The Gaming Den

Posted: **Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:16 am**

Cast Mad Monkeys (Shadow Conjuration).

"Get him guys! And don't damage my new staff. Throw that over here once you get it."

(Assuming belief, Free Disarm each round CMB=17 (CL 12 + CHA 5), 2d6 Damage per round, Nauseate each round for one round (DC 14, fort to negate), Casting would require a caster level check of 20 + 2 x Spell level)

Posted: **Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:18 am**

The monkeys swarm all over Hrati, and he begins shrieking and tearing them off. In the process, he drops the staff, and one of the simians snatches the artifact up... its eyes start glowing blue, and the monkey cackles as it points the staff in your direction.

Posted: **Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:48 am**

Cast Extended Quickened Protection from Evil on the Monkey.

"Drop the staff. Everyone, stay away from it and focus on annoying him."

(I'll see what happens before using remaining actions)

Posted: **Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:11 pm**

The monkeys obey, throwing the staff down once you block the mind-control of the one that picked it up. Then they are flash-frozen when Hrati hops back and breathes out a gout of frigid energy. The giant is bleeding from several wounds you and the monkeys inflicted, but is still going strong.

Although... he seems to move more clumsily without the staff. Come to think of it, he only started bleeding from his injuries after you took it away.

Posted: **Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:41 pm**

(Hmm... I wonder if the staff is the mastermind... Bit of a long shot, but I'll risk it.)

Cast Quickened Extended Protection from Evil on Hrati. If this turns out to be a bad idea, dismiss it asap (would it be possible to do this as a swift action given that casting it is one for Abjurant Champions?).

Posted: **Tue Nov 18, 2014 6:37 am**

Taking advantage of Hrati's lingering disorientation, you spring forward and tap him with an old standby. The glow fades from his eyes, and the giant's face loses some of it's hideous mutations.

"No! How did you suppress the blessing of Niefel? I have to get the staff back!"

More and more, Hrati's form begins to resemble a normal frost giant. He stumbles back, blinking, and then twists something off a silver charm bracelet on his wrist, which enlarges into a giant-sized bastard sword.

Posted: **Tue Nov 18, 2014 11:59 am**

"Nice! I could use a transforming weapon or two myself. Where do you get them by the way?"

Occupy the same space as the staff and defensively cast Shadow Conjuration (spiked pit) (Concentration: d20 +21 vs DC 25, Pit: Reflex DC 19 (negates), Will DC 19) on Hrati. If it works, then cast Shadow Conjuration (Grease) (DC 19 Reflex, 19 Will) on the bottom of the pit.

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:22 am**

"I took this sword off the corpse of a meddling hero, just like yooOOUUOOF!"
The shadowy pit appears beneath Hrati right as he strides forward to slash at you, and he's too distracted exchanging quips to dodge out of the way. The giant plunges onto the spikes at the bottom, and curses at you furiously once you counter his scramble out with a coat of magical grease.

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2014 6:17 pm**

(Hmm... PF nerfed mirror image so that followed by invisibility doesn't help any more)

Buff up: Enlarge Person, Haste, Heroics (Flahing Sun), Heroics (Searing Blade) (Use two level 1 slots for one casting of Heroics) unless he does something unusual that isn't solved by Quickened Extended Dispel Magic.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:27 am**

With Hrati momentarily disabled, you have enough time to cast several buff spells. However, once you have finished you notice that you can't hear anything from the pit anymore. Hrati has gone silent.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:36 am**

Look down at the pit and see what he's doing. If he's gone, cast Detect Magic on the staff.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:25 pm**

Hrati stands poised and waiting, an empty potion bottle in his hands and several discarded among the spikes. When you come into view, he leaps up with supernatural speed, landing on the opposite side of the pit. You get a hit in as he flies past, at least.

His arms stretch unnaturally as Hrati thrusts his sword at you. He pokes a hole in your tail, but even with his enhanced reach he can't manage a properly deadly strike.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 7:21 pm**

Try to identify what his buffs are using Knowledge checks. Defensively dispel anything that makes it hard to glitterdust him, boosts his AC or makes him hard to approach in this order of priority. If checks aren't high enough to identify anything defensively dispel what I'm guessing is Long Arm. Defensively cast Glitterdust on him again and if it works, try tripping him.

(Defensive Casting for Dispel Magic and Glitterdust succeeds automatically)

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 10:09 pm**

You're fairly sure active spell effects are Long Arm, Mage Armor, Jump, and Infernal Healing. There's two others you'd need to study a little longer. There is nothing stopping you from Glitterdusting him.

In fact, once you throw the golden sparkly stuff in his face again he seems to have an even worse time of it than before. "AAARGH! NOT AGAIN!" Hrati stumbles around blind, narrowly avoiding falling back into the pit.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 10:55 pm**

(Hmm... might be wasting haste this way, but there's still a few level 3 spells left)

Cast Ventriloquism from over the pit, "You know, if you surrender and hand me your sword and staff, I'll put in a good word for you. Tlaloc might have mercy if his high priest vouches for you."

If he gets near it, try to bullrush him in. If that works, Dispel Jump and scan him with Detect Magic.

Posted: **Sat Nov 22, 2014 1:07 am**

Turning toward your projected voice, the giant leaps forward and swings his sword... only to miss you completely and land teetering on the edge of the pit. Shoving him in is almost too easy. And after dispelling the transmutation that boosts his leaps, his escape attempt just ends up plunging Hrati onto the spikes again. Hrati doesn't get up after that.

There is a crunch from the entrance as a few Jaguar Knights burst through the weakened ice barrier. One calls out a greeting as the others begin to help regular soldiers through the gap.

Posted: **Sat Nov 22, 2014 6:44 am**

"Greetings. Stay back for a bit though, there are some cursed items here. What's going on with the rest of temple?"

Scan the staff with Detect Magic.

Posted: **Sat Nov 22, 2014 7:44 am**

The soldiers skid to a halt at your warning, and their captain calls back
"The storm and monsters have all been stopped! Mictlan is secured, besides whatever danger is left to put down inside Tlaloc's house. The priests were right to put their trust in you, hero!"

...The staff is pulsing with light, swirls of energy arcing up and down its length. It also seems to have grown a myriad of legs while you were busy with Hrati, and the "staff" is crawling centipede-like toward the soldiers and the temple entrance. It's slow, but you also get the impression that the wild magic starting to pulse off the thing is increasingly unstable.

Posted: **Sat Nov 22, 2014 9:55 am**

"Stay away from that staff!"

Cast Extended Quickened Dispel Magic on it and tap it with Protection from Evil.

"Send for the priests. They might know how to deal with this."

If the staff is subdued, continue examining it with Detect Magic. Once it's been studied as much as possible, use it on Hrati and his equipment.

Posted: **Sun Nov 23, 2014 12:13 am**

When you hit the staff with your dispel, it explodes in a blue-white fireball. The blast wave knocks you and the soldiers back, but you were far enough away that nobody is severely injured.

And with that, you sense the last vestiges of icy corruption disperse from the temple. The priests dispatched the last of Hrati's lieutenants when they stormed the upper levels, and nothing remains to twist Tlaloc's magic against the city. You've won!

But what are you going to do now?

Posted: **Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:50 am**

"Okay, now that the temple is secure we can focus on getting it back in shape, once the survivors have been treated and the dead secured for revival. I'll do what I can to help out, but there's something I need to do first."

Give Hrati's corpse a general once over with Detect Magic, and take his stuff.

Head back to the High Priest's shrine. Spill some blood and shoot lightning at it.

Posted: **Tue Nov 25, 2014 9:04 am**

On the giant's body are a couple of attribute-boosting accessories, several unused potions, and the sword-generating bracelet. You take them all, and then quickly return to the shrine where you claimed the high priest's staff. When you make your offering, a tremor of power runs through the whole temple, and a chorus of burbling voices reaffirm that you are Tlaloc's chosen, the High Priest of Rain, and that all surviving acolytes should report to you for orders.

By the time the rest of the priests find you, you get the feeling your new lieutenant has given up on any mad takeover plots. You get a bit of a double take when you inform them that they are to prepare the fallen for resurrection.

"What, all of them? The expense would be almost incalculable! Perhaps if all the temples worked together, we could raise everyone, but that would deplete the diamond supply for the whole city. Who would pay for such a thing?"

(You leveled up again.)

Posted: **Wed Nov 26, 2014 7:48 pm**

(Leveling up stuff)

Balancing TWF and casting is tricky.

I'll probably stick with Abjurant Champion, but I'm also considering dipping a Weaboo Fightan class to improve TWF. Do you recommend dipping to improve close combat, or progressing sorcerer casting?

Is Path of War allowed? It has combat feats that grant PoW maneuvers which could be useful via heroics even if I don't dip Warlord or Stalker.

Is 3.5 Persistent Spell allowed (I'm fine with these wearing off when resting if less than 24 hours has passed NWN style to save on accounting headaches)? PF has a metamagic feat called Persistent Spell, but it's something else entirely. (Heroics isn't persistable apparently)

If I swap out Improved TWF and Double Slice for Quicken Spell and Echoing Spell, I can get Spell Perfection on Heroics and cast Heroics twice in one round using one spell slot (Standard action Echoing Heroics followed by Quickened Heroics).

I think I'd like to swap out the Sleight of Hand skill points and the Conceal Spellcasting skill trick as those take up a lot of skill points for a once a minute trick that might not work against high spotters.

"Hmm... I may have underestimated the number of casualties. Still, raising them while that's still an option is cheaper than resurrecting them later. Course, reincarnation is even cheaper, so if anyone knows a good druid or witch, that's an option if we can't get enough diamonds in time. Speaking of which, any ideas as to how to finance this? A nearby evil dragon hoard? A long lost treasure? A rich person needing a huge favor? Anything like that?"

(If Tenoc is present)

"Thanks for your help. This came in very handy." Return his wand to him.

Posted: **Sun Nov 30, 2014 8:48 am**

(Finally back from Thanksgiving away from the internet. Hope you're enjoying the holidays too.)

You seem to be getting more use out of spells than swording with your current approach. Since you can turn prospective battles to your advantage with magic, more magic is probably better than slightly better numbers.

Honestly, I probably know Path of War better than Tome of Battle at this point. It's more interesting for making glowy lights come off your sword and piling up block tokens. Use stuff from it if you want, maybe that'll give me an excuse to update my pdfs.

Swap skills ranks / skill tricks around if you want.

Tenoc is grateful for the return of his wand, and the apparent rank it conveys. Now he just seems eager to prove himself useful.

"Mictlan can afford to raise the casualties of this storm if the temples all pool their resources. And you're probably in a position to ask that of the Priest Kings. It will probably wipe out most of the political capital that you earned saving the city, but the people will love you for it. Tlaloc has long been a god for the commoners, who are generally the ones that can't afford resurrection.

Of course, there's also the possibility of war with these Niefel giants. If they can throw away the kind of magic that Baviere consumed in this attack, adventurers who raided a few jarl's strongholds would probably come back with impressive treasures.

The last possibility... no. You want to raise everyone. And working through the courts would not be a good PR move now. Most of those who died in the storm probably passed on to Tlalocan. Perhaps if you found them on the other side, it might be possible to convince the Rain Teotls to let their spirits return to this plane. It would be a difficult task, though. Our gods can be capricious."

Posted: **Tue Dec 02, 2014 1:02 am**

(Thanksgiving isn't celebrated around here. Went to school as usual.)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/03q ... .html?dl=0

Okay, another level in Abjurant Champion.

New Spells: Picked Detect Thoughts, Stone Shape and Dimension Door.

Skills: Dumped Intimidate and put some ranks into Stealth and Perception. I put in more details about skills in the next spoiler block.

Feats: I decided to go for Spell Perfection (Heroics). Traded out Improved Two Weapon Fighting and Double Slice for Echoing Spell and Quicken Spell so I can qualify for Spell Perfection.

Hmm... apparently PoW's Martial training still requires maneuvers to be readied (full round action) but grants more of them (and stances) whereas ToB's Martial Study lets them be used immediately. Either could see use depending on circumstances.

By the way, are the priests using Blood Money for raising? I remember something that looked like an attempt to cast it.

Default Lamia Matriarch Skills

Acrobatics +8 (+12 jump) (Dex 4, Racial 4)
Bluff +21 (Cha 5, Racial 4, Ranks 12)
Climb +13 (Str 5, Class Skill 3, Ranks 5)
Diplomacy +11 (Cha 5, Ranks 6)
Disguise +11 (Cha 5, Ranks 6)
Intimidate +20 (Cha 5, Class Skill 3, Ranks 12)
Knowledge (any one) +15 (Int 3, Ranks 12)
Knowledge (arcana) +15 (Int 3, Ranks 12)
Spellcraft +15 (Int 3, Ranks 12)
Swim +13 (Str 5, Class Skill 3, Ranks 5)
Use Magic Device +21 (Cha 5, Racial 4, Ranks 12)

Changed Skills: (+15 ranks from before)

Acrobatics +12 (+16 jump) (Dex 4, Class Skill 3, Racial 4, Ranks 1)
Bluff +21 (Cha 5, Racial 4, Ranks 12)
Climb +13 (Str 5, Class Skill 3, Ranks 5)
Diplomacy +16 (Cha 5, Ranks 11)
Disguise +11 (Cha 5, Ranks 6)
Intimidate +9 (Cha 5, Class Skill 3, Ranks 1)
Knowledge (arcana) +18 (Int 3, Class Skill 3, Ranks 12)
Knowledge (religion) +15 (Int 3, Ranks 12)
Perception +14 (Wis 3, Class Skill 3, Ranks 8)
Ride +8 (Dex 4, Class Skill 3, Ranks 1)
Spellcraft +21 (Int 3, Class Skill 3, Ranks 15)
Stealth +13 (Dex 4, Class Skill 3, Ranks 6)
Swim +13 (Str 5, Class Skill 3, Ranks 5)
Use Magic Device +21 (Cha 5, Racial 4, Ranks 12)

Swift Concentration: 2

Monstrous Humanoid Class Skills
Climb, Fly, Intimidate, Perception, Ride, Stealth, Survival, and Swim

Abjurant Champion Class Skills
Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana)

(Int), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), and Swim (Str)

Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics, +4 Bluff, +4 Use Magic Device

Mods
Str: 5
Dex: 4
Con: 3
Int: 3
Wis: 3
Cha: 5

"We don't know if Bavrati was working with the rest of the giants. I'm not risking war without evidence that he wasn't following his own agenda or was part of a small faction. We should look into finding out though. Alright, I'll try talking to the Priest Kings.

On another note, he mentioned having a 'paladin of flame' at some point. Did you or any of the other priests encounter and neutralize someone like that in the temple, or could she still be around?"

The Gaming Den

[Collective Game] WRATH OF THE RAIN MAKER