Shadow Lodge! Mystery! Olde tyme shock thriller!
Spoiler alert: With no updating, the intro is possibly the worst in "Uhh, yeah; we know" factor. It still makes sense that he'd say it, given how often Dreng reintroduces Nigel Aldain to the same set of Pathfinders 4 weeks in a row.
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GM, does it seem like the shop is open? Can one readily see how many people are in the shop? "Wait, so I'm trying to bluff us into the Skinsaw cult, right?"
If you want a sillier, text-based RPG adventure answer...
You look in the distance REALLY hard, but can't tell if the store is open or not from here.
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Now that I've run out of things to audit in both my collection of PFS characters and this game, the only thing left to do is ruin my throat singing Midnight at the Lost and Found and other fun Meat Loaf tunes at my dog, lest I eat all the food in the house.
I know it counts as "vacation" for business and payroll purposes, but I don't think this actually counts.
I didn't just waste ten minutes writing up a big post to forget it's still a surprise round and have to undo all of it. Nope, nope, nope.
"Oh, good; they think I'm talking about the half-hour site login refresh thing and not the fact I had a bunch of them double-move in a surprise round, then hastily undid it but left the unneeded Acrobatics rolls to ensure that attack roll was the same."
"Even better, they didn't notice that I didn't notice that I forgot to remove the dagger attack that couldn't actually happen. Not like Buscemi's attack even mattered on a Barbarian anyways, even if he was flat. Excellent, excellent..."
Firefox works pretty well for me; I just make sure to Preview often for backtracking and Ctrl+a and Ctrl+c my posts a lot. Sometimes, going back and just Resending Information works too.
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Note to self: No healing for Hobbes-on-the-Beach. ;)
Saving throws are interesting. At high-ish levels I’m theorizing they’re more important than AC because melee/ranged opponents are pretty likely to hit mid-high twenties AC + there’s always a 5% chance of a nat 20 – which becomes more likely as opponents have iterative attacks. True?
Assuming I’ve done the calcs right, a high CHA multi-classed cleric/paladin has pretty good saves, even at level 3.
Not only that; at higher levels, the game can get pretty rocket tag-y. The difference between "You're now on the Plane of Fire" and "You're not on the Plane of Fire" is more important than a condition that a Heal can fix with no rolls.
And paladins are pretty much the King of Saves, what with the Cha to Saves. Monks are only slightly better in that department, but... Ugh... Monks. I have always been a TWF / unarmed thematic kind of guy, but they're just so suboptimal until the Brawler existed. Its really what the monk should have been, power-wise.
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Con't
Seriously, you know the people who ask if "when the internet is down, will their fridge with touchscreen work?" That's me, but instead it's about cars. I just recently learned that catalytic converter is not a Cadillac Converter. I'm actually questioning myself as to what car is actually supposed to sound like.
More relevant to the game, though, the discussion points I did want to talk about (because I like to hear myself e-talk about things.)
Disarm builds
Yeah, it's great in the urban environs and will be HORRIBLE when you go into the jungle and everything is natural attacks. The last boss of this one I have a hilarious guess about how an incorrectness in his build is actually going to help his cause and my desire to run things the way the rules work.
Multiclassing
I'm usually pretty open to it. Weirdest multiclass build I had that I didn't blatantly steal from someone I saw playing it was my Skull and Shackles driver. There's nothing really spoiler-y in the spoiler below, since the DM wrote most of the vague stuff I mention in for me, because painting a target on yourself makes it pretty easy to attract plot hooks. It's just big, and I hate making big, tangent-y posts that can't be made small (because I'm so tempted to do all the time.)
Started as a regular rogue who was just a really good sailor running from the Chels, which took a turn for evil-er after systematically executing (execution-style) an entire marine crew of a captured Chelish Warship. Traded my share of the wealth for that fight for their lives; totes worth it to send the Queen the name and rank of each person who died there so they'd hunt me again, since I had willing-to-kill-for-money Captain/crew and nothing to lose anymore.
Anyways at that turn, I decided that the party's need for a social skill and my now CE desire to reset the world so everything is fair for everyone in a new Golarion of super, magic Communism run by an insane (and fully aware of it) Gerric. Well, the Heresy Inquisition plus the Infiltrator archetype lets me add (Wisdom instead of Charisma) + (Wisdom "in addition to the normal attribute") + Skill Ranks + etc. Well, my 24-some Wisdom getting doubled plus the Mask of Stony Demeanor left Gerric a really boring driver who is actually lying about the horrendously evil things he's doing at every turn to further his goals. But I needed a combat function that didn't really cost me anything, because Magic Communism was going to be REALLY expensive to run, probably. Thus, the level in Cleric. Let's just say that the Two-Weapon Fighter Bit of Luck. Rolling all 5 attacks twice for the better result? Yes, please. With that covered, I pretty much did that though a majority of the AP.
I hoarded all money and only purchase ~5 things throughout the entire adventure (depending on how you look at some of them.)
- Two entire Raise Deads (in book 2 or early 3) when the two sailors autonomously running my Junk boat die due to my negligence and circumstance
- A rowboat with Adamantine plating-and-ram that had two inter-connected Decanters of Endless Water on the back I.e. An adamantine Speedboat. Attack rolls that used Profession (Sailor) to-hit were fun when you have +40 in book 3-4. Maybe early 5? The Rogue Talent that gives +10 to Drive checks was the key.
- I think we found a Wisdom headband for me, so I didn't actually buy one, but I had one.
- The real masterpiece was my only real weapon for the end of the game.
That weapon needs a little scope. Through the entire game, as I said, I saved ALL my money. I don't attack; I drive the boat. In actual fights, I just let Captain Kyle, the Gorum Cleric, get everything. Bit of Luck the TWF and I'm still a quarter the party's DPS on his crits alone. By book 6, I saved about 120k, which I decided to ask the DM "Can I get a Guided Vorpal Whip?", with Guided houseruled to be "Either just Wis to-hit or to-damage, not both." The answer was a glorious, "Lemme roll percentiles. *roll* Yes, the Calistria temple has one they can have teleported in for you." I paid for the teleport in. Combat for me became just rolling for decap crits, which I did about 3 times in the final dungeon.
That was probably my best multiclass that actually NEEDED to be multiclassed to do all its job functions.
Also you just killed the link to my favourite character from the movie reference de jour for this fight, so I'm effectively out of good, PG-tier references for Reservoir Dogs, as radios don't exist and I doubt anyone's going to need an Atonement after this fight.
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Dreng is missing an ear...
Okay, now I'm officially out of Reservoir Dogs references. Probably.
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For a bit of scale, the importance of being sent into The vaults (since it should be a bigger deal than it appears without context.
The Vaults:
The Repository may be home to the Decemvirate's most important secrets, but it's hardly the only such cache. Beneath its majestic buildings and manicured lawns, the Grand Lodge of Absalom is honeycombed with warrens and secret storerooms that connect to the various fortresses-or to none at all. Known as the Vaults, these chambers serve the lodge's resident Pathfinders and contain everything from secret workshops to siege supplies to mundane basement storage. Like Skyreach and the other fortresses, use of any portion of the Vaults is by permission only, and mapping their labyrinthine paths is strictly forbidden.
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Side note: Company WiFi (my primary source of not wasting data on my phone plan) has been very spotty as of late, so there may be mild EST no-post zones until my data plan resets two days from now. 9.82/10 GB is a decent buffer, but not with map editing. I may boot up a laptop and use that if we get to it by the End-of-Day Friday... And see if that actually works.
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Neat, didn't know there was a clarification. I always thought it meant "you always know what square even if it moves." Redact that %.
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We're good for day jobs, rants, expositions, etc. I had a list of errors from this scenario written up, but realized it isn't quite time for that yet.
Unless anyone has any major issues with it, one of the ex-players from the horrible Thursday game I'm in asked me to tell him when a PbP I'm running opening opens up.
He's one of y'all "I'm an adult with (a) child(ren) and/or responsibilities" types, so his time for gaming things is limited and pulled him from gave him a plausible excuse to leave Thursdays. He's one of those "GMs altogether too much" types that really only got to play on Thursdays, so I told him I'd let him know when I have a theoretical opening and he expressed interest in it the two times I brought it up.
He hasn't gotten back to me since I told him how the headers work, so no guarantees here, but this might be in the future. Does anyone have any major issues with adding more Cleric? I'm gonna send a follow-up once I have at least a majority of okays. (Obviously, this is also a statement of "I'm not utterly tired of running yet" as well.) Discussing that is also an option now.
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@Cleaver Use my (unused this game) Hardcopy Portfolio re-roll if you like.
More cleric is always welcome! Thank-you so much for running, Burglar. I confess this one had me guessing up until the fight with the doppelganger broke out.
Who sent the other group to Sidri’s digs? Were they real Pathfinders? I can ask in-character in gameplay if you prefer.
Luisila levels to 9. Pan, are you in for the next one? Paizo-con is pretty soon isn’t it?
Is Season 2 Wrath of the Accursed the best (only) bet for the next one?
You can IC or OOC, though I did lightly cover it in the post I made while you made your post. They're Sidri's friends whom he asked to watch his house and they mystically show up with no Stealth checks whatsoever in an ambush. That was one of my many gripes about the mechanics of this scenario, so I put them each inside the houses and actually had them Stealth around.
They use nonlethal tactics explicitly to the point where they don't even carry daggers; only the Barbarian has a shield and all does until he's about halfway to death is throw nets at people. I justify this by Sidri being the de-facto leader and telling them "You'd better not kill anyone in the city or I'm not busting you out of jail (this time)" line, so the Barbarian doesn't even carry The archer uses sleep arrows and there's actually low-DC Sense Motive checks to brute force that information to PCs. They're supposed to fill you in on what Sidri's doing, but you guys just kinda ant'd out of there (damn it, I should have used that with the ending bad to escape), so you didn't get that bit. The cleric of the party is another Calistrian (though her tactics and gear don't match up because you can't whip someone with a short sword), which is immediate gripe #2.
Any questions can be either here or in-game in Gameplay, since Dreng is sticking around while you guys get your +2 to a knowledge. In the meantime, I'm remembering all that's wrong with this scenario, despite how much I love this, being the last good Dreng scenario.
I'm not against running newer stuff, to note. Spreadsheet's in my profile, etc.
Rant time, spoilered because it's super ugly!
Melee short sword +2 (1d6–1/19–20)Her equipment?
Gear chain shirt, whip, phylactery of negative channeling
1: You need a DF for cast Hold Person.
2: Is she simply the greatest Norgorbite in the scenario or just a last-minute deity change? I believe the product discussion thread suggests the latter. I think the original fight was a bunch of just this guy and there was negative channeling involved. Lots of actual murder, hail Father Skinsaw.---
Literally nothing
Seriously; he has no dialogue, physical description, or anything beyond a "He lets Dreng talk exclusively" bit. I imagined him as one of those Social-build Rogues types; Cha, Dex, UMD, etc.
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There's a copy of the End boss' statblock w/ buffs in the Campaign Description, but here's my favourite excerpts:
Nordris Kalm
Male half-elf cleric of Norgorber 10
So far so good. He'd be a crazy-awesome Warpriest nowadays and were this not PFS, he would have been...
5th—false visionD, scrying (2, DC 18)
...
Before Combat Nordris Kalm casts scrying to watch the PCs
battle the invisible stalker.
Yes! Let's take a 10-minute cast spell and use it for a fight with a CR 8 (or 3 of in high-tier.) Let's also realize that he's going to be attempting to scry on the amulet at his pitiful DC 18 which isn't super obvious (which I'm only inferring, because that amulet literally serves no purpose and is only super suspicious.)
During Combat Nordris prefers melee combat, using Channel Smite to power his multiple short swords.
Two-weapon Fighting and Channel Smite don't work like that, but okay. Maybe he could be a better Inquisitor than Warpriest. Yeah, that makes more sense. That Dual-Weapon Bane could simulate this.
Before Combat Nordris Kalm casts scrying to watch the PCs battle the invisible stalker. If he has time, he then uses his metamagic rod to cast the following spells on himself: bull’s strength, divine power, and shield of faith (these spells are not figured into his stats).
Yes, let's use none of my weapon or armor buffs. I guess 20 hours of +2 AC from Magic Vestment wasn't worth it? His mundane swords don't need to be magic, even though I preapred it twice specifically? Super! Great! Look at me Ma, I'm 10th level somehow! Spoiler: I didn't and I'm a bad PFS DM. Not like he got an attack out anyways.
Feats Channel Smite, Improved Channel, Toughness, Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (short sword)
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 14
Base Atk +7; CMB +10; CMD 20Skills Bluff +10, Disguise +10, Heal +11, Knowledge (religion) +3, Stealth +4
Languages CommonGear masterwork breastplate, short swords (2), amulet of natural armor +2, metamagic rod (extend)
+5 Rules Lawyer Bar Exam Points to the first one to point out the error in that quoted section.
I get that a lot of this is probably just oversight, but they all somehow fell into the same scenario, and it had to be the Dreng's Unofficial Farewell Scenario. Everyone's lack of Unholy Symbols is incredibly amusing, though.
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“Ooh, Ooh!” “Pick me, Professor Burglar!”
“Two Weapon Fighting has a pre-req DEX = 15.”
This was the first thing I checked, because I stuffed up and chose Dodge as a third level feat for my cleric/paladin without having the pre-req dex score. Once, I realized I swapped it out.
Gotta be honest, I find making mistakes like this pretty easy to do. Kinda good to know even the pros make them.
Knowledge bonus to Knowledge (religion) please, GM
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+2 to Knowledge (Planes) Please.
Yah, I'll step out of the next game because PaizoCon is coming up and their scheduling system appears to be lacking. It can never hurt having another cleric instead of an arrogant prick err, I mean Living God.
OK it has been several years since I've been to a gaming convention. I mean a 3 to 4 days of gaming from 8am until 11pm with a midnight madness or two thrown in for insanity sake. So I was hankering to go to a Con recently even though PFS play has dwindled.
So my friend & GM for our home game said that he was going to go to PaizoCon and that he had a friend that lived in Seattle. He wanted to know if I was interested in going too. Cool. Got a place to stay, got a buddy going. Good times. To even make it better, I'll just take a week off of work to see another gaming buddy in Portland then camp in Olympic National Forest the days leading up to the convention full of mouth breathing nerd hordes. =v)
I buy my ticket without knowing the scheduling because I'm thinking, "This is PaizoCon. They are going to have games going day and night. All of season 5 and 6 and some other random one sprinkled. Throw in a Special and we'll be golden."
Open the schedule and they only have PFS games in the morning. WTF!
Two Specials however. Joy! So 6 out of 12 gaming slot available for PFS, all year 6 scenarios. Worst part is they are offering a 3 part series, but only over 2 days. Just kick me in the nuts. To rectify this, some of blessed souls going to try to piecemeal some games together for the afternoon, but who knows how well that will work.
It looks like Paizo really pushing the Adventure Card Guild play however. And there are other PUG games throughout the day, but its with pre-gens and is a one shot. And everything is a lottery system to get in. At least with PFS, I have my characters I at least know, maybe haven't played in years and the game at least "means" something.
The gap in the middle of the day seems like such a waste. 8am start time for PFS games. I'm renting a car and I planned on being the wheels for the 3 of us. Who knows how well those logistics will work out over the course of a weekend.
I'm debating scrapping going to the Con all together and just staying in the woods for a couple more days. The whole thing has just left me deflated.
If you've read this far, thank you. I could go on but I'm not even making sense to myself now.
PUG games?
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Ah, I gotcha. Well, you could head on over to Reno the weekend of June 27th. We're having our 2nd annual RAGECON. Mostly it will be board games, but there will be Society play as well.
If you don't mind waking up at 6 am to the sound of 2 kids fighting and screaming, you're welcome to crash on our couch.
Here be the URL for all your Chronixle -storing needs
If you need a direct link, I'll get it after Movie Time w/ Mama
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(And I always thought the term PUG was the opposite of convention play, unless you go to lawless, no sign-up, cowboy laws Conventions. I might be leaking over from my Internet-havin' online vidyah game days, though.
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The Olympics are awesome, unless of course, your really going on a sparkly, vampire, movie locations tour..... ;)
I really hoped to make it to PaizoCon this year, but alas, not gonna happen. (Unfortunately, our neighbors from whem we loved there have moved out of state, so when I make it, I'll have to fork out for a hotel.)
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@Panfalcon, are you going to the Dead show? Oh man I wish I could go to that. I see tickets are going for above $2500. Way too rich for my blood.
I saw them in LA and Vegas a few times in the early '90s. Sting opened for them - an odd pairing, but good show.
But you're probably trying to score tickets to some cooler band or show, and I've just revealed myself to be tragically uncool for having love for an old hippie band.
An ellipsis would imply he agrees; I think you broke the Tektite
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Nah, its Ed Sheeeran. My gf loves him and if we get married I think his Thinking Out Loud would be "our dance" song. She has family in the Bay Area, so that would be a good little weekend getaway.
Its weird. On Ticketmaster it doesn't say the June 26th show is sold out, but it won't let me buy tickets either.
If somebody else could check that out for me, that would be great. I don't know if an IP thing or what.
To share in your awkwardness Lin, we went to Brad Pasely show because Jewel was opening (gf is a big Jewel fan). After 2-3 songs of Paisley, we left.
And I got dumped at a John Mayer concert. Good part of that night was that she paid for dinner since she knew she was going to dump me. So I took the car, leaving her at the show and my friend took me out for drinks.
As for the Dead in the 90's, that was probably a better show since they had more of their original members playing.
It looks like PaizoCon is running all of the year 6s games out to date. Any recommendations since most of you know the characters I play. Any scenarios that would be a waste of time? Besides 6-01, I don't know anything else about the scenarios.
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How did you go, Pan?
Ticketmaster is telling me tickets for that show are not available online. It’s not saying the show is sold out, but the message seems kinda random.
Let’s see, Season 6 eh? Please note, I’ve only played in these and have not read or run them. OK here are the ones I’ve played in no particular order (SPOILER FREE) …
• Very fun infiltration type scenario
• Good puzzle
• Fights were not pushovers but not overpowered
• Special goodies for the Exchange Faction
• RECOMMENDED. Maybe Zynep or Kraang? Leaning towards Zynep for the Exchange boon.
• Eadie is having an absolute ball in this one
• Very good roleplay opportunities
• Tough fights
• Fun premise
• Special goodies for the Liberty’s Edge + Silver Crusade Faction
• RECOMMENDED. Maybe your paladin? Panfalcon could also work.
• Special goodies for the Exchange Faction
• Makes pretty good use of the Mwangi Expanse
• Pretty easy fights
• Some roleplay at the start
• Would be good for newbie players and GMs (I’d certainly run it)
• Fine. Just didn’t knock it out of the park for me.
• I think Kraang is your only character in-tier (?)
• No Special goodies for any Faction
• Had a GOOD Mwangi exploration feel to it
• Fights could vary – depending how you approach them …
• Skill orientated (I mean that in a good way)
• Some roleplay at the beginning again (not much)
• Better than Part 1. Again, I would run it.
• Special goodies for the Grand Lodge Faction
• Dungeon crawl with a trap focus (I think)
I've had that song stuck in my head recently, but not for the regular reasons.
That's not spoiler-free; they're all in spoilers!
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2-20, Wrath of the Accursed was put on the table as a possibility by availability and "Burglar don't hate it 100%" standards.
Also, I just noticed I didn't put Day Jobs on anyone's Chronicles. If you guys don't have one or didn't download yours yet, then, uh, you're in luck! Because then you could totally pretend I didn't mess up and that I'm super great!
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