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Thanks for putting in your ideas. I think that the changes you propose would tip the balance of power too far over the mark, but that's just my opinion.
Thought: Let's move this to a new thread so that we're not taking up Archade's playtest space. I'll start a new thread because I'd like to discuss paladin spellcasting ideas with you some more.
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Thanks for putting in your ideas. I think that the changes you propose would tip the balance of power too far over the mark, but that's just my opinion.
Thought: Let's move this to a new thread so that we're not taking up Archade's playtest space. I'll start a new thread because I'd like to discuss paladin spellcasting ideas with you some more.
Don't forget to link it here so I can find it.
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Our playtest continued tonight, and our brave adventurers left the city of Goethe to the abandoned dwarven city of Morrighal. There, they rested and traded with the forgecandlers, exchanging found treasure for crafted items. Then they arranged for a guide to lead them down through the galleries to the bottom of the Ashwall, where they could travel on to the Theld… In their travels, on a stone bridge, they noticed their dwarven guide was not human. After attempting to detect thoughts, the guide dropped his mask, and revealed himself to be a horrible undead creature, a totenmaske! His two allies who had been skulking in the darkness beyond leapt into battle with him, and the party proceeded to fight them.
The party is 7th-9th level, and the paladin once again made use of smite evil. With his greatsword, power attacking he rolled a 14 + 9 = 23, barely hitting the totenmaske. He then did 2d6 + 17 + 4d6 for a total of 38 points of damage, slaying the already damaged creature. He attempted to use his smite ability with his second attack, missing (without disappointment from the player since he already had the benefit of the ability), and in the following round with his still-active smite ability, he finished off a second one.
The channel energy ability got used 3 times in this encounter, and was used to weaken the creatures. The 8th level cleric used it twice for 4d6, and the 9th level factotum used his opportunistic peity for 5d6. All but one made their save, and to keep the encounter interesting, I kept the creature at bay from him, rather than flee the scene with the usual frightened effect (which would have reduced the encounter to a lone totenmaske, which they were already beating with a minimum of fuss and damage).
OBSERVATIONS - Smite evil is very effective against undead and evil outsiders, and in the last few encounters that involved these creatures, the paladin has outshone his fellow party members. I'm going to avoid undead and evil outsiders for the time being and see how the paladin does.
Channel energy can be used repeatedly to wear down the undead, making them easier to kill. The flee effect is still a pain in the neck, and I'd recommend replacing it with an effect to simply keep the undead at bay from the cleric.
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Our playtest continued tonight, and our brave adventurers left the city of Goethe to the abandoned dwarven city of Morrighal. There, they rested and traded with the forgecandlers, exchanging found treasure for crafted items. Then they arranged for a guide to lead them down through the galleries to the bottom of the Ashwall, where they could travel on to the Theld… In their travels, on a stone bridge, they noticed their dwarven guide was not human. After attempting to detect thoughts, the guide dropped his mask, and revealed himself to be a horrible undead creature, a totenmaske! His two allies who had been skulking in the darkness beyond leapt into battle with him, and the party proceeded to fight them.
The party is 7th-9th level, and the paladin once again made use of smite evil. With his greatsword, power attacking he rolled a 14 + 9 = 23, barely hitting the totenmaske. He then did 2d6 + 17 + 4d6 for a total of 38 points of damage, slaying the already damaged creature. He attempted to use his smite ability with his second attack, missing (without disappointment from the player since he already had the benefit of the ability), and in the following round with his still-active smite ability, he finished off a second one.
The channel energy ability got used 3 times in this encounter, and was used to weaken the creatures. The 8th level cleric used it twice for 4d6, and the 9th level factotum used his opportunistic peity for 5d6. All but one made their save, and to keep the encounter interesting, I kept the creature at bay from him, rather than flee the scene with the usual frightened effect (which would have reduced the encounter to a lone totenmaske, which they were already beating with a minimum of fuss and damage).
OBSERVATIONS - Smite evil is very effective against undead and evil outsiders, and in the last few encounters that involved these creatures, the paladin has outshone his fellow party members. I'm going to avoid undead and evil outsiders for the time being and see how the paladin does....
In your estimation though, it's the DR reduction, and not the damage that's the problem correct? Typically creatures with DR tend to have lower HP so I can see where that can be problematic, I'm curious if they'll adress that by beefing up hp in the pathfinder bestiary since now between + weapons and paladins there are a few ways to bypass DR.
Q: would the damage be an issue if the DR still applied?
Q2: was the paladin doing any of that channeling?
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In your estimation though, it's the DR reduction, and not the damage that's the problem correct? Typically creatures with DR tend to have lower HP so I can see where that can be problematic, I'm curious if they'll adress that by beefing up hp in the pathfinder bestiary since now between + weapons and paladins there are a few ways to bypass DR.
Q: would the damage be an issue if the DR still applied?
Q2: was the paladin doing any of that channeling?
Hey LKL!
To be honest, I'm not seeing bypassing DR as a big problem. The totenmasks had no DR, were undead, and had 78 hit points and were CR 7. The paladin's smite evils wouldn't have killed the critter, but when they had been weakened, he finished them off nicely. So far, I'm pretty content with smite evil as it stands (although I understand from other threads that undead are likely to be beefed up in hit points using Charisma instead of Constitution).
The paladin didn't channel. The cleric did twice, and the factotum did once.
CEO
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Channel energy can be used repeatedly to wear down the undead, making them easier to kill. The flee effect is still a pain in the neck, and I'd recommend replacing it with an effect to simply keep the undead at bay from the cleric.
I actually agree with this. I hate having to count out squares of fleeing in the middle of the battle, trying to keep track of where the undead is as it flees. I think something more useful, such as the undead can't come within 30 or 40 feet of the turning holy person would still make the ability really useful. Perhaps you could add an effect like shaken to show the fear affect. I am going to bring this up to Jason. Thanks for reminding me how much I hate the fleeing part! :)
-Lisa
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Channel energy can be used repeatedly to wear down the undead, making them easier to kill. The flee effect is still a pain in the neck, and I'd recommend replacing it with an effect to simply keep the undead at bay from the cleric.I actually agree with this. I hate having to count out squares of fleeing in the middle of the battle, trying to keep track of where the undead is as it flees. I think something more useful, such as the undead can't come within 30 or 40 feet of the turning holy person would still make the ability really useful. Perhaps you could add an effect like shaken to show the fear affect. I am going to bring this up to Jason. Thanks for reminding me how much I hate the fleeing part! :)
-Lisa
Oh If I made it seem like I disagreed with that, I'm sorry, I actually hate most flee effects. I think it would be much cooler if channeling created a 30ft radius that the undead couldn't get any closer. I have this mental image of undead movies where the good guys are standing within a radius of light and you can see all of the undead just waiting at the edge to charge in. Very cool imagery.
Hey archade, let me thanks for the higher level reports. I'm a few levels behind and have yet to fight anything that I get my bonus to smite for. Which means that I have had nothing but blazhee reports on smite. I'm glad it works out well in your campaign for your player, I just hate a fix that is so dependent on what kind of campaign you're in.
Question how does your player feel about the change to channel energy? does he think with a cleric in the party that it's worth him even using it? how many times per day can he channel at that level? does he have any domain feats or divine feats? Sorry to get into these details, but I want to know how the paladin is working out for different parties and different builds.
I hate having to count out squares of fleeing in the middle of the battle, trying to keep track of where the undead is as it flees. I think something more useful, such as the undead can't come within 30 or 40 feet of the turning holy person would still make the ability really useful. Perhaps you could add an effect like shaken to show the fear affect. I am going to bring this up to Jason. Thanks for reminding me how much I hate the fleeing part! :)
-Lisa
I like the pathfinder RPG Beta frightened (which is what turning does) though since it allows the creature to stop fleeing once out of sight of the source of the fear. So I have the undead run to the next room, and lay in wait there for anyone to follow. This fixed the "count the squares" issue for me.
As a note, I didn't see this feature of frightened in the Glossary definition of the frightened condition on page 400, but does appear in the description of frightened on page 395 under "Fear". It should be in both places.
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I actually agree with this. I hate having to count out squares of fleeing in the middle of the battle, trying to keep track of where the undead is as it flees. I think something more useful, such as the undead can't come within 30 or 40 feet of the turning holy person would still make the ability really useful. Perhaps you could add an effect like shaken to show the fear affect. I am going to bring this up to Jason. Thanks for reminding me how much I hate the fleeing part! :)
-Lisa
Thanks Lisa!
Here's what our group has been using ...
CHANNEL POSITIVE ENERGY
When you channel positive energy, you unleash a wave of positive energy in a 30-foot burst. All undead in this radius take 1d6 points of positive energy damage plus 1d6 points of positive energy damage for every two cleric levels you have attained beyond 1st (1d6 at 1st level, 2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on) and suffer the effects of a sanctuary spell against yourself and all allies within 5 feet of you (meaning that undead affected by the burst must make a Will save to attempt to harm or otherwise target the cleric and her allies within 5 feet) for 1d4 rounds + your Charisma modifier. Undead in this radius are allowed a Will save that negates the sanctuary condition and results in half damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your cleric level + your Charisma modifier. Undead who take damage greater than their hit points crumble to dust and are destroyed by the power of your deity. If an undead subject to a current sanctuary effect is subject to channeled negative energy, it does receive a new saving throw to dispel the sanctuary effect.
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Question how does your player feel about the change to channel energy? does he think with a cleric in the party that it's worth him even using it? how many times per day can he channel at that level? does he have any domain feats or divine feats? Sorry to get into these details, but I want to know how the paladin is working out for different parties and different builds.
Our group's cleric is a "just there for the fun and have a beer" player. He's not worried about optimized builds, or what have you. He is playing a lycanthrope-blooded race specific to my campaign called a Silvanti, and is looking at multiclassing as a barbarian at 9th level, as he is a butt-kicking character more than a spellcaster these days.
However, this player is fairly canny to the Pathfinder changes -- right away at 1st level, he caught on to orisons at will and was throwing guidance around like it was free (well, it was...). He's noticed how useful channel energy is as a healing tool as well as one to weaken undead, and he's using it over spellcasting or attacking when more than one undead rears its head, and uses channel energy when the party needs healing after the combat, which is the desired effect by Jason, right?
If I recall, he can channel energy 4 times per day (3 + 1 for his Charisma).
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Question how does your player feel about the change to channel energy? does he think with a cleric in the party that it's worth him even using it? how many times per day can he channel at that level? does he have any domain feats or divine feats? Sorry to get into these details, but I want to know how the paladin is working out for different parties and different builds.Our group's cleric is a "just there for the fun and have a beer" player. He's not worried about optimized builds, or what have you. He is playing a lycanthrope-blooded race specific to my campaign called a Silvanti, and is looking at multiclassing as a barbarian at 9th level, as he is a b~*&-kicking character more than a spellcaster these days.
However, this player is fairly canny to the Pathfinder changes -- right away at 1st level, he caught on to orisons at will and was throwing guidance around like it was free (well, it was...). He's noticed how useful channel energy is as a healing tool as well as one to weaken undead, and he's using it over spellcasting or attacking when more than one undead rears its head, and uses channel energy when the party needs healing after the combat, which is the desired effect by Jason, right?
If I recall, he can channel energy 4 times per day (3 + 1 for his Charisma).
Sorry I meant the party paladin to the changes to paladins channel energy
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Sorry I meant the party paladin to the changes to paladins channel energy
Aha! Actually, the paladin in a previous session did use his channel energy (using up 2 smites) to help weaken a clutch of undead minions to good effect. It seemed about right for power level to me.
The big thing now is the paladin isn't having a chance to remember his divine bond with his weapon -- it seems a bit overshadowed by the smite evil ...
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Sorry I meant the party paladin to the changes to paladins channel energyAha! Actually, the paladin in a previous session did use his channel energy (using up 2 smites) to help weaken a clutch of undead minions to good effect. It seemed about right for power level to me.
The big thing now is the paladin isn't having a chance to remember his divine bond with his weapon -- it seems a bit overshadowed by the smite evil ...
So he doesn't have any divine feats, and he doesn't mind that it eats up his lay on hands?
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So he doesn't have any divine feats, and he doesn't mind that it eats up his lay on hands?
Nope, no divine feats -- Toughness, Overhand Chop, Weapon Focus, and Lightning Reflexes (I think).
He doesn't mind it eats up his lay on hands, as it is a mass heal for the party (1 LOH for 4d6, or 2 LOH for an area 4d6, right?)
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So he doesn't have any divine feats, and he doesn't mind that it eats up his lay on hands?Nope, no divine feats -- Toughness, Overhand Chop, Weapon Focus, and Lightning Reflexes (I think).
He doesn't mind it eats up his lay on hands, as it is a mass heal for the party (1 LOH for 4d6, or 2 LOH for an area 4d6, right?)
Well, in my campaign we haven't fought any undead so 4d6 in an area always heals enemies as well. If I were fighting undead ever it would be worth it. Also because of the nature of the fights we've ususally had big fights with lots of enemies 2-1 on the PCs so even if I took selective channeling I couldn't leave out enough enemies for my channeling to be worth it. And I also have a domain feat that takes 3 channels to re-fuel, that's six loh. I only have 5 right now. It's good to see that it works out for some players, for my character it was a huge nerf (even aside from the fact that I hadn't planned on using channeling because it didn't fit the flavor of the character so I was going to take more divine feats). Its too expensive for divine feats now. Even at my DMs houseruled 1-1 for burning for feats, I like my LoH and since I have to loose channeling and LoHs to burn for feats I don't think its worth it to take the feats.
You are running CotCT right? that has a lot of demons and undead it seems. that's awesome. I can't wait to hear how your paladin continues to do cause it's nice to hear that the changes haven't been painful for others the way they have for my character.
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You are running CotCT right? that has a lot of demons and undead it seems. that's awesome. I can't wait to hear how your paladin continues to do cause it's nice to hear that the changes haven't been painful for others the way they have for my character.
I am running a variant of COTCT, but I'm not sticking to it hard and fast. I've varied the story (in some places heavily) to fit my home campaign world, and in other places where I see I can improve the story.
I'm purposely taking out some of the undead and demons going forward to see how the paladin does...
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Maybe that will help out Angstman, our beuilger too. :D
Actually, in the 'chapter' to come, there are a lot of opportunities for diplomacy and personal interaction with the Theldane, so I think Jibben (I mean Blackjack!) should have a chance to shine. As well, the knight will have a chance to experience mounted combat, as well as challenge human (and not so human) foes.
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Tonight, our intrepid adventurers went into the Theld, met with the Merak-Mar Clan and through a sredna match, won the respect of Krojun Eats-What-He-Kills. After that, at the advice of Takar Thousand Bones, they trekked through the ash wastes to the edge of the Firecrown Uplands, and found the Acropolis of the Conjurer, once home to Drawmij. Inside, they battled Red Wraith Assassins and tentacles of a horrible beast below. They retreated to a room, and are briefly resting there.
In our playtest, we ran into a few paladin playtest items – lay on hands was used to save the party cleric who got caught in the crossfire of several assassins. The smite evil was used, and with the non-uber smite, the 9th level paladin rolled to hit the assassin, and the +3 Cha modifier made the difference to hit, and the paladin then rolled damage with his greatsword of 2d6 +26 (+6 str, +12 power attack, +8 smite).
The assassins used their acrobatics to try to tumble past the party, and the 15 + BAB caused them to fail after their third or fourth target, which seems reasonable.
The havero tentacles grappled some summoned crocodiles in the pool, and when I gave them +2 to their CMB for Improved Grab, they grappled them 80% of the time, squishing them with their constrict ability in 2 rounds.
Lastly, the party factotum finally converted his skills over to Pathfinder, and in most cases the skills were equal to the old list, with the small exception that his +16 Search was now a +12 Perception.
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In our playtest, we ran into a few paladin playtest items – lay on hands was used to save the party cleric who got caught in the crossfire of several assassins. The smite evil was used, and with the non-uber smite, the 9th level paladin rolled to hit the assassin, and the +3 Cha modifier made the difference to hit, and the paladin then rolled damage with his greatsword of 2d6 +26 (+6 str, +12 power attack, +8 smite).
Well the cha bonus to hit has always been a good thing, but the fact that power attack deals more damage than smite bugs me how does he feel about it? LoH is awesome now, but I note he used lay on hands and not channel.
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Well the cha bonus to hit has always been a good thing, but the fact that power attack deals more damage than smite bugs me how does he feel about it? LoH is awesome now, but I note he used lay on hands and not channel.
Well, I reminded the paladin that his smite wasn't the uber-extra-dice-smite, and he said it was important to drop these guys, and he would get his +8 damage on 2 attacks this round, and 2 attack next round. It was an effective bonus, and took out the already wounded assassin where a non-smite would not.
He couldn't use channel, because it would have healed the assassins as well. They were mixed in well with the rest of the group.
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So, since our regular game night is in flux with me moving, I decided to run a one-off in our game with a group of new players.
I told everyone to roll up new characters, and they did. Most chose to use the 4d6, keep the best 3 method, but one of the players took me up on my offer to use the 24d6 pool method previously posted by a brilliant soul on the Paizo boards, and it worked very well – I highly encourage you to include them in the final edition of the rules.
So we ended up with an elf barbarian 8, two human fighter 8s, a (homebrew race, effectively a half-githyanki) rogue 8, a human sorcerer 8, a human wizard 8, a (homebrew race, effectively a quarter-lycanthrope) cleric 7 / barbarian 1, and a dwarven cleric 8, for a total of 8 players. Quite the crowd!
The adventure went really well, fighting slithering arcane octopi, making their way through Old Goethe, with liberal use of Diplomacy and Knowledge (local) checks. The octopi had improved grab, and it wasn’t horribly effective, but I still think the DC should be a variant of touch AC (a Maneuver AC), and I’ve posted elsewhere on that.
With two barbarians we did test-run the rage powers, and the Animal Fury power works well as a swift action, allowing a ‘mini-pounce’, with a move, attack, and the Animal Fury bite.
We got through a number of encounters, and finished half-way through the adventure, and hopefully we will finish the session next Sunday.
RECOMMENDATIONS – Our local rogue lamented the loss of Intelligence affecting Search, since Wisdom affects Perception. I’d recommend creating a feat in the style of Intimidating Prowess (let’s call it Cunning Eye), allowing characters with this feat to add their Intelligence modifier to Perception checks, in addition to their Wisdom.
Backhand Swing worked marvelously well, and it had a brutal effect on our 8th level game, allowing a character to hand out over 29 points of damage on one shot. Wow! But it needs a better name (Crushing Swing?)
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So, our ongoing playtest continued with the second part of a one-shot adventure, with new players to our group. In this session, the characters continued to investigate the mystery of Salvator Scream’s paintings coming to live and slaying key nobles in Old Goethe.
In this session, the party fought an Invisible Stalker, and in the encounter I noticed a discrepancy in the rules – in the rules for blindness, the blind character strikes a random square, where in fighting an invisible foe, even if a character hasn’t targeted the opponent, they can pick a likely square to fight into. What specifically happened in our encounter was the sorcerer’s pseudodragon familiar used its blindsense to locate the invisible stalker, communicated it to the sorcerer, and the sorcerer was shouting out locations. I would think that unless someone made their DC 20 Perception check, they would attack a ‘random square’ next to them, to remove some metagaming from fighting an invisible foe, but I’m not overly worried or passionate about this, it’s just an observation. Using Perception as a consolidated skill was nice though, because it rolled listening or spotting an invisible foe into one neat, tidy roll.
The party also encountered an animated rope, and the chances of being grappled by the rope were so remote as to be a waste of time. I still strongly believe that the target DC for a combat maneuver such as grapple should be a variant of AC, and not the opponent’s CMB +15…
Backhand Swing continued to be an effective tool (but please change the name – see my previous post).
We came across a situation where the party wizard had to cast a spell defensively while engaged with an NPC rogue. Rather than use Spellcraft DC 10 + spell level as a ‘concentration check’, I tried DC 15 + opponent’s BAB, as it has been bandied about on the Pathfinder boards before. It injected a sense of fear and unknown into the game that made the encounter more exciting.
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So we continued our playtest campaign, returning to our ongoing campaign, which is a variant of COTCT. We saw the departure of 2 players, and the joining of 1 new player this session, and 2 new players our coming next session.
Our new player wanted to play a mystic theurge, so he rolled up a wizard 3 / archivist 3 / mystic theurge 2. He chose the 24d6 pool of dice method of generation, which went very well again (he got one 18, and other stats down to 11). One question came up … as a generalist wizard 2, he gets a bonus 1st-level spell -- is that one spell that remains the same from then on, or does it mean he can memorize one bonus 1st level spell, which he gets multiple times per day, but can re-choose each day? The language in this section seems vague. As well, he took an improved familiar pseudodragon, and I was very happy to see the tweaks that have been done to familiars, but if familiars get to use their master’s base saves, skill ranks, and half their hit points, shouldn’t they share their master’s feats?
They proceeded on to explore the Acropolis of the Conjurer Drawmij, and finished looking about, finding the levitation chamber and went below to gain the Waymakers Mark of the Silver Queen. Afterwards, they went on to the Moon Clan’s lands, and after dealing with an ash waste creature (an advanced abyssal gray render!), gained the gratitude and hospitality of the Moon Clan. Eventually, they met with their Truthspeaker, and made preparation to go forth and seek out Cindermaw…
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS – Overhand Chop was a new feat taken by the party’s knight, and it worked to good effect. Several magic items were identified, and I still believe the DC of Appriase should be increased by 5, as it is far to easy as-is. As well, when Identify is used to Appraise a clutch of loot, we found that one Appraise roll used for all items targeted by the one use of the spell worked well.
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Out of curiousity, what weapon did she use?
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS – Overhand Chop was a new feat taken by the party’s knight, and it worked to good effect.
The character Deedri finally swapped out her +1 human bane rapier (giving it to Varo, the factotum) for a +2 axiomatic longsword she found (although it may have a teeeeeeensie little curse) and against the gray render decided to drop her shield and start to use her longsword two-handed ...
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So we finished up our session this weekend, and continued to adventure in the Theld ash wastes. They successfully completed the Trial of the Totem, and returned to the Kozan-Mar village as members of the clan. However, there is a commotion as the Red Wraith assassins and their ashwalker gargoyles attack the village.
We did play two weeks ago, and dealt with the trial of Cindermaw (which was, ultimately, a single casting of Charm Monster …). In that session, I set up an encounter to really use Ride a lot. A few questions came up – should there be the equivalent of a Concentration check to use Channel Energy on a galloping horse? Should purple worm poison be DC 26 and 1 Str damage per round? How do you pass an object to a willing ally (see my previous post on that).
Two new players joined our group this latest session, playing a half-elf paladin and a human fighter – the players brought characters with multiclassed characters, and were a bit shocked to see their base class abilities were weakened compared to straight classed characters. Culture shock … the paladin build one player brought had the prestige class (Outcast Champion) draw on turn attempts, which are now drawn on smite attempts, making it very suboptimal, but other than that...
In the totem trial, the party wizard decided to use rope trick to tie up the totem and hold it upright – my gods, the only time Use Rope would have ever come in handy in a D&D campaign I’ve run in 20 years, now it comes up running Pathfinder!! I ended up using Craft (architecture) or a Dex check (whatever was higher).
Aside from that, the regular observations I’ve made in the past – smite evil, tumble, etc., etc., etc. Nothing really new to comment on.
Next session, they deal with the Cinderlander facing against Krojun Eats-What-He-Kills, over the tribal War Council Fire …
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So we finished up our adventure in the Theld ash wastes, with the adventuring heroes successfully defending Flameford and the Kozan-Mar against the predations of the Red Wraith assassins and the Ashwalker Gargoyles that were their allies. They were celebrated as members of the Marek, and were told the secrets of their ancestors, and now prepare to journey to the fallen keep of Amberwall on the borders of the Lands of the Black Ice to discover what they can about the Verddraaken hero Mandravius, and the sword Serithial.
In this session, the only thing that came up is the use of the spells Shadow Conjuration and Shadow Evocation – one of the party members (a beguiler/shadowcraft mage) laid out his new abilities to use Shadow Conjuration and Shadow Evocation, and some of the spells he duplicates as Pathfinder writes about it don’t work the way they should – while the shadow spells mimic other spells, no where does it specificially say the shadow spell gains the types or subtypes of the mimicked spell, which it should. After all, a shadow fireball does effectively do fire damage, which a salamander would be immune to. A mimicked evil spell that causes suffering and pain is still evil. I would suggest the wording of these two spells specifically say that types and subtypes match the mimicked spell.
Between sessions, some of the party members may be crafting magic items, and we'll see how the Craft DC goes, and if any cursed items are created ...
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So, this session, the group was minded to travel to Amberwall, far to the north. They travelled overland to Oriador, and while they sought to commission or purchase a skiff to take them across Bael’s Deep, they were approached by Larendarae and Sial, both of the Church of Bolthamogg and known to them from prior events. They grudgingly agreed to travel north, and attempt to force their way into Amberwall in search of the sword Serithial. They forced their way through the gatehouse, across the causeway, and have now entered the haunted halls …
The characters leveled up to 9th level, and the party’s spiked chain fighter thought Disruptive was a great feat to take (we’ll see how it plays in).
Through the session, there was an issue where the invisible cleric/barbarian was shot while summoning a monster, and had to make a Spellcraft check – it wasn’t easy for him with his 7 Int and a lack of ranks in the skill.
Also another weirdness – a cleric who gives off a burst of positive energy while invisible stays invisible, unless there’s a foe in range, in which case he becomes visible. It’s weird … okay, but weird …
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Also another weirdness – a cleric who gives off a burst of positive energy while invisible stays invisible, unless there’s a foe in range, in which case he becomes visible. It’s weird … okay, but weird …
Not sure I follow you on this one. Is that because it does damage to undead it counters the invisibility? What if the targets were living and not excluded with selective channeling?
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Not sure I follow you on this one. Is that because it does damage to undead it counters the invisibility? What if the targets were living and not excluded with selective channeling?
Also another weirdness – a cleric who gives off a burst of positive energy while invisible stays invisible, unless there’s a foe in range, in which case he becomes visible. It’s weird … okay, but weird …
The way invisibility reads, even if a foe is affected (including healing them), POOF you are visible. If you use selective channelling, and don't target or area affect a 'foe', you are not.
Like I said, weird ...
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So, our intrepid adventurers fought their way deeper into Amberwall, making their way to the upper level of the castle, and after fighting the Chained Spirit, beating a hasty retreat. They realized that there are four spirit anchors that need to be destroyed or released, and found one up on the third floor. Zellara's song suddenly makes sense to them, and they have newfound purpose ...
In our playtest this week, not a lot came up ... the evil NPC cleric tagging along with them has been utterly useless with his Channel Negative Energy, and negative levels scare the heck out of the players (although I was using a similar mechanic for permanent negative levels pre-Pathfinder).
The poor cleric with the Int of 7 is still upset that concentration checks are done with Spellcraft (an Int-based skill), although he was somewhat mollified when I told him one of the things Jason was considering was a Will save.
And our beguiler has taken the prestige class Shadowcraft Mage, and is using a shadow evocation version of Celestial Brilliance from BoED to weaken the undead ... duration 1 day/level?!?! Wow ...
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Tonight’s playtest had the intrepid heroes pushing deeper into Amberwall Castle. They fought a horrible undead lord festooned in scrolls inscribed with foul runes, and explored the depths of the Star Tower, losing their sinister allies to to keeper of the Star Tower. They went below, and fought the foul underground gugs, and upon seeing the holy sword Serithial were set upon by a foul twisted guardian of the sword …
Tonight the mummy lord used slay living, and I have to say the spell seemed very weak to me, a 5th level spell doing 30-40 hit points of damage from a 10th level caster.
As well, we had a character reduced to -12 hit points, and I allowed a DC 30 Heal check to revive him at -9 hit points, within the same round, and it worked well.
Is your DC for saving a dead PC based off something such as level? Or did you make it a flat DC 30 heal check from all levels 1 - 20
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As well, we had a character reduced to -12 hit points, and I allowed a DC 30 Heal check to revive him at -9 hit points, within the same round, and it worked well.
Are you using -10 or -Con as the benchmark for dead? The cleric might also want to consider Breath of Life if he's high enough level for it.
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Are you using -10 or -Con as the benchmark for dead? The cleric might also want to consider Breath of Life if he's high enough level for it.
The cleric *was* the guy at negative hit points! :) Poor Gavin ... I suggested a scroll of Breath of Life might be useful, considering there's a Factotum, Mystic Theurge, and a Beguiler with Uber-UMD in the party.
His character had a Con of 11, if I recall correctly. He was just over the negative hit points needed to stay alive, and that was after a quick Close Wounds.
To answer the other poster's question, we had put a DC 30 Heal check could revive someone reduced to negative hit points as a house rule way back, and this is the first time it came into play.
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The cleric *was* the guy at negative hit points! :) Poor Gavin ... I suggested a scroll of Breath of Life might be useful, considering there's a Factotum, Mystic Theurge, and a Beguiler with Uber-UMD in the party.
Now that they're over that threshold and starting to get insta-kill spells lobbed at them, it's probably a good idea to make multiples.