I like to participate in the PF2 playtests; however, my friends are content with our weekly PF2 Ironfang Invasion campaign. Therefore, last year I playtested an oracle by converting an existing NPC in Ironfang Invasion into an oracle. Rhyna, N female human adept 2 and the assistant to the village cleric, became a 1st-level fire oracle.
This year, the party will rescue a halfling Chernasardo Ranger named Cirieo Thessaddin in two days during in my game session at 6pm EDT Friday, September 18, 2020. The module, Fangs of War, intends that he will serve as their guide for several game sessions. "Chernasardo Ranger" means he is a member of a loose-knit band of protectors of Nirmathis. Most of them are rangers, and Cirieo is a 5th-level skirmisher ranger in the module, but I am converting him to a summoner for the playtest.
I need to create a summoner who captures the essence of Cirieo Thessaddin. Playtesting the potential of summoner is more important to me than faithfulness to the PF1 Cirieo, but trying for faithfulness playtests the flexibility and storytelling of the class. Building a 5th-level character offers more chances for mistakes than building 1st-level character, so I hope for comments.
Cirieo is an NPC Gallery character in Fangs of War, so he has a backstory. He grew up in a ranching family on the Nesmian Plains, about 90 miles southwest of the setting of Fangs of War. Human raiders from Molthune killed his family. The boy Cirieo responded by poisoning the raiders' food. He joined other local freedom fighters to fight off other raiders. Without a family, he roved northward. The dedication of the Chernasardo Rangers impressed him, so he joined them.
I may keep his family alive. Instead they would have been captured to be sold as halfling slaves to Cheliax. Young Cirieo would have rescued them with the mystic aid of his new eidolon. Working the eidolon into the story is more fun.
Cirieo's ability scores in the PF1 module are Str 12, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 10. I typically give NPCs four fewer ability score boosts than PCs, but I want Cirieo to have Charisma 18 without mangling the other ability scores, so I shortchange him out of only three fewer ability score boosts. PF2 characters receive four more ability score boosts at 5th level, so 5th-level Cirieo ends up as Str 12, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 18.
Cirieo's PF1 trained skills are Acrobatics +6, Climb +8, Handle Animal +8, Heal +9, Knowledge (geography, nature) +5, Perception +11, Stealth +14, Survival +9, Swim +5. This translates to training in Acrobatics, Athletics, Medicine, Nature, and Survival, plus expertise in Stealth. None of these skills are based on Charisma; however, Cirieo will also be trained in Intimidation from his eidolon-selected skills.
His feats were Endurance, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot. His PF1 ranger combat style was archery, though he used a halfling sling staff for ranged attacks.
The PF2 halfling sling staff has some controversy, because it changed more between editions than just adapting to new rules:
Wait, the halfling sling staff isn’t a staff? and Is the Halfling Sling Staff worth an Ancestry Feat? and Halfling Slingstaff - Both a melee AND ranged weapon?. The PF1 halfling sling staff is both a ranged weapon that slings a stone with 80-foot range increment to deal 1d6(small)/1d8(medium) damage and a one-handed melee weapon that deals 1d4(small)/1d6(medium) danage. The PF2 halfling sling staff is purely a 2-handed ranged weapon that slings a stone with 80-foot range increment to deal 1d10 damage. I will go with the strict position that a PF2 halfling sling staff is purely ranged. Nevertheless, a ranged weapon makes sense for a martial summoner with a melee eidolon and the halfling sling staff is iconic for halflings. However, he will also carry a shortsword (proficiency also granted by Halfling Weapon Familiarity) for serious melee since that is a finesse weapon. I rule that reloading a halfling sling staff gives a free regrip because I don't see how reloading can work otherwise. That will let him switch between weapons more swiftly.
I gave Cirieo the 1st-level ancestry feat Halfling Weapon Familarity to let him keep his halfling sling staff. For his ancestry heritage he lacks low-light vision and luck abilities and extra languages, so Jinxed Halfling and Twilight Halfling and Nomadic Halfling are out. He has a +2 vs. fear in the module, so Gutsy Halfling would be justified. However, I am curious how the extra healing from Hillock Halfling interacts with the shared hit points with the eidolon, so I am going with that. For his 5th-level ancestry feat, Halfling Weapon Trickster naturally follows Halfling weapon Familiarity and resembles Ranger Weapon Expertise.
Scout background fits his backstory, provides the correct ability score boosts, and give ranger-like training in Survival and Plains Lore and access to the Forager feat.
Cirieo Thassaddin Creature 5
CG, Small, Halfling, Humanoid
Perception +10(expert), keen eyes
Languages Common, Halfling, Sylvan
Skills Acrobatics +10, Athletics +8, Intimidation +11, Medicine +8, Nature +8, Plains Lore +7, Stealth +12(expert), Survival +8.
Str 12, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 18
Items +1 resilient studded leather, +1 striking halfling sling staff with 30 bullets, +1 shortsword, dagger, belt, belt pouch, ammunition belt pouch, 3 sheaths, backpack, bedroll, coffee pot, cooking pot, 1 week rations, healer's tools, 50 ft. rope, 25 sp.
Forager Subsist feeds five, Core Rulebook page 261.
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AC 23; Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +11
HP 61
Hillock Halfling Heal 5 extra hp overnight and if snacking during Treat Wounds.
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Speed 25 feet
Melee +1 shortsword +11 (agile, finesse, versatile S) Damage 1d6+1 piercing
Ranged +1 striking halfling sling staff +11 (halfling, propulsive, 2 hands, reload 1, range increment 80 ft.) Damage 2d10 bludgeoning
Manifest Eidolon [three-actions]
Primal Spontaneous Spells DC 21, attack +11; 3rd (2 slots) haste, slow; 2nd (2 slots) restoration; 1st (0 slots) heal; Cantrips (3rd) dancing lights, produce flame, ray of frost, read aura, stabilize
Summoner Conduit Spells 1 Focus Point, DC 21; 3rd evolution surge, Cantrips (3rd) boost eidolon
Build Choices
Ancestry Hillock Halfling Ancestry Feats Halfling Weapon Familiarity, Halfling Weapon Tricks
Background Scout
Class Feats Sensory Evolution (scent), Unarmed Evolution (shove)
General Feats Armor Proficiency
Skill feats Intimidating Glare, Express Rider
Cirieo Thassaddin grew up on a ranch and that would influence the nature of his eidolon. A ranch could herd cattle, sheep, or goats. Twenty-seven years ago in a D&D 2nd Edition campaign, my wife played a halfling whose cart was pulled by a goat Fluffy, so in remembrance, I am inclined toward a goat eidolon named Fluffy. If the raiders slaughtered Ciriceo's pet goat Fluffy, then Cirieo could envision a beast eidolon based on Fluffy, even though spirits of the dead are more a phantom eidolon's origin.
Fluffy Goat Creature 5
CG, Medium, Beast, Eidolon
Perception +11(expert), darkvision and scent
Languages Common, Halfling, Sylvan
Skills Acrobatics +11, Athletics +11, Intimidation +7, Medicine +9, Nature +9, Plains Lore +7, Stealth +13(expert), Survival +9.
Str 18, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
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AC 24; Fort +13, Ref +12, Will +12 (+1 from Cirieo's armor runes factored in)
HP Shared with Cirieo
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Speed 25 feet
Melee +1 striking curved horns +14 (shove) Damage 2d8+4 bludgeoning
Melee +1 striking hoof +14 (agile) 2d4+4 bludgeoning
Act Together [one-action]
Share Senses [one-action]
Beast's Charge [two-actions]
Eidolon
Your eidolon rushes forward, using their momentum to power their attack. Your eidolon Strides twice in a straight line and then Strikes, gaining a +1 circumstance bonus to the attack roll as long as they moved at least 20 feet.
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I identified a four playtest issues simply from building Cirieo and Fluffy.
1. Eidolon's Perception. I could not find the initial proficiencies for the eidolon's Perception in the playtest document. It is not mentioned in the Proficiencies paragraph on page 18. I found a clue that perception was trained like the summoner's: "Shared Vigilance 3rd: You and your eidolon work together to remain alert to threats around you. Your and your eidolon’s proficiency ranks for Perception increase to expert," which implies the eidolon's proficiency rank started at trained, but it is never explicitly stated.
2. Hands. By shaping Fluffy as a goat, I denied him hands. Or did I? Do eidolons have hands? Do the claws of dragon eidolons and the hands of angel eidolons work as hands for holding and using objects? If eidolons have hands, then do player render then nonfunctional by shaping them like hooves? Or can Fluffy use his hooves as hands?
If an eidolon had hands and training in Medicine, could he use a healer's kit to Treat Wounds? The playtest document says that eidolons can't use magic items, but a healer's kit is a mundane item. Could an eidolon hold a shield and Raise a Shield? Could it pick up an apple and carry it?
3. Darkvision All PCs in my party have low-light vision or darkvision. Cirieo does not, so I figured on balancing that by giving Fluffy darkvision via Sensory Evolution. But checking the beast eidolon senses, he already had darkvision. All eidolons have darkvision. Why is darkvision an option in Sensory Evolution?
4. Exploration Movement. Choosing Express Rider which affects travel speed in Exploration Mode led me to wonder whether summoner and eidolon have any slowdown in Exploration Mode due to sharing actions. At full hustle in Encounter Mode the pair can move at an average of 37.5 feet per round, half of what other 25-foot-speed characters can move. That still lets them move at the 250 feet per minute given in TABLE 9–2: TRAVEL SPEED on page 479 of the PF2 Core Rulebook, Playing the Game chapter. Cirieo riding Fluffy (without Hulking Eidolon, feat 6) can move at 50 feet per round. They are slower than their teammates during encounter mode, but the same speed during exploration mode and faster with a successful Express Rider Nature check.
3. Darkvision All PCs in my party have low-light vision or darkvision. Cirieo does not, so I figured on balancing that by giving Fluffy darkvision via Sensory Evolution. But checking the beast eidolon senses, he already had darkvision. All eidolons have darkvision. Why is darkvision an option in Sensory Evolution?
Not all eidolon types are available during the playtest. Some of the other types might not have darkvision by default.
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3. Darkvision All PCs in my party have low-light vision or darkvision. Cirieo does not, so I figured on balancing that by giving Fluffy darkvision via Sensory Evolution. But checking the beast eidolon senses, he already had darkvision. All eidolons have darkvision. Why is darkvision an option in Sensory Evolution?Not all eidolon types are available during the playtest. Some of the other types might not have darkvision by default.
In January I listed the creatures in PF2 Bestiary 1 who had darkvision (Why do Unicorns need darkvision, comment #13. Regular mammals, such as lions, have low-light vision. Beasts, such as unicorns, have darkvision. Outsiders, such as angels, have darkvision. Dragons have darkvision. Undead, such as phantoms, have darkvision. So these four eidolon types have darkvision. That makes sense.
However, the remaining creatures in the bestiary that lacked darkvision don't seem like eidolon material: animals, plants, and playable races such as catfolk and lizardfolk. Will we have leshy eidolons? That seems the most likely of them.
3. Darkvision All PCs in my party have low-light vision or darkvision. Cirieo does not, so I figured on balancing that by giving Fluffy darkvision via Sensory Evolution. But checking the beast eidolon senses, he already had darkvision. All eidolons have darkvision. Why is darkvision an option in Sensory Evolution?Not all eidolon types are available during the playtest. Some of the other types might not have darkvision by default.In January I listed the creatures in PF2 Bestiary 1 who had darkvision (Why do Unicorns need darkvision, comment #13. Regular mammals, such as lions, have low-light vision. Beasts, such as unicorns, have darkvision. Outsiders, such as angels, have darkvision. Dragons have darkvision. Undead, such as phantoms, have darkvision. So these four eidolon types have darkvision. That makes sense.
However, the remaining creatures in the bestiary that lacked darkvision don't seem like eidolon material: animals, plants, and playable races such as catfolk and lizardfolk. Will we have leshy eidolons? That seems the most likely of them.
Well, it's kinda already stated that we'll get these :
-Dragon-Construct
-Amalgam
-Angel
-Demon
-Psychopomp
-Phantom
-Beast
-Plant
-Fey
-Elemental
So, I would say an eidolon can be pretty much anything.
All of them except Fey, Plant, and maybe Amalgam have darkvision (some amalgams appear in the bestiaries but only a plant amalgam Tendriculos lacks darkvision). To make summoner abilities that grant darkvision to eidolons relevant, Paizo should have Fey or Plant eidolons in Secrets of Magic.
Might also be future proofing the class in case there is a subtype without dark vision or a class specific archetype that trades away the senses of an eidolon for, I don't know, shiny gold teeth?
We had our first game session with Cirieo. The party bluffed their way to his cell and freed him by bluffing, too. On the way, they hear some stories of the Chernasardo Ranger prisoner with the ghost goat. zinfandel, invisible via his Cloak of Elvenkind, has visited him early and had a whispered conversation about the important events he had witnessed. Cirieo mentioned Fluffy a few times. When asked, he said Fluffy was like an animal companion and he would explain later. When they left, Zinfandel asked if they had to rescue Fluffy next, and was assured it was not necessary.
Sam needed certain items from the guard, Linder Largehands, for another task. His deception about the false imprisonment of Cirieo embarrassed Linder so much that he offered one in recompense. Cirieo rolled well on an Intimidation attempt to show he was insulted by the wrong done to him, which obtained another item.
Then everyone quietly left the fortress. They did not make an effort to retrieve Cirieo's gear, because the bluff might not work against the more dangerous and savvy characters of the fortress. The party gave him +1 studded leather armor and a nonmagical shortsword, loot from recent encounters. Therefore, Fort Ristin was a weird encounter: the party fought no-one and finished with less loot than they started. All they wanted was to rescue any Chernasardo Rangers. (The items from Linder were given to Erno at Fort Ristin.)
Cirieo manifested Fluffy to introduce him. Everyone in the party except the elf Zinfandel is Small, so Fluffy Goat was bigger than them. The party was surprised when Fluffy spoke back and was happy that Fluffy was willing to be petted. Cirieo told them the story of his youth when Fluffy first manifested and helped him and local freedom fighters rescue his family. He explained that Fluffy was the manifestation of the life force of his family's ranch.
The crafters Tikti and Zinfandel might make Cirieo a crutch to help with his missing leg when they get some downtime. Tikti considered making a saddle for Fluffy, too. I still don't know whether Fluffy can use mundane items. I decided to test the no-items-at-all option and Fluffy explained that he could not wear a saddle because he was not 100% solid. Tikti wondered whether a saddle with ghost-touch would work.
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My plans to playtest a summoner as an NPC hit a plot twist. Cirieo became a PC. Zinfandel's player had been telling some stories of our campaign to a friend in another state. This friend was interested in joining our campaign. He had once played two game sessions (sessions, not modules) of Dungeons & Dragons but never played Pathfinder. My player suggested that he could run Cirieo. I agreed.
After the playtest, he can construct his own character. Having a PC running by playtest rules for an extended period could get awkward.
With the promotion to PC, Cirieo gained boosts to three stats: Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom. This partially makes up form him having lost his gear. The players donated spare gear in their bags of holding, so he was outfitted again, but with only +1 studded leather armor and an unenchanted shortsword. This brings me to a new qualm about the summoner design:
5. Losing the Summoner's Invested Weapon. If the summoner invests a weapon, then the eidolon benefits from its potency, striking, and property runes. Cirieo lost his +1 striking halfling sling staff three weeks before the party party rescued him. The party did not retrieve it, so I had to erase the weapon from his attacks. That was fine. Then I had to remove the bonuses from Fluffy's two attacks. Modifying two lines was more than twice as inconvenient as erasing one line. Modification will also happen whenever the summoner gains a weapon with more runes. Automatic bonus progression for the eidolon would be less annoying.
On with the adventure!
As the party was heading west from Fort Ristin, they encountered a redcap Ailsa and an elananx Kittums. I had promoted the standard 5th-level redcap to 7th level by adding a Repel Metal ability based on the folklore that a redcap had enchanted Lord William de Soulis so that he repelled metal weapons. The redcap required a DC 5 flat check to be hit by metal weapons, metal-tipped arrows, and electric spells. Thus, this was a 140-xp challenge but effectively a 93-xp challenge due to six PCs.
The gnome rogue Binny fed the cat-like elananx a treat before the fight started. The gnome druid threw the first cantrip, Electric Arc. The redcap took half damage and the elananx took none. Halfling summoner Cirieo's first thought was to dismount from his goat (beast) eidolon Fluffy. However, since he started atop Fluffy (his speed with a missing leg was only 5 feet until he gained a crutch), they had only two actions between them, so he could not dismount and cast a spell. He decided to instead cast from atop Fluffy and hit the elananx with a Ray of Frost. Then he dismounted as a free action that was essentially dropping to the ground.
The elananx Kittums took the 10 cold damage, chose to not use it Cinder Dispersal defensive ability, and kept daintily eating the treat. Kittums and Binny ended up out of the fight, except that Binny drew her bow in case she had to join it.
The next turn, since Cirieo was not mounted on Fluffy, he and Fluffy had three actions between them. They Acted Together with Cirieo standing up and Fluffy striding toward the battle with the redcap. Cirieo cast Haste on Liklik, the champion's velociraptor animal companion, because its teeth were not subject to Repel Metal.
The third turn, after another character failed an attempt to pull off the redcap's red cap, Fluffy made a 5-foot Stride and tried. I had to improvise the action, a variant on Disarm, but Fluffy succeeded on the Athletics check once the player realized that he used his own Athletics +11 rather than Cirieo's Athletics +8. Fluffy used his third action for Interact to pick up the cap with his mouth. I am still unsure about whether Fluffy can use actions that require hands, but a goat picking up a knitted cap with its mouth seemed perfectly plausible.
Without her cap, the redcap Ailsa lost her fast healing, extra damage, and Repel Metal. She tried to surrender. When the surrender was not accepted, she told Kittums to flee (just talking, since Kittums' turn was before hers). Kittums did. But the ranger Zinfandel got a critical hit and a regular hit on Ailsa before her turn, and she did not survive. Her last request was, "Bury me with my boots on."
Kittums, with speed 30 feet, escaped by GM fiat, because I learned from experience that long chases are boring under PF2 rules. The hasted velociraptor could have kept up with her and attacked every turn. With speed 25 feet, Fluffy would have been no good in a chase.
The party took Ailsa to the Burnt Blind area (stuffing her body into a bag of holding) to bury her next to the graves of Chernasardo Rangers and Ironfang Legion soldiers--with her spiked iron boots on. That would be less suspicious than a lone grave.
The party crafters made Cirieo a crutch and a sling that night (I houseruled away the 4-days preliminary time for crafting).
4b. Dismounting after Exploration. Cirieo is a special case, with his speed reduced to 5 feet this session and 15 feet for future sessions. Thus, he benefits by riding Fluffy during exploration mode, as I said in playtest issue #4. Most summoners walk as fast or faster than their eidolons. When combat begins, he ought to dismount from Fluffy. That uses up an action when they have only 2 actions. Riding Independent Creatures on page 22 clearly says, "regain only 2 actions at the start of your turns each round," so dismounting does not restore the 3rd action. Hm, that also means mounting does not eliminate the 3rd action, though the Mount action uses up an action.
The game session Friday, October 2, ran long, so I was too tired to write it up that night. And I stayed tired (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a nuisance), so I have three updates to post.
Friday, October 2, 2020
The first encounter was a minor one, where the party would investigate a campsite with dead bodies and some scavenger animals. The summoner Cirieo and his eidolon Fluffy approached in stealth. Cirieo rolled high at 30 and Fluffy rolled low at 15, so the animals saw Fluffy through the trees of the forest but did not see Cirieo riding on his back. We joked that Fluffy was so fluffy that Cirieo could hide in his fur.
One-legged Cirieo had a crutch now, so he could move at 15 feet, but Fluffy could move at 25 feet, so for the overland travel through the forest, riding Fluffy was the only way he could keep up with the rest of the party. Cirieo had been created as a one-legged NPC. Converting him to summoner and promoting him to a PC did not restore his leg. I suspect that Paizo did not want eidolons to serve as mounts, but doing so is a necessity for Cirieo.
The campers had been killed by trolls. The party identified the trolls from by their tracks, shared information from Recall Knowledge checks, and soon the party encountered three trolls. They were out of sight in a room atop a 15-foot wall, but Sam sneakily Climbed (he has Sure Feet halfling trait) a pile of rubble and spotted them.
Two trolls were standard 5th-level trolls from the PF2 Bestiary 1. The 3rd was a slightly stronger troll, creature 6. Against a 5th-level party of 6, I expected a moderate encounter, especially since Cirieo, Sam, and Stormdancer could cast Produce Flame. I was wrong. I forgot that Produce Flame had a miss chance, so in order to keep 3 trolls from ever regenerating, the players spent hero points to reroll misses. Nevertheless, the champion's player summed the damage on the PCs and trolls--Roll20 made both the HP and damage visible--and said that the PCs had dealt 5 times as much damage as the trolls.
Cirieo had started in stealth again while riding Fluffy again, hiding behind piles of rubble. The rolls turned out the same: Cirieo was hidden and Fluffy was not. We joked that Fluffy was so fluffy that Cirieo could hide in his fur.
When Sam spotted the trolls in their room, he made a goat bleat to warn the party that something was up. The trolls heard that and came out to investigate. The only creature they saw was Fluffy and they assumed that he was merely a big goat, despite the glowy mark on his forehead. This was not deliberate Deception; rather, I was roleplaying the trolls as stupid. (We were also making jokes about the biggest Billy Goat Gruff.)
A troll almost stepped on Sam as it started climbing down the rubble toward the goat, so Sam struck with Produce Flame before he failed a stealth check. He missed and missed on the hero-point reroll, too. He slipped away into the room the trolls had vacated.
The first fire damage was from a Fireball by the druid Stormdancer. After that, Sam, Cirieo, and Stormdancer tried to hit each troll with Produce Flame once a round, the archers kept up a steady barrage on the trolls, and the champion blocked the descending troll from the rest of the party.
Cirieo and Fluffy were locked in place, 20 feet from the wall, due to having only 2 actions while Cirieo was mounted atop Fluffy. Stormdancer was similarly stuck in place, because he used 3 actions to cast Produce Flame with Reach metamagic from 50 feet away. And Sam repeatedly used his non-spellcasting action to hide to enable sneak attack via Magical Trickster.
The two trolls atop the wall jumped down. Grab an Edge was ineffective, so both belly-flopped to the ground, took 7 falling damage, and had to stand up. But their third action was to step 10 feet from Cirieo (a boulder and the champion blocked a closer approach).
When Cirieo's turn came around, he was in trouble. He would take two Attacks of Opportunity if he cast Produce Flame and still be in danger. He did not have enough hit points to risk two hits. If Fluffy took a Step to safety, then Cirieo would not be able to cast Produce Flame and one troll would recover 20 hit points. I pointed out the problem to my players and they began brainstorming. Remember, my players are expert tacticians.
They invented a rule-bending plan. Fluffy dropped Cirieo, a free Release action, on his far side. Cirieo used the Grab an Edge reaction on Fluffy, rolling a successful Reflex save to slide down Fluffy's side instead of falling prone. He landed on his feet and used his untouched actions to cast Produce Flame on a troll.
4c. Eidolon Releasing a Rider for a Dismount. Okay, we have a way for a character to dismount an eidolon without consuming an action. It feels like a cheat. But if the summoner class does not give a reasonable way to dismount, then the players will try unreasonable methods.
In frustration, one troll hit Fluffy on the troll's turn.
The need for continuous Produce Flame spells ended soon when the champion remembered that she had a few Alchemist Fires in her bag of holding, taken off of dead enemies a few days before in game time. She had to drop her sword and use her tail as an improvised hand to open the bag while blocking the attack of opportunity with her shield.
That left Cirieo free to cast Evolution Surge on Fluffy to provide a climb speed. Fluffy ran up the rubble pile to help Sam. A climbing goat seemed very flavorful.
One troll dropped. I deployed the second wave of trolls knowing the first wave would fall before they reached the party. The party saw three more trolls on the wall and a fourth rounding the corner of the fort with two trollhounds.
Friday, October 9, 2020
Though I had deployed the 2nd wave of trolls, I realized that the battle against the trolls had grown monotonous. I erased the 3rd wave of trolls from my plans.
The party finished off the 1st wave. The troll on the ground with two trollhounds attacked and lost a trollhound and half his hit points. Two other trolls lost time trying to safely approach the party after getting hit by Produce Flame while running on the wall. The smartest troll ran off to fetch their leader Nashgra. The archers also had fun using the critical specialization of their bows to pin trolls to stone walls. That cost each troll merely one action, but that was often one fewer attack.
Cirieo was busy casting Produce Flame, leaving Fluffy with too few actions to move and attack. One action and a climb speed left Fluffy well able to avoid the trolls and serve as a possible way to rescue Sam, who had climbed onto the roof of the trolls' room atop the walls.
Nashgra ordered the trolls to regroup inside the fortress. They would hide behind walls to regenerate.
The scoundrel rogue Sam learned that Nashga spoke Common. He started to negotiate with her. Nashgra was not interested in holding Fort Nunder. She would sell it to the party for 1000 gold. Fluffy spoke up nearby and replied, "How about 1000 copper instead?" We had a laugh at that counteroffer.
Nashgra made another offer. She had gone through the trapped area of the fort and found a vault that she could not open. She would let the party enter the the trapped area, open the vault, and pay her 1000 gold from there. (She really planned to kill them when they exited and take all their vault treasure for herself.) The party agreed, because Cirieo knew that the vault was really the armory.
Friday, October 16, 2020
The party gathered outside the door to the trapped area and spent 10 minutes healing up. Then only three player characters entered to trapped area: the thief rogue Binny, the scoundrel rogue Sam, and the eidolon Fluffy.
They spotted the first set of pressure plates. After they failed their Disable Device rolls, Sam prodded the pressure plate with his staff and set off the trap from 5 feet away. It shot arrows down the entire hallway, hitting Binny and Fluffy for around 30 damage each and critically hitting Sam for 60 damage. Sam fell unconscious.
All the healers were still outside. Fortunately, Cirieo knew what Fluffy knew and the rest of the party, except the champion and her animal companion, rushed inside. Sam rolled a natural 20 on the dying check and woke up before the healers reached him.
This area was mostly the rogues' domain, so the rest of the game session said little about a summoner's capabilities.
However, at the end of the session, the players discussed luring the trolls into the traps before their sudden but inevitable betrayal. Cirieo's player pointed out that Cirieo could stand next to the controls that activated and deactivated the traps and Fluffy could head out across deactivated traps and then de-manifest to lure the trolls to the newly-activated traps. Being in two places at the same time has tactical uses.
I thought that I would stop writing the misadventures of Cirieo Thassaddin, Summoner. But he is still in the party and still enlightening us on summoners and eidolons.
Friday, October 23, 2020
The party planned to lure the trolls into the trapped area so that the traps would deal massive damage to them. The ranger added some Biting Snares to the traps. Cirieo manned the control room that could activate and de-activate the traps. Fluffy started by the entrance to call the trolls to come in for their payment from the vault. Then Cirieo re-manifested Fluffy to his side. Fluffy left the next turn to join the ambush.
What foiled the plan is that only the 6th-level troll and the two remaining trollhounds entered. The other trolls stayed outside. One trap and a Produce Flame from Sam took away half that troll's hit points. Then Cirieo shared senses with Fluffy to cast a spell on the troll. Wait, Cirieo was in the control room--how could he target the troll? The player had read that spells could be cast from line of sight and by sharing senses he could see the troll. And due to the twisting corridor Cirieo was only 30 feet from the troll.
I invoked line of effect rules (Core Rulebook, Playing the Game chapter, page 457 and also the Spells chapter, page 304) and said that he could not use Fluffy as a conduit for his spell and he could not cast through 20 feet of stone.
I view this as a new player misinterpreting the rules rather than an eidolon problem.
Fluffy got to attack the troll with Beast's Charge for a critical hit that knocked the troll down to dying 2. Produce Flame attacks from Sam and Stormdancer finished off a troll and trollhound.
The combat continued and the some PCs wished Cirieo would de-activate the trap between them and the troll battle, but Fluffy was not in their corridor and they did not want to yell down the corridor to Cirieo. When the troll was dead, they did yell.
That left the last trollhound. It attacked Fluffy, who failed the DC 18 Fortitude save against bloodfire fever. Bloodfire Fever (disease) Saving Throw DC 18 Fortitude; Stage 1 carrier with no ill effect (1 day); Stage 2 enfeebled 1 (1 day); Stage 3 enfeebled 1 and clumsy 1 (1 day); Stage 4 enfeebled 2 and clumsy 2 (1 day); Stage 5 enfeebled 2, clumsy 2, and fatigued (1 day).
6. Can an eidolon catch a disease? If the eidolon is diseased and has to roll saving throws, does unmanifesting delay those saving throws? Fluffy's player also asked whether Fluffy catching the disease meant that Cirieo had it too? I ruled no.
Cirieo's player and another new player created two more PCs to join the game. They arrived outside the fort while the party was fighting deep in corridors. I am letting Cirieo's player play both Cirieo/Fluffy and the new catfolk monk Ren'zar-jo, since I have enough NPCs to run already.