Fireball is a drug. You can be a rational mastermind, a learnèd loremaster, a sophisticated practitioner of the high arts, a controller of the battlefield and bender of time and space; in other words: a proper elven wizard, for all your life. Eschew getting your hands dirty with evocation as much as you can. Blasting is for sorcerers and their ilk, you know.
Then scribe it into your spellbook, because, you know, it might someday be tactically appropriate. "Magister, those horrible trolls are terrorizing western Gwendor again, and did you know? they hate fire." Blabla.
Alright. You prepare it once. You cast it twice, making use of your bonded amulet. Then you use your 9000 gp Pearl of Power to cast it once more. Then, before you know it, you buy a Lesser Rod of freaking Persistent Spell just to you can make every last of them , and as you near 10th level, you start thinking about taking Intensify Spell instead of Quicken even though all your mentors insisted was mandatory. It all goes downhill from there.
Or so I imagine. How would I know?
...anyway...
Hrunndalf's usual combat strategy:
Before combat: Put up Magic Vestment for the typical "workday" hours of the day, currently adds +1 to armor's enhancement bonus and lasts for 7 hours. If combat is expected within the hour, also put up a Magic Circle Against Evil (lasts 70 min). Use the Shield wand if combat is expected within 1–2 minutes and time is not at a premium (since it doesn't consistently work).
When combat starts:
(1) Draw weapon as a free action. If Hrunndalf is not yet embroiled in close-quarters combat, buff (see below), then move. Aim to intercept advances towards the party with reach AoOs, and to take aggro off threatened allies if needed.
(2) Once buffed an/or in close combat, cut enemies to pieces until the combat is won. Use Power Attack whenever possible (only refrain from PA if enemy proves very hard to hit; when in doubt, do use it).
(3) Keep Þrumublað as long as it is practical, then switch to the new greatsword (I think I'm going for that rather than a greataxe after all) or to the mace if magic/cold iron/bludgeoning is called for. Do not drop weapons if it can be avoided, i.e., use a Move to stow the old weapon and a Free to draw the new one.
(4) Do interrupt combat to save lives if necessary (like when Myri was dying), but not when someone just drops to -2 or something. Better to eliminate the threat first. Leave routine in-combat healing to Alaric. Save lives with spells if not threatened, otherwise use wand.
(5) If an enemy seems dumb, physically dangerous, and within reach of another enemy, maybe use a Murderous Command to sic them on their ally. Very situational, though. Probably most enemies have too many hitdice to fail the save often enough nowadays.
(6) If a planned course of action is rendered obsolete/impossible, the beneficial replacement action should be a weapon attack rather something lame like total defense.
(7) Defend Ameiko in particular if the choice is arises (make use of the +1 bonus to attack), but do not take foolish risks (i.e. unnecessary AoOs) or ignore greater need (i.e. a crowded/badly injured squishy) to do so.
Things to remember:
(1) Surprise round. Remember Hrunndalf now always gets to act in the surprise round, but goes last if he is surprised. Roll 2x(1d20+1) for initiative.
(2) Combat Reflexes, especially when flat-footed.
(3) Battle Clarity is now 2x/day.
Buffing priority in combat:
(1) Magic Circle vs Evil (unless enemy is not evil, e.g. an animal)
(2) Bull's Strength (+2/+3 bonus)
(3) Shield of Faith against a non-evil enemy
(4) Divine Favor (+2/+2 bonus now)
If surprised at night, use Instant Armor first.
After combat:
(1) Make sure everyone is healed. If spells are needed to heal (i.e. if channeling and wands are scarce or being conserved), use 1st- and 2nd-level slots unless an emergency justifies a 3rd-level one.
(Terran is Yiddish, by the way.)I am considering taking Aklo in the future -- because I think it's neat-looking.
There are a lot of scripts that I think look neat. Sometimes I get buyer's remorse for picking Estonian for Halfling, when I could have had a neat looking Georgian or Armenian.
(So now I want to be the first to speak a new language so I can pick its representation.)
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... You made that suggestion EXACTLY AS I WAS helpfully trying to assign all common languages plus obscure ones I knew were likely to come up ...
Sigh. I'll post the list anyway. If people want to keep things more open, I can take it back ...
Anyway, as I said, this is what I think is most likely to come up. If anything shows up in the game that not on the list (e.g. Boggard or Cyclops or something), there are still languages that can be assigned.
Abyssal = Urdu
Aklo = Telugu
Aquan = Tamil
Auran = Armenian
Azlanti = Greek
Common (Taldane) = English
Celestial = Arabic
Draconic = Bengali
Druidic = Irish
Dwarven = Swedish
Elven = Welsh
Erutaki = Finnish
Giant = Latvian
Gnoll = Indonesian
Gnome = Hungarian
Goblin = Maltese
Halfling = Estonian
Hallit = Basque
Hongali = Albanian
Ignan = Georgian
Infernal = Persian
Kelish = Catalan
Minkalan = Japanese
Orc = Czech
Osiriani = Gujarati
Polyglot = Swahili
Senzar = Macedonian
Shoanti = Croatian
Skald = Icelandic
Sylvan = Korean
Tengu = Fillipino
Terran = Yiddish
Thassilonian = Kannada
Tien = Chinese (Traditional)
Undercommon = Thai
Varisian = Lithuanian
Varki = Malay
Vudrani = Hindi
There are a lot of scripts that I think look neat. Sometimes I get buyer's remorse for picking Estonian for Halfling, when I could have had a neat looking Georgian or Armenian.
Armenian would certainly make me feel at home.
... You made that suggestion EXACTLY AS I WAS helpfully trying to assign all common languages plus obscure ones I knew were likely to come up ...
Sigh. I'll post the list anyway. If people want to keep things more open, I can take it back ...
Anyway, as I said, this is what I think is most likely to come up. If anything shows up in the game that not on the list (e.g. Boggard or Cyclops or something), there are still languages that can be assigned.
My timing is, as always, impeccable.
I'm not sure if I prefer that the languages are determined in advance or that we are more loose and open. Since it's mostly a matter of buyer's remorse--I only got to choose one script and I'm not always pleased with my choice--I don't think it really matters.
I say keep the list.
Since I copied the list onto my cheat sheet, I am glad to hear this.
In case any of you are wondering, Tien is essentially the "Common" of Tian Xia -- spoken by almost everyone, but not the only language on the continent by any means. There are also local languages. You are most likely to encounter Hongali and Minkalan, the languages of Hongal and Minkai.
Erutaki is the most common language spoken by those humans who actually live in the Crown of the World. On your way to the Crown of the World, you will (probably just briefly) pass through some areas where Varki is the most common language.
Senzar is another language that might come up, and that is all I will say about it for now.
Level 7: Can be found here.
Ok, so not really having the amounts down, and likely still adding stuff, but Lio purchases
Cold Weather Gear for Jorun (whatever he needs)
One Masterwork Composite Long Bow, rated for +3 strenght (700gp?)
2 Non fiction books (the latest just published in either common or elven or goblin)
Blue Leather for finishing the blanket i never finished for Attatoq
assorted undies
Bag of Apples
Extra cold weather elven balm stuff
Wine (2 bottles)
Lube
Trail rations 10
spikey necklace for Reta
black tin crown
locket necklace gold
pretty purse
black silk square scarf with red flowers on it
leaf and flower necklace
flower blossom out of metal
glass butterfly wing
chained lattice work necklace
pretty tissue paper for wrapping
small pouches for gift giving
dagger
materials for making blanket for Selmemir
Selling:
regular short bow
regular composite long bow
As Mel pointed out, Rhost alone can eat half a healing wand in one go. Our current wand supply may be woefully small for such a long voyage. If we're going to buy more, there's the aforementioned 200 gp I can contribute, and an additional 320 gp I can free up by not buying a non-critical item.
My 9th level feat is probably going to be Extra Revelation, allowing me to pick the revelation that allows me to quicken a cure spell by blowing two spell slots once a day. That should come in handy in emergencies, but it's still a long way to 9th.
(Incidentally, happened to notice your Relationship scores are still not update ... no rush, of course, just wanted to make sure it hadn't simply slipped your mind.)
As Mel pointed out, Rhost alone can eat half a healing wand in one go.
Rhost is a Barbarian of large appetites, what can I say? This *is* part of the reason that I was in favor of the Alaric-looks-silly of channeling.
As Mel pointed out, Rhost alone can eat half a healing wand in one go. Our current wand supply may be woefully small for such a long voyage. If we're going to buy more, there's the aforementioned 200 gp I can contribute, and an additional 320 gp I can free up by not buying a non-critical item.
Just to clarify, Mel was not trying to say we needed more wands. She was saying that wands are great for topping off people's hp and for emergency stabililization esp in combat (since they don't provoke an AoO) but that they are inefficent when it comes to healing people who are down significant hp. Which is where healing from one of our spellcasters comes in very handy.
True, but since we're going to be out of touch with civilization for months, I was wondering whether we shouldn't keep some spares at hand anyway.
(Though, from a meta-gaming perspective, we usually have fewer combats per level than a typical Pathfinder game, so we should be alright. ;)
Once again, incidentally, the first combat of the module has quietly begun.
Well. Not quietly.
(1) My concern about combat resolution is mainly what might be called the "Last Person to Post" issue. If there's still a few people left to post, everyone shrugs and says, that's the nature of the game. But if everyone else posts and then has to wait 14 hours for one last person, everyone gets very frustrated -- it's a psychological thing.
So when a player discusses a drawdown in time, I like to ask permission to do this -- if, and only if, they are the last person to post a combat resolution, I'll wait some reasonable amount of time and then go ahead with things, giving them an action, even if the "official" time limit has not yet elapsed. You'd be welcome to post a general plan of action in advance (e.g., for the next few rounds I will try to X) to use if necessary, and of course I would go by the guidelines you laid out in your previous post on the issue.
And it would only come up if you were the last person -- it's not a permission I would abuse. Sound reasonable?
(2) So, I asked people to cool it a little bit on the IC yelling at Hrunndalf for a while since it was affecting your enjoyment of the game. I've been asking around a little to see if all of it is IC issues or if there's any OOC stuff I should bring up. 95% of it, I'd say, is IC issues that should be handled IC, hopefully in a way that doesn't upset you or anyone else OOC going forward.
However there was one thing that got mentioned once or twice that I felt was an OOC issue affecting how people view your character IC. Basically, sometimes you miss posts, and this ends up having the result that IC, people's characters feel that Hrunndalf is ignoring them or brushing them aside.
I don't know if this is a matter of the time you have to read, or language issues, or something else entirely, so I don't know if it's "solvable". The only reason I'm bringing it up is that it's the one issue which seemed to be not one which could be simply fixed by IC discussion, since it isn't "really" an IC issue. So all I really wanted to do here was give you an OOC heads-up that this is part of what was going on, because I thought you would want to know. This isn't the GM saying "fix it!", it's the GM trying to inform you that this appears to have been a factor in what happened, for whatever it's worth.
The rest of it all seems to be IC stuff that can be handled IC if people want or not if they don't.
(2) Thanks for the info. This is also the impression I've been having. I most likely will continue missing posts here and there, especially if I have to catch up with several pages' worth of them, but I'll certainly try not to. I did appreciate Lio's pointer at Alaric's post that I missed.
My favored way of dealing with this would be to make it a non-issue. I don't want people to feel they have to tiptoe around me. The way Hrunndalf came across was at odds with how I originally envisioned him, but that's fine, I think I'll just adopt the cluelessness and the toe-stepping aspect into Hrunndalf's official personality and be done with it. He's spent years among mercenaries; it fits.
Kalimac is very happy that Ameiko and Rhost are taking care to not impale Ameiko on Whispering Shrike. That would be an unfortunate wrinkle in the adventure path (and on Kalimac's and Ameiko's relationship).
Kalimac is very happy that Ameiko and Rhost are taking care to not impale Ameiko on Whispering Shrike. That would be an unfortunate wrinkle in the adventure path (and on Kalimac's and Ameiko's relationship).
No no no, I thought of this. I was hoping to save it for an in-character revelation, though....
Liothonae, could you at some point let me know how many glyphs you have made? Thanks!
Liothonae, could you at some point let me know how many glyphs you have made? Thanks!
Ok, so,not to be a giant pain in the butt... but can you tell me what the size of the caravan is, when camped, in a rough circle, so I can figure out the perimeter, and see how much of it I can cover? Although I know how big the wagons are, the horses and stuff take up more space... and I don't want to be wrong, since this is something Lio would be able to figure out by walking around the outside of the camped caravan. Also, how much area do Myri's traps and caltrops cover?
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The caltrops can cover six 5' squares.
Myriana has not informed me she is placing any Ranger Traps about the perimeter. The purchased Campsite Traps do not work that way and should not be taken into account in terms of "area covered".
"I do not know which ones you will need. And Sky-Walker," she adds, "Is a general term used to refer to someone of violent ancestry who has received monastic training and exhibits mystical powers, who is being tutored by an older mentor, usually dead, and who has been granted a blazing sword. They have a tendency to run into previously unknown relatives and a periodic need for intensive medical care. I am surprised you are not familiar with it."
Indeed; the Sky-Walker is such a persistent drama trope that its associated characters can be considered idiomatic as well. The random unknown relative, for example, is sometimes referred to as the "any kin", whereas the ever-present mentor is called the ubiquitous one, or "ubi one" for short.
"I do not know which ones you will need. And Sky-Walker," she adds, "Is a general term used to refer to someone of violent ancestry who has received monastic training and exhibits mystical powers, who is being tutored by an older mentor, usually dead, and who has been granted a blazing sword. They have a tendency to run into previously unknown relatives and a periodic need for intensive medical care. I am surprised you are not familiar with it."
Indeed; the Sky-Walker is such a persistent drama trope that its associated characters can be considered idiomatic as well. The random unknown relative, for example, is sometimes referred to as the "any kin", whereas the ever-present mentor is called the ubiquitous one, or "ubi one" for short.
It's posts like this what cause unrest.
Lio has made 6 Glyphs of Warding so far (One each day for 6 days) and
with Shalelu and Sandru's permission (if they think this is a bad idea, she would not do it, since they're in charge)... She casts explosive runes upon some paper, (attached to a stick) to be staked out around the camp perimeter as well. The spells says "You and any characters you specifically instruct can read the protected writing without triggering the explosive runes" so at least she won't have to worry about the members of the caravan... I guess she'd do one explosive rune a night as well... so if it's the 15th, there would be 15 explosive runes, and 6 Glyphs of Warding. The glyphs are on a small portable surface so they can be stored in a wagon for safety during the day, and put around the perimiter at night. Does that help, or should I get more specific?
It's posts like this what cause unrest.
I'm not sure what you mean by that... and in the interest of avoiding misunderstandings, I should ask.
And this isn't about the in-game post, is it?
I'm not sure what you mean by that... and in the interest of avoiding misunderstandings, I should ask.
And this isn't about the in-game post, is it?
Since Kalimac is probably asleep right now, just to prevent ooc nervousness, I will comment --
"what cause unrest" is a Monty Python reference (British Comedy Troupe, if you are not familiar with them), intended to be a joke. The original:
Postal Clerk: There is no such thing as a bloody Cat Licence.
Man: Yes there is.
Postal Clerk: No there isn't.
Man: Is!
Postal Clerk: Isn't!
Man: I've bleedin' got one, look! What's that then?
Postal Clerk: This is a dog licence with the word 'dog' crossed out and 'cat' written in in crayon.
Man: Man didn't have the right form.
Postal Clerk: What man?
Man: The man from the cat detector van.
Postal Clerk: The loony detector van, you mean.
Man: Look, it's people like you what cause unrest.
I am 99.9999 percent certain he was referring to the painful puns and movie references (yours and mine) and not to anything else.
Nothing more was meant than "Oi! The punning!"
Um... why may the Fey not be thanked...?
Um... why may the Fey not be thanked...?
I think that's because it implies they have done you a favor -- thus you now owe them a favor.
You know, between Ameiko, Lio, and that mannequin, we now have enough Ameikos to open that Mexican restaurant.
Upon your arrival in Turvik, due to time off taken by various people, 1 unit of stores has been consumed.
(Also, to make sure you know -- since no one has either purchased or crafted one either IC or OOC, no mannequin currently exists as of your arrival in Turvik. So, if you actually want one, that needs to occur one way or another. Bear in mind that such a thing would certainly take up a unit of storage space.)
Okay, since I cannot find one on the equipment list, I will have to ask. I assume that a mannequin is either a high-quality item or a complex and superior item. But I didn't find anything close in the general Goods & Services list (apart from various prosthetic limbs). About how much would something like that cost?
...and finally, I am assuming that Craft: Carpentry would let me build one. If not, only the final question is relevant.
A dummy that has any chance of fooling someone from close up would cost around 1000 gp.
Such things can be crafted with Craft: Carpentry. I'd advise asking if there is storage space before embarking on such an endeavor.
Next Carpentry question. Coffin/casket -- approximate cost and DC? I am assuming it would also take up a slot once constructed.
Wagons: 13 (1 ea for Supply (2) and fortuneteller's, 2 ea for armored (2), covered, royal, and spare oxen)
People: 14 (25 travelers, no consumption for 11 people - rings (2) Rhost and Myri, scouts (9) Shae, Buttersnips, Attatoq, Alaric, Hrunndalf, Kalimac, Lio, Mel)
Total (+) Consumption = 27
Consumption (-):
Magic Food: 14 (2 CF&D from Hrunndalf, 2 CF&D from Alaric, 2 goodberry from Lio)
Scouts: 14 (9 scouts, 7 work to offset consumption, 2 on security)
Total (-) Consumption = 28
Unless I missed something :)
*And during the first week out of Kalsgard our security would have been one lower until the rings kick in
*I know Kalimac picked up a ring and if he keeps it then the calculations remain correct
Upon your arrival in Turvik, due to time off taken by various people, 1 unit of stores has been consumed.
(Also, to make sure you know -- since no one has either purchased or crafted one either IC or OOC, no mannequin currently exists as of your arrival in Turvik. So, if you actually want one, that needs to occur one way or another. Bear in mind that such a thing would certainly take up a unit of storage space.)
** spoiler omitted **
OK. Noted, and I will play it that way from now on. Do you want me to mention that generally so people are aware?
Sure, with the caveat that if Lio needs to cast to make up for consumption if someone else if crafting or what have you... they let Lio know ahead of time, so she can prep the spell ;)
Well, I've massively exceeded my daily game time this weekend, it's late at night, and I have a craving for Welsh rabbit.
Damn this game! ;o)
Well, I've massively exceeded my daily game time this weekend, it's late at night, and I have a craving for Welsh rabbit.
Damn this game! ;o)
where is the "like" button? :)
Just so people know -- Liothonae has volunteered to up her number of "food supply" spells cast, within reason, in order to cover for people who wish to take time off of their Caravan duties. So from this point on, I'll assume that's happening unless told otherwise.
Note that EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT A SCOUT OR COOK, taking time off from Caravan duties will affect food supply, because I am having Sandru rotate NPC scouts into other positions to keep that stats the same when people take time off -- mainly because 1) it means I only have to keep track of one statistic, and 2) it means you will not suddenly find that, say, your damage is cut nearly in half when you are suddenly attacked because a guard is taking time off and, oh look, you no longer qualify for the feat, etc.
Does setting up a sauna take time away from people's caravan jobs? Maybe the people who do it could count as Entertainers for the night. After all, sauna is a community-building, soul-soothing, morale-bolstering experience. :)