I recently acquired a legendary artifact from CotCT
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Serithtial. I have the basic information and here it is.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/artifacts/minor-artifacts/serithtial
Now, my understanding thus far after many discussions as to the inner workings of the sword with other players as well as my DM is as follows.
Firstly, I am playing a Human LG Paladin, so no ego control issues, all for destroying kazavon and such. :) for myself the sword becomes a Falchion as my weapon of choice.
So the damage is 2d4 +4 enhancement bonus, and an 18-20 crit range.
Good so far. Now here's my complication.
Serithtial is a +4 holy Zon-Kuthon bane sword....also it has this paragraph in its decription to follow it.
"In addition, she gains a further +2 enhancement bonus and deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against foes who serve or worship Zon-Kuthon."
Now this throws a huge wrench in my understanding of this sword.
First according to this paragraph the sword not only has its own properties (holy / zon-kuthon bane) but it also has an additional bane on top of its bane!?!?! Is this really a DOUBLE bane artifact? Mind you I understand that it sounds ridiculous, but i wouldnt be surprised to know it is indeed a double bane due to the fact that it is an artifact. My only reason for asking this is you can say "hey its just describing how the bane works on the sword...", then my question becomes why not describe the Holy property the same way? So any clarification would be great, and if your not sure, then at least how you or your DM decided to use it.
Next, The sword says zon-kuthon bane, so unless one directly follows zon-kuthon then the bane doesnt go off, but the same line in its descriptor throw me off...
"In addition, she gains a further +2 enhancement bonus and deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against foes who serve or worship Zon-Kuthon."
It says deal an extra 2d6 points of damage against foes who SERVE OR WORSHIP... ><! now, my DM was generous enough with information that if anyone the only person that could be considered a zon-kuthon follower in the 4th book in which we have the sword for... is the final encounter. Which please do not give away any additional inner workings of the sword away, as we have yet to reach the end, and I have purposefully not read to fully enjoy it.
This further implies for me that the sword although an extremely powerful sword against zon-kuthon, may not be as powerful as say... my holy avenger,("a gift from the deck of many things...yay!) :) against any other type of encounter. Which i might add although powerful.. isnt an artifact.
Finally my last question... whew... :P
is how the dedicated power works. Here it is.
Dedicated Power: wielder gains death ward and freedom of movement against attacks and effects from followers of Zon-Kuthon.
If my understanding is correct I gain both of those spell effects against followers of zon-kuthon. Now here comes the monkey wrench....
"In addition, she gains a further +2 enhancement bonus and deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against foes who serve or worship Zon-Kuthon."
What constitutes follows? and serves? is it clergy? or is it anyone working for the queen who serves kazavon and thusly zon-kuthon?
Hopefully not over-complicating things.
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The two questions boil down to
"The Light, and How to Swing it?"
So what should my attack and damage look like as a level 15 human paladin having no other bonuses, other than my BAB and my str score of 18, wielding serithtial. What should my attack and damage look like against say a Mantis Assasin (working for the queen.) and another one for a priest of zon-kuthon.
AND
Do I get the Dedicated power at all times for the course of this book? when don't I? when do I?
AGAIN, if you have played the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path, and used the artifact in question, how did you and your DM handle how it worked?
SERIOUSLY CONFUSING! Sorry if this post was huge!
What book are you in when you get that sword? It is easier for me to look it up that way.
If you don't know the book name, just tell me a number between 1 and 6.
What book are you in when you get that sword? It is easier for me to look it up that way.
If you don't know the book name, just tell me a number between 1 and 6.
Curse of the Crimson Throne Campaign. The book that the artifact is obtained from is Skeletons of scarwall. The book I currently am in is in the last one.
Tell your GM to check Crown of Fangs page 8 in the top left hand corner is a side bar that nicely handles your problem**. As for the Bane effect, I believe the intent was simply to describe the conditions of the Bane.
**The side bar, in a nutshell, says that anyone that serves Ileosa (who is possessed by Kazavon) is also serving Zon-Kuthon. So, if you run across some Shoanti that have been paid by Ileosa to hunt down and kill you, they are treated as servants of Zon-Kuthon.
So, your attack and damage against a non-evil, non-servant of Zon-Kuthon, is +23 to hit, and 2d4+8 18-20 x2.
Against an evil non-servant of Zon-Kuthon, your attack and damage is +23 to hit, 2d4+8+2d6 18-20 x2.
Against an evil servant of Zon-Kuthon, your attack and damage is +25 to hit, 2d4+10+4d6 18-20 x2.
And when you smite an evil servant of Zon-Kuthon your attack and damage is equal to +25 + your CHA bonus, 2d4+25+4d6 18-20 x2.
Thanks Tel for the info.. im assuming by your calculations you already added in the Str damage with the enhancement bonus which is why you came out to the 2d4+8. If i can get some other opinions on this as well it would be great.
Lastly Tel this goes more towards your explaination of the bane. Why not explain the conditions of the holy as well? wouldnt saying zon-kuthon bane be adequate? why describe it again? maybe i described it poorly but reading the descriptor in the pathfinder SRD is what got me. Heres the direct link again jic.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/artifacts/minor-artifacts/serithtial
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direct quote " Although made of steel, Serithtial is treated as being made of both cold iron and silver for the purposes of penetrating damage reduction. Serithtial glows with the equivalent of a continual flame, but her wielder can extinguish or ignite this glow as a move equivalent action. In addition, she gains a further +2 enhancement bonus and deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against foes who serve or worship Zon-Kuthon
also, you said any servant? any difference for clergy or does everyone count that works for illeosa for example?
and lastly any thoughts on the last question of the swords dedicated powers?
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BTW Really appreciate the response and the math added to it btw! its helping to confirm alot of things i think i had sorted out but wanted confirmation on.
Greetings, fellow traveller.
First, let me say, I haven't played the AP, I only own the books.
My understanding goes as follows:
- Serithtial is a weapon enchanted to yield you +4 to hit and damage.
- Serithtial hast the holy enchantment, dealing an additional 2d6 holy damage to creatures with evil alignment, it becomes good-aligned and bypasses corresponding DR.
- Serithtial is a Zon-Kuthon bane weapon, meaning against creatures worshipping Zon Kuthon, the weapon gains an additional +2 to hit and an additional 2d6 damage.
- Serithtial's dedicated powers protect you by granting you death ward and freedom of movement only against creatures following Zon Kuthon.
No additional bane on top of the Zon Kuthon bane quality. The terminology "followers" give's the DM some leeway; clerics of the deity are definitely in that category; in addition:
Worshipers and ClergyKuthites run the gamut in their origins and motivations for joining the faith, whether they be evil sadists, demented masochists, or those whose spirits are so wounded that only overwhelming pain distracts them from their sorrows.
Clergy tend to take their fervor for pain and agony to higher levels than lay believers, but are also experts at blending in with normal society. Most clergy of Zon-Kuthon are clerics, and the number of blackguards is limited at best.
Despite the faith's negative image in most nations, others have welcomed his worship and established their governments around it, such as Nidal, which is ruled by the secretive and sadistic Umbral Court in Pangolais.
The god is also revered by the druidic Shades of the Uskwood.
As to to hit and damage, let's see;
Red Mantis (evil alignment, no "follower" of Zon Kuthon):To hit:
+15 BAB
+4 STR
+4 enhancement
--> +23
Damage:
2d4+4+4+2d6
Attacking an evil-aligned priest of Zon Kuthon:
To hit:
+15 BAB
+4 STR
+6 enhancement
--> +25
Damage:
2d4+4+6+2d6+2d6
Damage from Str-modifier goes up to +6 if wielded 2handed.
Ruyan.
Ruyan,
Thanks very much both you and tels calculations are congruent with my own. Thus meaning the full power of serithtial against say an evil follower of illeosa and thus zon-kuthon himself, would provide me a total bonus of
ATTACK
+6 Enhancement --- +4 from the artifact itself, and +2 from the bane
DAMAGE
4D6 additional Damage dice ---- 2D6 from holy, and 2d6 from bane.
Still Hazy on some of the specific questions I asked earlier though so more feedback would be appreciated!
I'm actually GMing the Crimson Throne AP and on page 8 there is a sidebar that says:
Serithtial’s Bane
The sacred sword Serithtial, recovered by the PCs in the previous adventure, gains the bane weapon quality against servants and worshipers of Zon-Kuthon. Serethtial’s bane quality functions not only against Queen Ileosa, but also against those who directly serve her. This includes the vast majority of the foes encountered in this adventure, even though the ***** only serve Ileosa as paid mercenaries, and the ***** serves her only out of magical compulsion—in the end, they are all still Kazavon’s pawns.
So yes, anyone who serves Queen Ileosa is serving Kazavon and therefore serving Zon-Kuthon.
I think they simply wanted to clarify that it effects servants as well as worshipers, not just clerics, of Zon-Kuthon. If you encounter a barbarian worshipper of Zon-Kuthon, it counts as bane against him, if you encounter a paid mercenary of Zon-Kuthon, it works against him. If you decide to slay the chambermaid that is loyal to Queen Ileosa, it counts as bane against her.
As for the dedicated powers, I would assume (and I'm ruling it) as they follow the same properties as the Bane effect does. So the Grey Maidens (whom serve Ileosa) are subject to the dedicated powers.
Tel thanks so much for the help, and I appreciate the fact that you are also ruling it in such a manner. Thats great to hear. We spent at least 3 hours going back and forth trying to figure this sword out and its functions because as you can tell... its pretty powerful. Its very nice to have another opinion. I scoured the forums and couldn't find anything on it and didnt want to read any spoilers so hats off to all that contributed, and Cheers mates! I go back to my horde of treasure, and back to sleep... :)
Lastly Tel this goes more towards your explaination of the bane. Why not explain the conditions of the holy as well? wouldnt saying zon-kuthon bane be adequate?
They had to explain it because Zon-Kuthon Bane is not a standard Bane quality. If they didn't further describe it, one might think it gets the +2/+2d6 vs. Zon-Kuthon himself. Certainly, it is far broader a Bane than any 'normal' bane, and demands explanation.
I didn't notice that, but yes it does say in the discription that you add a "further" +2 to hit and 2d6 to damage against followers of Zon-Kuthon so I agree with others. Also, it is an artifact. I'm not going to spoil it, but it says the item needed for what you need the sword for is described as "an artifact created by a once-mortal god"