Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

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Otterkin should be trained as assassins/ninjas/rogues since the enemy does it as well, its only fair. Also riding dogs pls!
Those who are interested have started to receive weapons training. Soon enough some of them will qualify for a PC class, then shortly thereafter the stories of deadly Razor Weasels will begin to spread... :ninja:
Name: Swift Pebble
Alignment: ???
Age: ???
Race: Otter-kin [Tiny Magical Beast]
Level: 2
Class: Rogue (Vexing Dodger)
Feats: Deadly Agility, Deft Maneuvers (B), Improved Initiative (B)
Traits: Cliff Jumper, Recreational Fisher, Trap Finder, Unlearned (Knowledge: Nature)
Class Features: Evasion, Limb-Climber, Sneak Attack (+1d6)
Special: Darkvision 60ft, Hold Breath, Low-Light Vision, Thought Speech (60ft)

HP: 17/17
AC: 10 + 5 (DEX) + 2 (Size) + 2 (Leather Armor) = 19
Initiative: +5 (DEX) + 4 (Improved Initiative) = +9
Movement: 20 feet (Land), 30 feet (Water)
Attack:
  • Cold Iron Short Sword: +1 (BaB) + 5 (DEX) + 2 (Size) = +8 [1d3+5, Critical: 19-20/x2]
  • Special: +2 bonus when using the Trip, Disarm, Dirty Trick, Feint, Reposition, or Steal Combat Maneuvers, and does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity.
Weapon proficiency: Dagger, Short Sword, Hand Crossbow

STATS:
6 (-2) Strength
20 (+5) Dexterity
13 (+1) Constitution
14 (+2) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
10 (+0) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 0 + 1 (CON) = 1
REFLEX: 3 + 5 (DEX) = 8
WILL: 0 + 0 (WIS) = 0

Special:
+1 Trait bonus on Reflex saving throws to avoid falling.

SKILLS:
Acrobatics: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 1 (CJ) = 11
Climb: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 1 (CJ) = 11
Disable Device: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 1 (TF) = 11
Escape Artist: 5 + 5 (DEX) = 10
Perception: 5 + 0 (WIS) = 5
Profession (Sailor): 5 + 0 (WIS) = 5
Sense Motive: 5 + 0 (WIS) + 2 (Racial) = 7
Sleight of Hand: 5 + 5 (DEX) = 10
Stealth: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 8 (Racial) + 1 (RF) = 19
Swim: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 8 (Racial) = 18

Special Abilities:
  • Hold Breath (Ex): You can hold your breath for 52 rounds (4 times your Constitution attribute) before risking drowning or suffocating.
  • Evasion (Ex): If you make a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, you instead take no damage. This can be used only if you are wearing light armor or no armor, and are not helpless.
  • Thought Speech (Su): You can communicate with any other creature within 60 feet that has a language. This communication is thorough but not always perfect, particularly when dealing with abstract or arcane concepts you are not familiar with. It is possible to address multiple creatures at once using Thought Speech, although maintaining conversations with more than one creature at a time is just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time. You lack the mechanisms to vocalize complex language.
  • Limb-Climber (Ex): When you are adjacent to or in the space of a corporeal creature at least one Size category larger than yourself, you can climb that creature's body with a successful Climb check against a DC equal to the target creature's CMD. Although you are holding on to the creature, this action isn't a Grapple; it doesn't provoke Attacks of Opportunity from the creature, and neither you nor the creature you climb gains the grappled condition. While you are on the climbed creature, the creature takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls against you (equal to the number of Sneak Attack dice you possess).
Equipment of Note: Cold Iron Short Sword (x2; Tiny-sized), Leather Armor
 
Those who are interested have started to receive weapons training. Soon enough some of them will qualify for a PC class, then shortly thereafter the stories of deadly Razor Weasels will begin to spread... :ninja:
Name: Swift Pebble
Alignment: ???
Age: ???
Race: Otter-kin [Tiny Magical Beast]
Level: 2
Class: Rogue (Vexing Dodger)
Feats: Deadly Agility, Deft Maneuvers (B), Improved Initiative (B)
Traits: Cliff Jumper, Recreational Fisher, Trap Finder, Unlearned (Knowledge: Nature)
Class Features: Evasion, Limb-Climber, Sneak Attack (+1d6)
Special: Darkvision 60ft, Hold Breath, Low-Light Vision, Thought Speech (60ft)

HP: 17/17
AC: 10 + 5 (DEX) + 2 (Size) + 2 (Leather Armor) = 19
Initiative: +5 (DEX) + 4 (Improved Initiative) = +9
Movement: 20 feet (Land), 30 feet (Water)
Attack:
  • Cold Iron Short Sword: +1 (BaB) + 5 (DEX) + 2 (Size) = +8 [1d3+5, Critical: 19-20/x2]
  • Special: +2 bonus when using the Trip, Disarm, Dirty Trick, Feint, Reposition, or Steal Combat Maneuvers, and does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity.
Weapon proficiency: Dagger, Short Sword, Hand Crossbow

STATS:
6 (-2) Strength
20 (+5) Dexterity
13 (+1) Constitution
14 (+2) Intelligence
10 (+0) Wisdom
10 (+0) Charisma

SAVES:
FORTITUDE: 0 + 1 (CON) = 1
REFLEX: 3 + 5 (DEX) = 8
WILL: 0 + 0 (WIS) = 0

Special:
+1 Trait bonus on Reflex saving throws to avoid falling.

SKILLS:
Acrobatics: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 1 (CJ) = 11
Climb: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 1 (CJ) = 11
Disable Device: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 1 (TF) = 11
Escape Artist: 5 + 5 (DEX) = 10
Perception: 5 + 0 (WIS) = 5
Profession (Sailor): 5 + 0 (WIS) = 5
Sense Motive: 5 + 0 (WIS) + 2 (Racial) = 7
Sleight of Hand: 5 + 5 (DEX) = 10
Stealth: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 8 (Racial) + 1 (RF) = 19
Swim: 5 + 5 (DEX) + 8 (Racial) = 18

Special Abilities:
  • Hold Breath (Ex): You can hold your breath for 52 rounds (4 times your Constitution attribute) before risking drowning or suffocating.
  • Evasion (Ex): If you make a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, you instead take no damage. This can be used only if you are wearing light armor or no armor, and are not helpless.
  • Thought Speech (Su): You can communicate with any other creature within 60 feet that has a language. This communication is thorough but not always perfect, particularly when dealing with abstract or arcane concepts you are not familiar with. It is possible to address multiple creatures at once using Thought Speech, although maintaining conversations with more than one creature at a time is just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time. You lack the mechanisms to vocalize complex language.
  • Limb-Climber (Ex): When you are adjacent to or in the space of a corporeal creature at least one Size category larger than yourself, you can climb that creature's body with a successful Climb check against a DC equal to the target creature's CMD. Although you are holding on to the creature, this action isn't a Grapple; it doesn't provoke Attacks of Opportunity from the creature, and neither you nor the creature you climb gains the grappled condition. While you are on the climbed creature, the creature takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls against you (equal to the number of Sneak Attack dice you possess).
Equipment of Note: Cold Iron Short Sword (x2; Tiny-sized), Leather Armor
Would the otter-kin need a feat for riding dogs? I forgot the rules regarding animal companions of non-druid classes... or are they considered as pets and hence does not need the Boon Companion feat
 
Would the otter-kin need a feat for riding dogs? I forgot the rules regarding animal companions of non-druid classes... or are they considered as pets and hence does not need the Boon Companion feat
It shouldn't be necessary. Since the Otter-kin are Tiny-sized, they can ride any suitable mount of Small-size or larger, within reasonable limits. That means a Medium-sized Riding Dog could easily carry an Otter-kin. Actually, it could probably carry two or even three of them without issues.

The only feats I can think of that would be needed to ride non-restricted mounts are maybe Monstrous Mount if you're going for something really exotic or Undersized Mount, and that's only if you're trying to ride something that's the same size category as you are.
 
[X] Try to repair the Marcella

We'll probably encounter that band again, if Redman has a say in it.
Still, another tenth of our sailors slain. With how often we sail into harm's way, we lose an obscene amount of them. This was a particularly dangerous clash. Hopefully it was largely new and inexperienced hands.

Who's going to train and sell riding dogs, anyways? The world is largely humans and similarly sized creatures,
 
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[X] Try to repair the Marcella

We'll probably encounter that band again, if Redman has a say in it.
Still… another tenth of our sailors slain. With how often we sail into harm's way, we lose an obscene amount of them. This was a particularly dangerous clash, but still… hopefully it was largely new and inexperienced hands.

Who's going to train and sell riding dogs, anyways? The world is largely humans and similarly sized creatures,
They don't have to start off as riding dogs. They just need to be large enough and of a suitable breed (i.e. not something skittish, neurotic, overly aggressive, etc). Roland has a +11 Handle Animal bonus when his Expert Trainer ability is included, which makes him very good at training mounts.
Expert Trainer: You receive a +2 bonus (1/2 Cavalier level) whenever you use Handle Animal on an animal that serves as a mount. In addition, you can reduce the time needed to teach a mount a new trick or train a mount for a general purpose to 1 day per 1 week required by increasing the DC by +5. You can also train more than one mount at once, although each mount after the first adds +2 to the DC.
 
Arc 12 Post 44: In the Wake of War
In the Wake of War

Fourth Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

At battle's end only the dead may rest, that much is true in this war as in as in any other. The wounded must contend with pain and loss and fear, and the guilt even that they yet live where their kith and kin are lost. There is only so much magic fit for healing them, only so much time for Zaia to apply his potions and his philters.. and there are no potions to salve the wounds of the spirit, that are inflicted on the hale as much as on the wounded.

The night had been restless, filled with the hanging of hammers and the hiss of saw on wood as the weary and the wounded slept the lords and captains held council, though that is perhaps too sedate a word for it. The news that they faced Unke the Red had passed though the camp like wildfire and it seemed every man and every captain had a notion of how that one might have come back to life, or why the daemons might want to steal his likeness.

Some like the Halfhand thought it was a trick to 'steal the fire out of men's livers', others like Lady Akuto judged that it was a true return form death of the man who had vowed to take the islands as his legacy, but that was all the more cause to press on for the daemons must surely be even more powerful for his aid... while far too many captains for your liking murmur that this is a sign that the whole invasion was doomed from the start and you should let the damned fight amongst themselves.

"We are not here for glory and for plunder, though those be our right if we win," Ohun says, he sounds older than you recall him being, weary with the hours unslept where he had healed though the night and then in the morning he had been nowhere to be found on the land, but in the sky scouting. "We are here because there is a stain on the land that only blood will cleanse..." One gnarled finger points at the mount where you had burned the bodies of the tainted, the very stones there had burned a ghastly white like their fouls flesh and now the horses would not go near it and even strong men would struggle with unease to come near . "Some of it you have shed, will you leave the latter to your sons and daughters, will you stand before your fathers in Ikomi's halls and drink but half the Horn of the mead of Heroes.'" He shakes his head and says with grim finality: "A drinking horn laid down is one that shall spill..."

He seems to have the matter well in hand thankfully, you had lost some of the company you had set off from Apuku and some of the locals, but even with the loss of their lord the locals would not now turn back. They had no other Island to flee to with the wide sea between then. It would be either victory or submission to the things that now rule in Noromo.

So you seek your own counsel as to what powers could have raised a warlord six centuries in his grave to fight now with a host of the dead. The answers you get are not what one might wish for.

"I know of no power that can call back one who has passed so long ago," Inge says. "Some linger as you saw, but they aren't whole... aren't really themselves, as the flesh rots the souls forgets itself and all that it left is the gaping wound that devours life and light, it's not just what the dead want, it's what they are."

"But you had said the Lonely Ones were of that kindred born?" Zaia interjects, curiously.

"They replace the parts they forget with other parts from other realms, the trees remember for them, the streams and the flowers. Did this Redman seem to you fey?" Esha asks then shakes her head in answer. "No, this was a man under the sky, one with a man's ambition. that he fled when he saw 'the Beast' as he called the spirit of the ship makes it all the more clear to my mind. I do not think he was restored from wraith or spirit bound to rotting flesh. I think that we should not be quick to deny and judge instead what the prisoners have to say. "

Of course no rout or retreat could have carried all the wounded from the field of battle, some there were who would fall with broken limbs or pain too great to carry on and with no companions to carry them. You grimace at the thought, having never liked 'dealing' with prisoners in the wake of battle. Some men there are who find joy in the task of getting prisoners to talk, but you are not among them and have always sought to be as far from their company as you can, but needs must when the devil drives.

"If you want the prisoners you had best hurry," Antonio says darkly. "I do not think anyone else in this army wants them to talk more than they want them to scream, not after the company they kept. You might be able to claim them as part of the company's prize so far, but that will cost you."

"Weapons and armor would be good for our lads as well," Tom pipes in, practical as ever, and by now a lot more at ease at speaking his mind in council, at least in matters that he feels he knows enough about. "Some of those strange swords even if the wizards say they aren't cursed."

"The stones from the mound would empower some of my magics," Esha adds. She does not add which magics, but by now you can all well guess.

What do you claim in the wake of the battle?

Choose two (subvotes are included)

[] Some of the spoils of the battle
-[] The strange swords of the Pale Ones, fearsome things and not accursed as far as any of the magicians or priests can see, but still many of the men are wary of them (Gain 12 Rhokas)
-[] Some of the stones of the Pale mount (2d6 Ghoul stones that allow the user to cast spells of the Necromancy school at +1 caster level)
-[] The Armor of the more well off foes (2d6 Bronze breastplates 20% chance of masterwork on each one)
-[] Spoils from captured ships (120x2d10 gp)

[] Prisoners to question before they are killed, either on purpose or though harsh interrogation
-[] Write in questions

[] Write in


OOC: Well not the most fruitful of investigations so far alas, but at least Ohun did not need your help keeping the expedition on track so you can now focus on what you get out of the battle.
 
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How often do our retinue make str and dex checks?
I like the look of the armour and the stones, although 2d6 ghoul stones is.. probably overdoing it.
Perhaps armour and gold, and buy one of the ghoul stones off someone else at a later date?
 
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How often do our retinue make str and dex checks?
I like the look of the armour and the stones, although 2d6 ghoul stones is.. probably overdoing it.
Perhaps armour and gold, and buy one of the ghoul stones off someone else at a later date?

The stones are literally part of the cairn where you buried the daemon-touched people. Claiming those is not a matter of taking them off some other raider but of persuading Ohun to let the half dead witch claim the death-touched stones. You could technically come back later and steal them, but that would be rather OOC for Roland.
 
Never mind then.
In that case, I think we have enough gold and will earn enough disposable income that we won't need more of it, and the Rhoka swords just don't seem very helpful. Even if we don't have a good use for most of the stones, I'm sure we can sell the rest to someone at a marked up price later on.

[X] Some of the spoils of the battle
-[X] Some of the stones of the Pale mount (2d6 Ghoul stones that allow the user to cast spells of the Necromancy school at +1 caster level)
-[X] The Armor of the more well off foes (2d6 Bronze breastplates 20% chance of masterwork on each one)


Am less certain about the prisoners though.

Edit: I forget the Fellowship fields most of this expedition's magical prowess. The PC star power is real.
 
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but of persuading Ohun to let the half dead witch claim the death-touched stones.
Perfectly reasonable claim, why would anyone object that? :D

By the way, how can we heal Strength damage? Obvious answer is "restoration spell", but it's a bit useless... Damage will heal with time, but it'll take a lot of time, right?
 
Well, let's kick it off then. We can ask as many questions as we want, so what do we want to know?
Off the top of my head, where did you come from, what did you plan to do, who supplied you, what is Redman, what's going on at the capital, who's actually on the throne right now, why are you fighting alongside these various monsters, would you like to join us, what defences and ambushes are ahead of us, how can we attack your supply lines?

Anyone has other ideas?

Edit: Also, who are your champions, captains, monsters and mages?
 
ever mind then.
In that case, I think we have enough gold and will earn enough disposable income that we won't need more of it, and the Rhoka swords just don't seem very helpful. Even if we don't have a good use for most of the stones, I'm sure we can sell the rest to someone at a marked up price later on.
The swords are quite simply better than most.
The damage of a longsword and the crit-range of a scimitar make for a better weapon than either of those would be.
 
The issue is they're exotic proficiency, so we'll need to train to use them.
But why? Our men have better things to do with their time than a slightly higher critical hit range.
 
Perfectly reasonable claim, why would anyone object that? :D

By the way, how can we heal Strength damage? Obvious answer is "restoration spell", but it's a bit useless... Damage will heal with time, but it'll take a lot of time, right?
One point per day, without magical healing.
Luckily Moru has Lesser Restoration.

The issue is they're exotic proficiency, so we'll need to train to use them.
But why? Our men have better things to do with their time than a slightly higher critical hit range.
It's a permanent upgrade and going from spear to this sword would even triple the crit-range, from 20 to 18-20.
 
Perfectly reasonable claim, why would anyone object that? :D

By the way, how can we heal Strength damage? Obvious answer is "restoration spell", but it's a bit useless... Damage will heal with time, but it'll take a lot of time, right?
One of Moru's 2nd level spells is Lesser Restoration, so at least we don't have to worry about convincing Ohun to heal our men. The spell only heals 1d4 points of ability damage per casting, but it doesn't have any costly components and Moru should be able to cast it at least 5 times per day. Can we ask him about helping our men out, @DragonParadox?
The swords are quite simply better than most.
The damage of a longsword and the crit-range of a scimitar make for a better weapon than either of those would be.
They're technically better, but the only ones among our people who use swords are Roland and the archers when they have to fall back on melee for one reason or another.

We could refocus our men to using swords instead of spears, but the general plan for a long while now has been to either keep them using spears or eventually switch over to polearms for the overall utility.

I'm not opposed to doing that, it would just be a major shift.

EDIT: @DragonParadox, I'm assuming each of the stones is a single-use item that is consumed as part of casting the Necromancy spell?
 
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Personally, I just want them to be literate before we consider retraining two feats and learning to use an Exotic Sword just to trade 20/ 3x for 18-20/ 2x.

I think literacy and a 10 Int would be more useful, to start.

The questioning, though?
 
One of Moru's 2nd level spells is Lesser Restoration, so at least we don't have to worry about convincing Ohun to heal our men. The spell only heals 1d4 points of ability damage per casting, but it doesn't have any costly components and Moru should be able to cast it at least 5 times per day. Can we ask him about helping our men out, @DragonParadox?

They're technically better, but the only ones among our people who use swords are Roland and the archers when they have to fall back on melee for one reason or another.

We could refocus our men to using swords instead of spears, but the general plan for a long while now has been to either keep them using spears or eventually switch over to polearms for the overall utility.

I'm not opposed to doing that, it would just be a major shift.

EDIT: @DragonParadox, I'm assuming each of the stones is a single-use item that is consumed as part of casting the Necromancy spell?

Healing of ability damage is automatic where it can be done. as doe. As for the stones yeah they are single use.

Pikemen could also use swords for close combat. As far as I can recall trying to use reach weapons in close combat can be troublesome.
 
Would still rather stick with shortswords. Training for Exotic Heavy Blade Proficiency could probably be better spent to do something or other.

On top of the slew from earlier, perhaps try to parse their number of mortal warriors too?
 
One of Moru's 2nd level spells is Lesser Restoration, so at least we don't have to worry about convincing Ohun to heal our men. The spell only heals 1d4 points of ability damage per casting, but it doesn't have any costly components and Moru should be able to cast it at least 5 times per day. Can we ask him about helping our men out, @DragonParadox?

They're technically better, but the only ones among our people who use swords are Roland and the archers when they have to fall back on melee for one reason or another.

We could refocus our men to using swords instead of spears, but the general plan for a long while now has been to either keep them using spears or eventually switch over to polearms for the overall utility.

I'm not opposed to doing that, it would just be a major shift.

EDIT: @DragonParadox, I'm assuming each of the stones is a single-use item that is consumed as part of casting the Necromancy spell?
Even if we don't change the feats at all, the swords would be better against certain kinds of enemies, particularly those with Dr, that our common soldiers could barely injure without critting.

As secondary weapons that are much better than shortswords they are already better with basic training.
 
To be entirely honest, if we really want the Rhoka that much we could probably just buy two or three of the other people, then pay a smith to make the rest for us, and still make a net profit with the gold option.
 
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The Rhokas are interesting and a potential upgrade, but they would take a significant time investment for our men to be able to use them as a main weapon, and like @Shine says, they have other things that time can be spent on. They would make good backup weapons, but there is still the time needed to become proficient in their use even if retraining feats is not included.

The stones are not all that tempting, IMO. A +1 caster level to Esha's Necromancy spells is not super helpful, and being consumed on use really limits their appeal.

The bronze breastplates are somewhat tempting. Armor is expensive, after all. Each set should sell for around 100 gold, or 175 if of Masterwork quality, if we didn't give it to our men. All of our melee-focused armsmen are already in Medium armor that is nearly as good (lamellar has the same AC bonus, it just weighs slightly more and it's ACP is 1 point higher), so I would be more interested in it for the monetary value. 2d6 would average out to us getting 7 sets, and 1 of them would probably be Masterwork, so we'd be looking at around 775 gold in value. Of course, the luck of the dice could make that swing wildly in either direction.

Simply taking the spoils, however, has the best chance for monetary gain, with an average value of 1,320 gold. That's nice, because we still don't know if we'll be getting much in the way of monetary rewards from this campaign and we've already spent significant resources so far beyond the lost trading time. Just the 14 potions we know have been used cost us 350 gold to make, and there will probably be many more used before this is all over with.

I also think we should interrogate the remaining prisoners and learn as much from them as we can. I've included questions for everything I can think of at the moment. Do ya'll have any additional ones I've missed? Some of these probably can't be answered, or answered accurately, at least, but we might be able to generally confirm some numbers if different prisoners give us roughly the same answers.

[X] Some of the spoils of the battle
-[X] Spoils from captured ships (120x2d10 gp)


[X] Prisoners to question before they are killed, either on purpose or though harsh interrogation
-[X] Who do they follow? Obari directly, one of his loyal lords, 'Redman', etc. This is looking to potentially be a threeway clusterfuck and we need as much information to determine who has what forces available as we can discern.
-[X] Approximately how many of them are there, and where are they located? Are their forces concentrated in Noromo, the countryside, or in other settlements? Of those gathered, what is the ratio of trained warriors compared to simple levies?
-[X] How many ships do they have? How many of them belong to loyal houses or the royal family, and how many were captured or stolen?
-[X] Besides men, what sorts of monsters have they seen, if any, which seem to be loyal to or commanded by Obari or his lords?
-[X] Are there any magic-users known to be among their forces? If so, how many and what manner of magic are they known to wield?
-[X] What do they know of the assassin who is able to become Invisible and take on the appearance of others? Do they know of any others within their forces with strange abilities?
-[X] What is the general attitude and morale of people in Noromo and other settlements loyal to Obari? How has he ruled in the past year? Is food scarce?
 
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