| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'd make them do it anyway. Builds character, or so I've heard.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
And they have Bara Lovemuncher. She can nom most impressively.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey, at least it gave me time to get the Strange Aeons post up in a timely manner...
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
Well, I have to admit a certain amount of relief this week: Between preparing for a backpacking trip, catching up on a mountain of laundry, and other nonsense, I really needed a night to get some paperwork done. But heck if I was going to cancel on the kids!
So I sent out the weekly, "Are you coming this week?" e-mail.
Kwai Chang's player (I'm just going to start calling him "Old Man Stereotype", even though I think I'm older than him), Mr. Stereotype, and Talky McTalktalk are all out.
Once again, with only 4 of 7 players I don't feel right running them through the final encounters of Book 4.
So two more weeks, my friends, two more weeks...
...unless, as the Baconater put it, "We're so swamped with homework that we don't have time to game."
That would be curious, since it's the day before school starts, but whatever. He's in AP classes, so maybe that's "advanced homework" as well.
(And don't get me started on AP classes that take the approach, "Oh, since it's AP it means we HAVE to assign more homework or we're not doing our job!"
I've been in education for 35+ years now. Other than multiplication tables and integration, I've never seen an instance where increasing the workload increases understanding. In fact, it's usually the opposite. But I digress...)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Shhhh...you'll let the cat outa the bag NH...
Wait, cats hate bags, go for it!
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
So, to join this party late, we started classes last, um... yesterday.
Ugh.
They have pushed the new school year start-time "earlier" every year here for the past little while until my wife's birthday, is no longer time-off.
>:(
That said, they at least try to balance it with the whole 180 days of school thing, but, uh... for a while they weren't shaving off as many days at the back end as they added at the front, which just meant our summers were short-changed for a while...
ANYway...
...unless, as the Baconater put it, "We're so swamped with homework that we don't have time to game."
That would be curious, since it's the day before school starts, but whatever. He's in AP classes, so maybe that's "advanced homework" as well.
(And don't get me started on AP classes that take the approach, "Oh, since it's AP it means we HAVE to assign more homework or we're not doing our job!"
I've been in education for 35+ years now. Other than multiplication tables and integration, I've never seen an instance where increasing the workload increases understanding. In fact, it's usually the opposite. But I digress...)
As I am married to a teacher, I can attest that teachers of AP courses are required to give homework that is both more, and more difficult, than standard homework.
I can also firmly attest that, unless the teacher is really weird they do not like doing this. Again, this is not something the teachers want - especially the ethical teachers who don't just start hand-waiving things (it happens) as it consistently makes that teacher work harder, as well, and work longer, and we don't get to finish our Kingmaker campai-, uh, er, I mean, andtheyrunoutoftime.
Yeah.
That's what I meant.
>.>
dangit
Anyhoo, it's not fun for anyone. It's boring aggravating and unpleasant extra work for everyone that's seemingly meant to test those who hit the AP for the sake of ensuring that they know their stuff - not "ensuring" as in, "this will definitely help them learn the specific material better" (although, of course, that is the hope, and the actual teacher-end is, of course, structured in the best way they know how to facilitated that), but as in, "this will allow them to prove how well they know the subject" (and hence legitimizes the acquired prestige of "Advanced Placement" in general).
But that last part is mere speculation on my part.
I know for a fact that teachers in an AP course are "required" to give more and harder homework than teachers in non-AP courses. It's the kind of insight what happens when you're married to a teacher that teaches both and is trained in both. Also, uuuuugggghhhhh research papers (and long-form essays) suuuuuuuuuck. Dang it. I hated them when they were mine. I hate them more now that they're someone else's. Because that's my wife-time it eats, dang it!
(Not that I'm bitter.)
EDIT: Addendum: at least, that's the requirements around here...
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
So in a "totally not my bad" moment, Old Man Stereotype didn't manage to make it home from the eclipse yet, nor be in a place with internet, so one more week of cancellations.
It's kind of funny -- HE went all the way to Missouri to see it, but he did it in his car. I just went to Oregon, but I grabbed me a giant RV.
Different tastes, I guess.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Style of course counts when viewing an eclipse!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So in a "totally not my bad" moment, Old Man Stereotype didn't manage to make it home from the eclipse yet, nor be in a place with internet, so one more week of cancellations.
It's kind of funny -- HE went all the way to Missouri to see it, but he did it in his car. I just went to Oregon, but I grabbed me a giant RV.
Different tastes, I guess.
I stood in my driveway. Couldn't get the day completely off work to drive to the southern parts of the state. A lot of our friends and a couple family members were in the Carbondale, IL area for it. Knowledge of the back roads was a must in order to get out of there in something resembling a decent time.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hooken Breaks the Game
So, Hooken. Yeah... Hooken.
If you look at his base stats, he has a +1 Holy Flaming composite longbow. He puts Gravity Bow on it as they enter every vault, and Narlock makes sure all his enemies are within 30' of her for another +1d6 damage from Discordant Voice. So every single arrow does 2d6 + 2d6 + 1d6 + 1d6 = 6d6. Then add Deadly Aim, Point-Blank Shot, Inspire Courage, and Good Hope and you're sitting at around 6d6+17 for every... single... shot. Add Haste, Clustered Shots, Rapid Shot, Manyshot, and Hammer the Gap, and Hooken's stat line is:
+19/+19/+19/+14/+9, 6d6+17, 19-20, with the first shot hitting twice and DR really not mattering at all
This is at 12th level, where creatures with armor classes over 25 are unusual. So he's pretty much guaranteed to hit at least 4 times a round for around 152 points per round. And that's on a bad turn.
So... I was a bit worried about my maxed-out-hit-points critters in Vault H giving the party some trouble, as they had roughly 200 hit points each, there were a lot of them, and they hit for lots of damage.
So far, it's been a one-(half-)elf lawnmower. Such is the nature of rangers. It's not just Impus Minor's ranger; GothBard played a ranger in Wrath of the Righteous who could churn out 500 hit points per round, and our dual-wielding ranger in Skull & Shackles was routinely breaking 100 hit points per round by the time he hit 6th level.
So yeah, last night was pretty much the "tale of Hooken killing things".
First we resumed the fight with the charau-ka barbarians at the entrance. Athelya was surprisingly effective with a Telekinesis, pushing one of the charau-ka off the cliff and into the brambles below. Voren did his bombing, Kwai Chang did his shuriken (which are finally doing significant amounts of damage, thanks to Narlock), but the real story was Hooken obliterating them one at a time (he sent one to nearly -200 hit points, and when people asked why he wasn't choosing different targets, Impus Minor replied, "I just like to make sure they're dead."), along with Bara, one charau-ka already in her belly, picking up each one as it attacked Malek and beating it to death. I was surprised at just how deadly a froghemoth buffed by Good Hope and a bard can be.
Once the charau-ka were defeated (except for the slowly-digesting one), the party opened the door to move into the vaults. My ogre magi got off their ambush perfectly, hitting nearly the entire party with two Cones of Cold. Unfortunately, with 1/3 of the party having evasion (Kwai Chang and Hooken) and the others making their saves rather handily (Malek, Athelya, and Voren), I think it was only Narlock who took full damage. (I forget, but one person did.) The party focused their damage on the male, doing around 150 hit points to him. Then, Hooken happened. A hit and a crit meant 3 arrows sent him to negative hit points. He sent his other 3 arrows the female's way. Crit. Crit. Hit. And she was at negative hit points as well. (218 hit points on just 3 shots... ouch!)
So... my ogre magi didn't get to do anything. I brought in my charau-ka cleric to try to Blind Hooken, but Voren ran up first and made the save handily. The only thing that kept my cleric alive was Voren's bizarre decision to hit him and his boggard companions with a Stink Bomb, giving them safety from Hooken for a round. While all of his boggards became nauseated, the cleric made his save, and quite sensibly fled.
So yeah, everything's dying in record time as the party rampages through the vault. About the only item of interest is that Malek is taking one or two hits per fight, which equates to 40-50 points of damage, so he already burned one of Athelya's Heals getting fixed up.
Oh, and Bara finished digesting her charau-ka. One of them did hit her. Malek taught him that this was bad.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
It gives me the giggles every time I read about Bara digesting some sorry monster. I'm not sure why it does ... but it does.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It gives me the giggles every time I read about Bara digesting some sorry monster. I'm not sure why it does ... but it does.
Well, this was first conscious, living one. He had nearly 200 hit points, but no sharp weapons other than his teeth. So it was a really sad, really slow death...
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
It gives me the giggles every time I read about Bara digesting some sorry monster. I'm not sure why it does ... but it does.Well, this was first conscious, living one. He had nearly 200 hit points, but no sharp weapons other than his teeth. So it was a really sad, really slow death...
All the better. ;)
Yeah, rangers can be super-damage monsters.
Barbarians, too.
Plus archery is a... thing, in PF. A thing which reigns death the likes of which the very gods themselves - or at least demigods - find impressive and dangerous to behold.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
At least the stench bomb nauseated all the minions. In the future, can I make Fogcutting Lenses (since Smoke Bombs are effectively Fog Cloud) for Hooken or will he have to buy them?
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah . . . high-level archery (and anything else that can reliably get off full attacks) is Wild. You're nearing the point where the strain between what the system expects and what the characters can mathematically do can't just be fixed by maximized HP. Especially in a party of what was it . . . eight players? Plus Bara?
I'm hoping I can wrangle my own (currently) eight-person (hopefully 6-person once they get rid of NPCs) party into E10 or something like it. Otherwise the endgame is gonna be kinda boring :/
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Enemies facing high-level archers need to use terrain, tactics, and particularly concealment to their advantage (concealment, cover, sundering quivers and bows...)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Enemies facing high-level archers need to use terrain, tactics, and particularly concealment to their advantage (concealment, cover, sundering quivers and bows...)
Illusions work wonders. Also, large zombified cannon fodder.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, it seems like clustered shot pretty much broke open archery, especially with optimizing players.
Most of us don't really have time to optimize in our group, often leveling up on the fly, which @Skeld probably appreciates.
Intelligent enemies should see Hooken lay the insta-death smack down one time on an ally and then just scatter and go into guerrilla tactics, which is admittedly hard in a vault though.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Melee doesn't require all that much optimization. Archery does, fully coming into its own typically about 10th-11th level. The trick at this juncture is an archer's ammunition supply as they put a lot of arrows down-range in a hurry. An efficient quiver gets emptied very, very quickly...
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Having run several campaigns to level 15+ (RotRL, JR, CotCT), nobody breaks games like rangers.
Seeking (did I mention his bow is Seeking? Why not, with just a +1 cost?) breaks concealment, and the AC bonus from cover isn't enough to offset the relatively low enemy ACs at CR 12-14.
The combination of, "I get 2 more attacks per round than anybody else at pretty much my full attack bonus (Rapid Shot and Many Shot), I get to ignore DR (Clustered Shots), and I get to ignore concealment (Seeking) puts them at 50%-75% more damage than anyone else. At range no less.
The enemies typically try to target Hooken with disabling tactics: Darkness, clouds, hiding around corners, etc., but the rest of the party dedicates itself to getting him in position and letting him let fly.
So it's totally reasonable tactics on their side, and very hard to counter with the as-delivered enemies in an AP. (I do like the illusion approach, though, that's why the aboleth is still running amok...)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Having run several campaigns to level 15+ (RotRL, JR, CotCT), nobody breaks games like rangers.
Seeking (did I mention his bow is Seeking? Why not, with just a +1 cost?) breaks concealment, and the AC bonus from cover isn't enough to offset the relatively low enemy ACs at CR 12-14.
The combination of, "I get 2 more attacks per round than anybody else at pretty much my full attack bonus (Rapid Shot and Many Shot), I get to ignore DR (Clustered Shots), and I get to ignore concealment (Seeking) puts them at 50%-75% more damage than anyone else. At range no less.
The enemies typically try to target Hooken with disabling tactics: Darkness, clouds, hiding around corners, etc., but the rest of the party dedicates itself to getting him in position and letting him let fly.
So it's totally reasonable tactics on their side, and very hard to counter with the as-delivered enemies in an AP. (I do like the illusion approach, though, that's why the aboleth is still running amok...)
It won't be too much longer before they're running up against other sources of mind controlling mayhem and nastiness. They're not out of the jungle yet!
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
So, I think this last couple of weeks' cancellations have to be the most interesting so far.
On Monday the 4th (Labor Day), I had to take NobodysWife in for emergency surgery. It's always a laugh waiting 3 hours just to be seen, then another 5 hours waiting for the diagnosis, and then, "OK, turns out you need surgery. See you in an hour!"
So she's fine and recovering, but that took out last week's game.
And this week the imps' choir instructor has asked ME to run her back-to-school night sessions because she has a conflict.
Yeah, I am curious as to what the heck she's thinking, too. I haven't taught in 17 years, and I was a college professor, not a high school teacher, so interacting with parents wasn't high on my list of things to take care of.
But it should be wildly entertaining. "Who the heck are you?"
"Oh, just a random volunteer."
"So, how does xxx work?"
"I have no idea. Ms. yyy didn't tell me anything, so here, have a pamphlet!"
Whee!
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
DANG IT, NH, we're all suffering from Irmageddon down here, and you guys still can't get your collective acts together to give us free entertainment?! Boo!! Hiss!!
I'd say, "Get off the stage!!" but I don't want that - I want you guys back on the stage, dang it! >:I
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Sounds like a job for Bara!
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
The Bad:
That's going to be 2 weeks solid with virtually no games at all.
What is the world coming to?
The Good:
She will harm me. It will be worth it.
Anyway, work work work!
I'm so sorry for the bad, but I'm hopeful that it will all work out, soon! I'm looking forward to the updates!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
More sabotage...
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
"I'd like a tactical retreat for 7, please."
"I'm sorry, we can only seat 6 at this time."
"Ooooh. Sorry, Irwin!"
One of the fundamental rules of, "Buff, then rush through," is, "Don't let anyone get away."
As you may recall, last session Voren's Stinking Bomb gave Teka (the charau-ka caster) time to flee up the passage. The party had no issues whatsoever mopping up the poor boggards he left behind, and the main issue was trying to keep Bara from eating the ogre magi in the back, thereby eliminating their "fragile" magic items (scrolls and potions) and making the other items... er... less-than-desirable. Both Narlock and Hooken failed their Handle Animal rolls, so it was up to Malek to convince her not to eat the tasty tasty ogre magi.
Up the passage they continued, pretty much ignoring the punjab sticks trap, until they came upon a statue of Savith, sword raised in defiance. The statue was in pristine condition, and most likely worth quite a pretty penny. So the party started taking great pains to avoid possibly damaging it. (We were staying in initiatives because Voren wanted to keep his Extended Haste for as long as possible.) After determining that there was indeed magic on the statue's sword (eventually identified as a Glyph of Warding), Malek walked up to put a slimy paw on the statue. In a bit of GM disappointment, Malek rolled very well and spotted the trip wire. By miracle, Irwin failed to disable it on his first attempt, but did not trigger it. As Irwin prepared for a second attempt, Athelya peered around the corner...
...triggering the two girallon's declared actions of, "Charge when you see anyone."
In another absolutely classic Mr. Stereotype moment, Athelya convinced Irwin to hide behind the statue and wait to stab them in the back while everyone else backed down the passageway. So, girallons have scent and saw him hide, and thus they just ran up, one plucked him from his hiding place with an easy grapple, and the other full-round attacked the now-grappled Irwin.
Nicely done, Athelya! I can always count on you!
Unfortunately, girallon just don't have the hit points to withstand Hooken, so after that one bit of amusement they dropped quickly and without further entertainment. The party continued to the end of the passage, where Malek yet again made a spectacular Perception roll to see the secret door.
Everyone gathered at the door, someone (I forget who) opened it, and Malek went in...
Cue the ambush.
The roper swung at Malek from above, but by absolute miracle of bad die rolling it missed. The bush devil was not nearly so incompetent, and charged up and criticaled Malek for 66 hit points. In the back, out of sight, they heard Teka start casting.
They figured, "No problem!"
Narlock raced forward, invisible, and Jester's Jaunted Malek to safety. Irwin and Kwai Chang moved into the room to provide support. Athelya put some healing on Malek. Voren cast a spell (sorry, Voren, I forget what it was). Hooken did his Hooken thing on the roper... but did not drop it!
Have I ever mentioned that I've never run a roper before, but I love them? Six tentacles shot all the way across to hit Hooken, 5 of them hitting. 4 failed saves and Hooken was down 19 Strength and out of the fight. The bush devil moved forward to engage Irwin and Kwai Chang. They'd already hit it a few times for virtually no effect; whatever it was, it had a high DR and a huge number of hit points. Teka's Silence field dropped over the combat.
And I ended the fight there, with Hooken down and the rest of the party facing both the roper and the bush devil in the Silence field. At the end of the evening, they were discussing closing the door, letting Narlock and Kwai Chang Dimension Door out, and leaving Irwin to his own devices.
Poor Irwin!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ropers are one of my favorite monsters.
Yay! Your collective acts got together and you got back on the stage!
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I was going to tell you that, "No, Irwin took a bunch of useless ninja tricks like ..."
...but it turns out that whoever's been helping him on Hero Labs (I'm looking at YOU, Impus Minor) hasn't been paying attention, and he has NO NINJA TRICKS SINCE LEVEL 2!!!!!
Y'know those red tabs in Hero Labs, kids?
They shouldn't be red.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I was going to tell you that, "No, Irwin took a bunch of useless ninja tricks like ..."
...but it turns out that whoever's been helping him on Hero Labs (I'm looking at YOU, Impus Minor) hasn't been paying attention, and he has NO NINJA TRICKS SINCE LEVEL 2!!!!!Y'know those red tabs in Hero Labs, kids?
They shouldn't be red.
This might explain some of his uselessness... You might also check if he has all of his feats and/or equipment. Does he take recommendations?
lvl 4 Vanishing Trick
lvl 6 Forgotten Trick (although this may be difficult for a player of his limitations)
lvl 8 Flurry of Stars Trick
lvl 10 Invisible Blade Master Trick
Lvl 12 Ghost Steps Master Trickif he already has any of the above, I would suggest a rogue talent (Offensive Defense).
He should also try and find himself some sort of touch attack weapon. If he has UMD, a Cl 5 or so wand of Chill Touch/Frostbite/other multitouch damage spell is really cheap and devastating with sneak attack.
It's even worse. Nobody's been monitoring him. His ninja "tricks" have indeed been taken; they're just a who's-who of, "What's useless now?"
Lvl 2: Finesse RogueLvl 4: Fast Stealth
Lvl 6: Bonus Feat
Lvl 8: Fast Tumble
Lvl 10: Acrobatics Master
So, "I run around like a chicken with my head cut off, and I can do it while hiding".
Not exactly a high-DPS selection.
And the feats?
Dodge, Improved Initiative, Jaguar Strike, Piranha Strike, Stealthy, Toughness, and Two-Weapon Fighting.
Again, a bit mish-mash that means... nothing.
I may allow a rebuild. What a mess!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Roper VS Bara?
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Roper VS Bara?
If it were a fair fight, I'd bet on the roper. But it lost a LOT of hit points to Hooken, and Bara's still outside of the cave. Stupid narrow passages!
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
If they do leave him in this room alone, you won't need to worry about a rebuild - he'll have a whole new character to play with... Heck, even if the party doesn't leave him alone, have the bush devil make him target #1 ( he's in melee after all). That should do it, call it a mercy killing...
It's even worse. Nobody's been monitoring him. His ninja "tricks" have indeed been taken; they're just a who's-who of, "What's useless now?"
Lvl 2: Finesse Rogue
Lvl 4: Fast Stealth
Lvl 6: Bonus Feat
Lvl 8: Fast Tumble
Lvl 10: Acrobatics MasterSo, "I run around like a chicken with my head cut off, and I can do it while hiding".
Not exactly a high-DPS selection.
And the feats?
Dodge, Improved Initiative, Jaguar Strike, Piranha Strike, Stealthy, Toughness, and Two-Weapon Fighting.Again, a bit mish-mash that means... nothing.
I may allow a rebuild. What a mess!
I, for one, am curious to see the next useless character.
Yes, I'm imagining the pile of dead bards from The Gamers 2, to head off the obvious question.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Voren cast a spell (sorry, Voren, I forget what it was)
I believe it was Displacement on Malek.
I was going to tell you that, "No, Irwin took a bunch of useless ninja tricks like ..."
...but it turns out that whoever's been helping him on Hero Labs (I'm looking at YOU, Impus Minor) hasn't been paying attention, and he has NO NINJA TRICKS SINCE LEVEL 2!!!!!
And I'm still convinced that Irwyn has a large number of ninja allies we're not aware of.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
No game this week, since NobodysWife is undergoing a follow-up procedure. We'll resume on Wednesday the 4th.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Pad does have a point...
Irwin NINJA HARDER you friends need you to make your sword point bust outa things chests (due to back stabbing of course)
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Can ninja licenses be revoked?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
And yes, the word ninja is officially a verb in my book (as well as a noun)!
But either instance, earn that ninja license privilege Irwin, ninjaing, much like driving, it is not a right. ;p
Take some inspiration from Malak..err...uhhh...OK maybe not Malak, Hooken yeah that works better! :)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Well wishes to your wife in the scary needle house, NH. I can abide this dry spot of darkly humorous Serpent's Skull content because lately I've been getting darkly humorous Serpent's Skull content in my own game.
LOL. Yes. I read (and was delighted by) your obits...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Well, it's being an interesting night. The group fled the roper-bush devil-cleric combo (fight without Hooken? Impossible!), and they're sitting around planning their brains out for the rematch...
...except there's this big assumption that the bad guys have just sat around in their cave, doing absolutely nothing...
...in spite of the fact that they were watching me as I rewrote the cleric's spell list.
"So, the GM's entirely rewriting the cleric's spell list, and he just rolled a bunch of healing dice so all the bad guys are likely to be fully healed. Let's just assume their tactics will be identical to last time and go on in!"
Hmmm...