Chapter 19 [Silencing the Storm]

[reefwood]

Recap

Great job with the big battle! I wasn't too sure how much of an impact the starting distance would play, but realizing that many spells have super long ranges, it seemed to make sense that some battles would start far apart. I guess the distance sort of became the terrain feature of last night.

Revealing a little behind the scenes...all the Stormbringers were Level 13 (CR 12), so they were weaker than Brion, Nim, and especially the Horned Devil, but each one had a couple powerful attack spells or pretty good weapon damage, they all had ways to buff and heal to some degree, and all the mounts were special in some way. All the archers were Level 6 (CR 5), so very weak compared to the top Nemedorans on the field, but this level was just enough to get 1 more attack from BAB and take Manyshot for 1 more arrow on the first attack, so they could make 3 attacks using 4 arrows as opposed to 2 attacks using 2 arrows at Level 5 (CR 4) with only Rapid Shot, and it looks like Level 6 gave them just enough hit points to survive at least 1 fireball too.

As for the story, Nemedor and its allies have defeated the Stormbringers and the remaining majority of the Hydrahead defenders. There are still pockets of resistance, dangerous areas like the Blackfens, creepy mysteries like the Dead Spike, etc... but from a military outlook, the peninsula is under control of your coalition. Congrats!!!


Mission Score

Hydrahead Troops: 90 pt
Stormbringers: 60 pt

Total = 150 pt for Superb rating (5 AP)

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Spoils

There are a lot of spoils, and many of the items are similar. This list is just to show you what is available, but I am going to make a separate thread to actually select these items.

Knolan (half-elf)
+2 Chainshirt Horse Barding (50 lb)
+2 Breastplate (30 lb)
+2 Buckler (5 lb)
Headband of inspired wisdom +2 (1 lb)
Belt of incredible dexterity (1 lb)
Cloak of resistance +2 (1 lb)
Holy Symbol of Gozreh [silver, 500 gp] (1 lb)
Spellpouch (2 lb)
2x Potion of cure serious wounds [3d8+5] (0.1 lb each)

Mikal (half-elf)
+2 Chainshirt Horse Barding (50 lb)
+2 Breastplate (30 lb)
+2 Buckler (5 lb)
Headband of inspired wisdom +2 (1 lb)
Belt of incredible dexterity (1 lb)
Cloak of resistance +2 (1 lb)
Holy Symbol of Gozreh [silver, 500 gp] (1 lb)
Spellpouch (2 lb)
2x Potion of cure serious wounds [3d8+5] (0.1 lb each)

Honus (half-orc)
+2 Chainshirt Horse Barding (50 lb)
+2 Green Dragonscale Full-plate (50 lb)
+2 Darkwood Shield (5 lb)
Headband of inspired wisdom +2 (1 lb)
Belt of giant strength +1 (1 lb)
Cloak of resistance +2 (1 lb)
Holy Symbol of Sarenae [wooden] (- lb)
Spellpouch (2 lb)
2x Potion of cure serious wounds [3d8+5] (0.1 lb each)

Dasmius (human)
+2 Chainshirt Horse Barding (50 lb)
+2 Full-plate (50 lb)
+2 Heavy Steel Shield (15 lb)
+1 Shock Longsword (4 lb)
+1 Composite Longbow [Str rating +6] (3 lb)
-60 arrows (3 lb per 20 = 9 lb total)
Headband of alluring charisma +1 (1 lb)
Holy Symbol of Iomedae [silver] (1 lb)
Spellpouch (2 lb)

Glorin (elf)
+2 Chainshirt Horse Barding (50 lb)
+2 Mithral Chainshirt (12.5 lb)
Masterwork Longsword (4 lb)
+1 Shock Composite Longbow [Str rating +3] (3 lb)
-40 arrows (3 lb per 20 = 6 lb total)
Headband of inspired wisdom +2 (1 lb)
Belt of giant strength +2 (1 lb)
Cloak of resistance +1 (1 lb)
Holy Symbol of Sarenae [wooden] (- lb)
Spellpouch (2 lb)

Troops (half-elves)
16x +1 Breastplate (30 lb)
16x Buckler (5 lb)
16x Masterwork Longsword (4 lb)
16x +1 Composite Longbow [Str rating +2] (3 lb)
-600 arrows (3 lb per 20 = 90 lb total)
16x Belt of giant strength +1 (1 lb)
16x Cloak of resistance +1 (1 lb)
16x Pouch (0.5 lb each)

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Income

Days 76-80 = 5 days Time Off
Day 81 = 1 day of Mission
Total = 6 days

Brion: {[Level 15x10] + Profession (military) modifier = daily wage in gp} x6 days

Sahme: {[Level 12 x10] + Profession (military) modifier = daily wage in gp} x6 days

Nimarius: {[Level 15 x10] + Profession (military) modifier = daily wage in gp} x6 days

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Time Off

5 AP = 5 days (Days 82-86)

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Promotions

First Lieutenant Shaw is promoted to Captain.

Command Sergeant Major Sweetwater is promoted to Second Lieutenant.

Sergeant Major Steerhelm is promoted to Command Sergeant Major.

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Misc

Nim gave these items to called outsiders:
Horned Devil – Belt of Dex +2, Bracers of Armor +1
Hell Hound – Belt of Con +2, Amulet of Natural Armor +1
Bone Devil – Amulet of Mighty Fists +1

However, the Bone Devil is dead, so its item can be reclaimed, and now there is a dead Bone Devil too. If you want to turn it undead, it will have to done only with spells remaining after the battle, or it can be done during the next mission.

If anyone levels up, I will recalculate Leadership scores for followers. Also, I will brush up on poison. And if there are any questions about spell or special abilities used last night, go ahead and post them, so we can figure them out.

The next mission will be the end of this campaign. At least for the summer. I'm open to maybe doing more missions based on player ideas, but if we continue along those lines, it won't be until the fall (I'll be out of town for a couple weeks in Sept). Anyway, the final official mission will be related to pushing from the Hydrahead into the greater part of the Vallest continent, and in order to do that, the Coalition will have to contend with the celestial ogres. That's all there is to say for now because I still need to figure out most of it, but the mission will probably require 2 sessions.

[icnivad]

Awesome. Good work everyone. Looking forward to the celestial Ogres. Nimarious' cleric, Zahn will be raising the bone devil into a bloody skeleton.
Is there time after the battle for the more time consuming Create Greater Undead spell?

[reefwood]

Jul 28, 2011 11:42:36 GMT -5 icnivad said:

Awesome. Good work everyone. Looking forward to the celestial Ogres. Nimarious' cleric, Zahn will be raising the bone devil into a bloody skeleton.
Is there time after the battle for the more time consuming Create Greater Undead spell?

Yeah, there will be time to do stuff after the battle. The battle started at noon, and let's say it takes 1d4+1 hrs...and the die roll says 2 hrs, so it is now 2pm.

The Create Undead spells have to be cast at night, so Nim could begin casting at 8pm and finish at 9pm. The only thing that may be tricky is being tired based on when he woke, so let me check my notes on that...

Looks like everyone woke up at midnight. Nim can stay awake without penalty for 16 hrs +2 Con = 18 hrs, so that would be 6pm. He is tired after 6pm for 1 hr +2 Con = 3 hrs, so this would take him until 9pm. After 9pm, he becomes drowsy and will pass out at midnight. Anyway...

To cast while tired, Nim has to make a Concentration check of DC 10 + spell level, so DC 18 for Create Greater Undead, and he has a -2 penalty to Int/Wis/Cha, so it looks like his roll will be 1d20 +15 Level +6 Int = 1d20+21... so yeah, he will succeed no matter what as long as he begins casting by 8pm.

[icnivad]

Ok. Creating a Shadow will take 1 hr and 150gp worth of Onyx Gems. It is not created under Nimarious' control, but must be commanded, which is a DC 20 will save. I'm not sure how you want to handle that, since there's a chance of failure. Shadows have +4 will.

A Command Undead spell, has DC of 19, so no better.

And can the bone devil skeleton wear the chainshirt that Ghoul used to wear? They are both wingless large humanoids.

[michael]

Does Nim have any Fabricate spells prepared, or flexi-spells that could cast it? Since we have time left in the day, I might try to purchase some raw mithral (with Brion's own money from daily wages) to be fabricated into full plate for Garm.

[icnivad]

No, unfortunatally he does not. He used his flexi on one of the greater planar bindings, and level 5 spells are always tight since I try to keep a few teleports and dominate person prepared. It has a pretty fast casting time, though, so I could cast it at the beginning of the next session.

[reefwood]

Jul 29, 2011 15:27:45 GMT -5 icnivad said:

Ok. Creating a Shadow will take 1 hr and 150gp worth of Onyx Gems. It is not created under Nimarious' control, but must be commanded, which is a DC 20 will save. I'm not sure how you want to handle that, since there's a chance of failure. Shadows have +4 will.

A Command Undead spell, has DC of 19, so no better.

I'll handle this kind of like I did in the past. I guess one question I have is whether you need to know the outcome before the next session?

How this will play out is that Zahn will complete the create undead spell, and the creation of the shadow will trigger initiative. We might be able to do this online, but I'd be just as fine doing it at the start of the next session because this combat will probably only take a few rounds and go quickly since there is only one "enemy" for me to run.

Also, the shadow has channel resistance +2, so it has a +6 Will save against channel energy stuff like the Command Undead feat, as opposed to the +4 Will save vs the command undead spell.

Jul 29, 2011 15:27:45 GMT -5 icnivad said:

And can the bone devil skeleton wear the chainshirt that Ghoul used to wear? They are both wingless large humanoids.

A bone devil does have "useless wings" according to the book description and drawing, so it cannot wear the Large chainshirt that Ghoul used to wear.

[reefwood]

Poison

Giant Spider

Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 14; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d2 Strength damage; cure 1 save.

Unlike other afflictions, multiple doses of the same poison stack. Poisons delivered by injury and contact cannot inflict more than one dose of poison at a time, but inhaled and ingested poisons can inflict multiple doses at once. Each additional dose extends the total duration of the poison (as noted under frequency) by half its total duration. In addition, each dose of poison increases the DC to resist the poison by +2. This increase is cumulative. Multiple doses do not alter the cure conditions of the poison, and meeting these conditions ends the affliction for all the doses. For example, a character is bit three times in the same round by a trio of Medium monstrous spiders, injecting him with three doses of Medium spider venom. The unfortunate character must make a DC 18 Fortitude save for the next 8 rounds. Fortunately, just one successful save cures the character of all three doses of the poison.

Poison seems pretty straightforward, but I've seen some debate on the boards about when the initial save is made and at what point the stacking begins. I'm not going to give a bunch of examples. What I am going to do is handle it like bleed in the sense that the effect takes place at the start of the victim's turn... since Pathfinder seems to be about reducing the amount of rolls made and the amount of bookkeeping is needed to keep track of everything... so this way the victim doesn't have to make multiple rolls, or on various initiative counts of different enemies.

The first save will be made at the start of a character's turn. Multiple doses stack for the DC on the first save and all subsequent saves and extend the duration. New doses increase the DC and duration while the poison is still active. Once the poison is purged (via saves or duration ends), new doses of poison start at the base DC and duration. And here's an example to help this make sense...

Three giant spiders attack Bob on initiative count 9. Two giant spiders bite him and inject poison, but the third one misses. One dose of poison would require a Fort save vs DC 14 and last 4 rounds, but two doses require a Fort save vs DC (14 +2) = 16 and will last (4 + 4/2) = 6 rounds, and in either instance, one save will remove all the poison. Bob acts on initiative count 5, and the poison will not have any effect until the start of his turn and only if he fails the save. If he fails he takes 1d2 Str damage, and if he gets bit/poisoned one more time in the next round (init. 9), the Fort save goes up to DC 18 and the total duration becomes 8 rounds. He makes the save on his turn (init. 5), and one save is still enough to remove all the poison. Also, the damage roll never increases - it always remains 1d2 Str damage - but the total damage done could be greater since it could happen more often (6 rd or 8 rd instead of just 4 rd).

The alternative would be that Bob makes the saves immediately upon being bite, so one save after being bit on initiative count 9 vs Fort DC 14, and if he succeeds, then he makes the second save after the second bite on initiative count 9 vs Fort DC 14. If he succeeds on the second save too, the third save in the next round would also be vs Fort DC 14 on the spiders' turn, so despite receiving multiple doses of poison, the DC may never go up with this method.

The method I'm using seems to line up well with the highlighted example in the quoted part above: one save against the stacked DC for each round of the extended duration... as opposed to a separate save for each dose... and having the effect take place on the victim's turn gives time for multiple doses of poison to add up in the body.

The difference for the bone devil in this chapter is that its poison required 2 saves to cure. Two doses (either from two attacks in 1 round, or a second attack in a later round while the first dose was still active) would increase the DC to 22 and the duration to 9 rounds. Additional doses would continue to increase the DC and duration, and 1 save would not be enough to cure it, but as soon as the 2nd save was made, all the poison would be cured. Even if it was DC 26 with a total duration of 15 rounds and the 2nd save was made on round 3.

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Stun

Horned Devil

Stun (Su) Whenever a horned devil hits with a spiked chain attack, the opponent must succeed on a DC 27 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. This ability is a function of the horned devil, not of the spiked chain. The save DC is Strength-based.

I got a little confused about this because I had poison on my mind, but this effect takes place immediately, and it does not stack.

The Horned Devil (HD) acts before Bob:
Rd#1 - HD hits and Bob stunned for 1d4 = 3 rd (til Rd#4 on HD's turn)
Rd#2 - HD hits and Bob stunned for 1d4 = 1 rd (til Rd#3 on HD's turn)
Rd#3 - Horned Devil misses. Rd#2 stun ends, but Rd#1 stun still in effect.
Rd#4 - Horned Devil misses. Rd#1 stun ends, and Bob smites the Horned Devil.

[icnivad]

Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.

[icnivad]

I'll also gather up all of the headbands, belts, and cloaks that no one else wants. The most useful thing is the headband of charisma +1, though.

[reefwood]

Aug 15, 2011 14:07:42 GMT -5 icnivad said:

I'll also gather up all of the headbands, belts, and cloaks that no one else wants. The most useful thing is the headband of charisma +1, though.

This is all being handled in the Spoils thread, which I just updated, and you had already claimed them all in there anyway.

The shadow stuff still needs to be figured out - if you still want to try it, and at this point, it will probably be easiest to just do it at the start of the session. Looks like it will be Level 15 Nim and Level 12 Zahn vs the Shadow and with only the spells they had left at the end of the previous session.

EDIT: Also, Nim is drowsy by the time he finishes casting Create Greater Undead, and that will lower his spell DCs by 3 cos it's a -6 penalty to Int/Wis/Cha.