let me show you there and I'll explain my concern about the current ... situation."

“The museum owns all the contents, and it operates mostly on donations. But that doesn’t stop Earl Vernisant from treating it as his personal property! He sends his people to take anything he likes from the collection, but I almost prefer that to when he adds things. Have you met his painting?" Cincia rolls her eyes.

"That’s just one example, but there are more. Here we have the genealogy exhibit, which Vernisant commissioned when he found out that the mortal Iomedae spent some time with General Arnisant during the Shining Crusade. The earl added this chart to the display, and it’s the only document I’ve ever seen that suggests the Lady of Valor is one of his ancestors. That she and General Arnisant…then children…it’s not even…”

Cincia struggles to voice her dismay, finally settling for a frazzled groan that she ends with, “I have questions.”

She motions to another display. “These mannequins—I managed to assemble four full sets of armor to represent Taldor’s major armies in the Shining Crusade: the Phalanx, the Horse, the Navy, and the Knights of Ozem. Unfortunately, Vernisant learned that the Knight of Ozem’s helmet is magical, so he had it relocated to his private collection for ‘study.’"

“If you want this museum to be a useful source of anything other than propaganda, we’ll need to keep Vernisant away from it."

Pausing and turning to face you she asks, "So what are you going to do?”

Reductions in duration, number of targets, and the power of the actual spell effect are very disappointing to me. Here are some comparisons of classic/iconic spells:

Air Walk

• 1e: 1 minute/level
  
• 2e: 1 minute

• 1e: 1 minute/level, 2 buff effects.
  
• 2e: 1 minute max, requires spending an action to concentrate each round, 1 buff effect

• 1e: standard action cast, 1 minute/level, CON damage, save for half
  
• 2e: 3 actions to cast, 1 minute max, does HP damage (an average of 17.5 damage on a failed save), there’s now a mechanic for holding your breath. Cloudkill stands out because it’s a legacy spell. It doesn’t even cause Drained, which is close enough to what it did in 1e. Instead, it just does a small amount of HP damage

• 1e: 1 round/level (7 when you first get access), 15’ AOE.
  
• 2e: 1 minute, single target, get a new save each round

• 1e: 600+ feet minimum, self and 1+ (scales) targets.
  
• 2e: flat 60’ and you must see the space, self-only

• 1e: 5th level spell, 1 day/level, need to concentrate 1 round/day or target gets a new save.
  
• 2e: 6th level spell, flat 1 day duration, new save every round (except on a critical failure, then each time a new order is given)

• 1e: 3rd level spell, 1 minute/level.
  
• 2e: 4th level spell, 1 minute flat, flying in 2e is much more restrictive (you fall out of the air if you don’t spend an action to move, and you can’t Step)

• 1e: blind on a failed save, no save to prevent becoming fully visible.
  
• 2e: target is Concealed if invisibility is negated, 1 round on a successful save, Dazzled (not blindness) secondary effect

• 1e: 1 target/caster level, multiple buff effects.
  
• 2e: single target until heightened to 7th level, one buff effect that can only be used to Stride or Strike

Those are some pretty drastic differences. It does look like blasting as a caster is somewhat improved in some regards. But blasting has always been a subpar use of your limited spell slots because your martial party members can do HP damage all day without spending resources. Casters can alter reality in ways that martial cannot, so why spend your spells doing something they can already do without expending a resource? With many buff/debuff spells being much less effective, it feels casters are intended to mainly just do more HP damage in combat like other PCs. Or heal. I don’t think this much of a drastic cut in overall power is an okay solution to the caster/martial power discrepancy. I enjoy playing casters, especially full casters, and these changes to spells significantly decrease my enjoyment of playing Pathfinder.

Hello, Pathfinders! We are still a few weeks out, but when you get a chance, please sign in:

Player's Name:
Character's Name:
PFS #:
Faction:
Progression:
Day Job Roll:
Notes:

Okay all, sorry for the delay. The final composition, based on Sovereign Court preference, will be:

Altavan Kegdrainer
Geldrung
Geirahöð Bjornsdottir
Richelle Alain
Carax the Golden
Encara Ordan

--

Looks like we are solidly low-subtier. I will let everyone know that this will be my first PbP GM experience. I've been active in local/convention PFS for years and earned my 5th GM star earlier this year. I just recently discovered the joys of PbP. After playing for the past couple months or so, I'm feeling ready to GM.

Could the following please report in for the high tier Salvation of the Sages game. If anyone else has a free level 10-11 we have room for 2 more still.

• GM Boldstrider
  
• Ilmakis
  
• Qwerty1971
  
• zer0darkfire

Gameplay Thread

I am BRAND NEW to PbP (haven't played yet), but am a ***** GM, very much interested in getting into PbP. I'd be interested in playing Salvation of the Sages high with a Dhampir cleric necromancer 10. I'd be using a GM star replay; I played it at a local con last month and we failed pretty hard. I'd like to redeem myself. My day job is such that I can reliably post several times a day. I would need a bit of coaching initially for PbP protocol, but I'm a very experienced player.

I need to spend a few minutes making sure what's in my hero lab statblock is aligned with my inventory tracking sheet, but I'm otherwise ready. May I join?

If you signed off on a proof and it came back from the printer different than the proof you signed off, the printer is at fault and should reprint them at their cost. And why would you send them to a landfill instead of recycling them?

What do you think are some of the most interesting items available in PFS? I'd like to "reward" some of my regulars who are great RP-ers and otherwise contribute a lot to making the games fun for everyone.

For example:

The players I'm thinking of in particular are Samurai, Witch, Paladin, and Gunslinger.

EDIT: I hadn't heard of or thought about "cherry picking" before I posted this thread, and I apologize if this strays too far into that orchard. I just want to make my games even more fun for the players who help make the games fun. Thanks!

Title has my question - or in other words:

Does a player lose the benefits of a feat if they no longer meet the prerequisites because of a temporary condition?