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

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uh why is it worthless?
It's, of course, a meme.

But, uh, how do I say it, what the hell?

It seems everything got sacrificed at the altar of Bodyguard. Cooperative Combatant is nearly worthless as the aid another which requires an attack action (giving an ally a bonus to hit, at the cost of your own standard (!) action) has a flat AC of 10, which as a full BAB melee we should be hitting trivially (seriously, Lv 6 and STR 14 and you only miss on Nat 1s, even at lv 2 it's a very easy hit). But that's a bad strategy unless we have Swift, or at least Move action Aid Anothers anyway, and I can't see us qualifying for Swift Aid... ever. Do we have some plan for getting that?

Cooperative Combatant could have been Reactionary, negating the need for Noble Scion (which was already questionable as we are all but certain to bump DEX when the build uses AoOs and Combat Reflexes to do its thing, costing us a feat to give +1 to Initiative, Improved Initiative would have been four times better at the same cost and is Core).

Are we using Elephant in the Room mod or something?

Heck, Illuminator is a straight upgrade to Influence, and makes perfect sense for a leader on the battlefield.

The stats are weird and the core strategy isn't very good at all.

Some choices were good: Courtly Knight is smart, Bodyguard companion as well. The skill distribution is good too.
 
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Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Aug 13, 2021 at 2:28 PM, finished with 40 posts and 14 votes.
 
Survive till level 6?
We just need 1 point of INT and a higher BAB.

Sure, 6 looks far away, but once we get there we will stay a long time and take many feats, so making this the first would look good.
Yeah, at which point we dunked our STR and failed to bump either DEX or CON and spent two feats to grant +1 to attack to an ally as a swift action. So, Combat Reflexes, Noble Scion, Combat Expertise and Swift Aid.

Like, there's no good move forward, y'know? No endgame.

Charging for real takes three feats, Power Attack is another one, and we are essentially booked.

For some reason it was really bugging me, and I realized why: this kind of strategy is good for our horse.

Seriously, Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard and In Harm's Way: a great combination for a faithful steed.

We could pick up Mounted Combat, Ride-by-Attack, Spirited Charge and Power Attack, and our horse would accomplish virtually everything our current build does, but better because he has two and a half times as many AoOs to intervene with Bodyguard with, and we could still be a dashingly sociable knight with a killer charge, as you'd expect from a knight.
 
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Yeah, at which point we dunked our STR and failed to bump either DEX or CON and spent two feats to grant +1 to attack to an ally as a swift action. So, Combat Reflexes, Noble Scion, Combat Expertise and Swift Aid.

Like, there's no good move forward, y'know? No endgame.

Charging for real takes three feats, Power Attack is another one, and we are essentially booked.

For some reason it was really bugging me, and I realized why: this kind of strategy is good for our horse.

Seriously, Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard and In Harm's Way: a great combination for a faithful steed.
In theory I hope the combination could work if we actually get a better melee companion.
It's hardly worth boosting Men at Arms with our limited actions, but for someone who melees with full greatsword-swinging power the +3 in important moments might make the difference.
Meanwhile we are somewhat tanky and can draw the attention of stupider foes who don't understand to kill the DPS guy first.

All that presumes a strong party for which we can be the unimportant support-character though.
 
Arc 1 Post 14: Walls of Iron
Walls of Iron

Day Eleven, Year Unknown

"Rally, rally Normands!" you shout and you are proud to see them do so. In the face of horror, in the face of death walking and grasping them they do, rushing each to the defense of their fellows as best they can to face the foe shoulder to shoulder. Not one man flees to the dubious safety of the towers. A few even manage to lunge at the stumbling horrors, wild stabs driven by desperation as much as skill but they find their mark just the same, the enemy seemingly unconcerned with guarding their own foul existence, needing only to kill.

You hear the strangled cry of one man slammed into the muddy ground by a frenzied corpse, his spear knocked from his hands as the thing flails about like some grotesque puppet.

One Man-at-Arms Unconscious (-7 HP)

Two Men-at-Arms Wounded (8 and 10 HP)


"Blades out!" you cry as you pull Zaia behind you. Spears would be no use out of formation even if you could trust that those already dead would die from being pierced rather than hacked apart until foul sorcery could no longer drive them forth

As you trim the head from the corpse you had just unarmed, ignoring its scrambling against your armor, two of your men manage to sink their own blades into the monster that had overwhelmed their comrade and half-stab half-throw it away. Elsewhere blows that were meant to fight living men were light as a feather against those who knew neither pain nor fear. Worse, Nico had found himself away from the protection of his fellows and the things had enough wit and malice to single him out.

Eleven

For a moment you are caught between protecting Zaia and rushing to his defense, before the doctor takes matters out of your hands. He steps out from behind you and draws from one of the many pouches at his belt a delicate glass vial and tosses it onto the mob of corpses. What is in it you cannot say but it burns like the devil's own spit, flesh and bone bone sizzling with the scent of foul vapors.

With the madness of battle on him Nico charges, the name of Verley in his lips, and hacks the weakened flesh of the most burned corpse shoulder to groin, and though he does not escape the claws of the others unscathed his armor takes the brunt of it.

Ten

Another man is pulled from the makeshift line, pummeled and clawed at with filthy fingers, and as you run to his defense a second horror lunges at you from behind and tears off your helm, sending you reeling. You kill one more of the ones Zaia had burned with his devil water, your armor keeping you safe from the blows of the other. Looking around wildly you see two of your men had managed to cut the legs out from another one of them.

One Man-at-Arms Unconscious (-6 HP)

You take 5 Damage

Eight

The doctor rushes again towards the thickest fighting, ducking behind the armored forms of your men when he can but emerging again with another of his strange vials. Again dead flesh smokes and bubbles, again your men managed to kill another pair, just as young Henri has his arm broken in a sickening twist, almost sending him to his knees.

One Men-at-Arms Wounded (1 HP)

Six

One more falls as you send its jaw flying then drive your sword into its brain. You had killed more than half of them, and if these were normal , living men they would have broken long since, but they are not. You face the dead and damned and only in victory might you find absolution. A mad laugh leaves your lips at the thought, still more at the fact that you believe it.

"I only have so many vials!" the doctor shouts with the affronted tones of a shop-keep thinking of his coin pouch and not a man in the midst of deadly battle. Burning water runs together with the blood of the living and the foul fluids of the dead, but it is the latter that flows thickest. Alas that he had mistimed his throw and there is no one to distract this gathering of corpses from him. The dead stumble forward, but you are on your guard. You lash at one as it stumbles forward and end it, slaying the second on the backhand.

Four

By now your men had learned that they are swifter and far cleverer than their foe, able to use strategies against them that would never work against a living man, drawing them apart then turning to hack at them. The last four die, as much as something of that ilk can be said to, and in the end your sword is dripping with ichor.

None

Of the seven men you had brought with you only five are still standing, one of them barely, cradling a shattered arm, and in that moment the gate to the outer wall of the keep slams open... but nothing passes through, there is no sound more.

What do you do?

[] Enter the fortress, you cannot leave more of this foulness behind you (your men must pass a morale check to accompany you)

[] Order a withdraw, you need time to plan, to think about what just happened (risk of being taken by surprise while you regroup)

[] Write in


OOC: The zombies either rolled like shit or they got nat 20s, there didn't seem to be much middle ground.
 
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@TotallyNotEvil

On the matter of your build, I think it is fair to say that your base stats are fixed right now, but feats and skills can be retrained with time if you put the work in. I mean with so few levels to play with it is only fair that I give you guys some chance to do so, but there is going to be opportunity cost, the world will not stand still to wait for you to train.

This ain't Skyrim. :V
 
I love Snowfire to bits, you know that @Snowfire , but man, this wasn't a very well calculated move.
To be fair I wasn't exactly calculating much. I like the bodyguard build, it can be a lot of fun, and we'll activate it fully next level for full application. Or in other words, don't expect elite minmaxing from me my dude. I've deliberately forgotten how to do so :p

Hmmm, what to do, what to do. I think we need to go forward. Killing the zombies opened the gate, and we need a secure area around us for the wounded. We've got excellent social skills for boosting a morale check, too.

@DragonParadox would a social write-in to this effect be of aid to the morale check? Focusing on the needs of the wounded, I mean.
 
Here's how I'd do it:
[] Cavalier 2
-[] Archetypes: Strategist Honor Guard
-[] Order of the Dragon
-[] STR 14 DEX 12 CON 13 INT 12 WIS 8 CHA 14+2
-[] Feats: Mounted Combatant, Shake It Off (B), Power Attack
-[] Traits: Illuminator, Irrepressible
-[] Mount Archetype: Bodyguard
-[] Mount: Silver (Heavy Warhorse)
-[] Light Armor Proficiency (B), Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard
-[] Skill Ranks (12): 2 Diplomacy, 2 Handle Animal, 2 Intimidate, 2 Perception, 1 Ride, 2 Sense Motive, 1 Survival

We use Bodyguard on Silver, Silver uses Bodyguard on us. We can also use it on adjacent allies, but not going for Combat Reflexes and rejigging the Traits means our to-hit and damage get significantly better. We can actually qualify for Power Attack. We can round off our CON at 4th, and high CHA still means good socials and a good way into Paladin.

When we use Tactician, we greatly enhance our troops just by being there, leading them. In the future, we could pick other Teamwork feats for the occasion, like Escape Route.

Courtly Knight isn't bad at all, but as far as fighting with our men is concerned, and as this is E6 they will always matter at least a little, Tactician actually goes a long, long way towards helping them. And it helps us whenever we are either besides them or atop our trusty steed.

It costs us the Courtly Knight bonus, but I think being able to effectively lead our troops like that is more worthwhile. We even come out ahead in Diplomacy.

I'd go for Courtly Knight if The People wanted it badly. It's a valid choice if we want every edge at them talky talks.

But it bears noting that we are currently in a dead-end for our guy, mechanically speaking: we either go all the way with Swift Aid and hope DP's mercy lets us use our Dragon Order bonus on it, which renders us entirely innefective in combat as we cannot afford even Power Attack and granting one person an ok buff isn't a viable strategy, or we bump STR, get PA and just kind of meander along in slight suckage. Combat Reflexes can work well for Bodyguard, but not with our incredibly meager stats.

It was kind of a fatal mistake, there.

Not that anyone asked :V

For an E6 game, I'd suggest @DragonParadox look at this: The Elephant in the Room: Feat Taxes in Pathfinder – Michael Iantorno
 
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Well at least none of our people are dead, but ominous that keep opened on its own.

Still, some walls around us better right now, especially with wounded we need to take care of.

Also, doc is packing greek fire! Or something like it.
 
@DragonParadox would a social write-in to this effect be of aid to the morale check? Focusing on the needs of the wounded, I mean.

Yes a write in will help, though Roland cannot really guess by how much. He does know these people but it is a rather novel situation


Interesting, I will definitely look into this, but no promises about using it. I am being very careful of things that might unbalance the game given what happened to the last one
 
I'd like to add my support to this as well. It's an excellent fix and I've used it without issue in many, many games. A lot of it just makes sense.

Yes a write in will help, though Roland cannot really guess by how much. He does know these people but it is a rather novel situation
Next update will be tomorrow, yeah? Just wanting to know timeline so I can allocate.
 
I don't think withdrawing is the way to go here. We have two men in the process of dying who need immediate first aid, plus several injuries of varying severity among the rest of our forces. The tower seems dangerous, but it doesn't feel like a trap. Since @Snowfire seems to be planning a write-in for extra morale, I'll trust in his speechification prowess.

[X] Snowfire
 
Interesting, I will definitely look into this, but no promises about using it. I am being very careful of things that might unbalance the game given what happened to the last one
If there ever was a game for EitR, it's E6 :wink2:

I will say, I edited some stuff in the post you quoted.

I actually haven't caught up further than like chapter 3 since I realized our horse is better than us at what we do, because our horse is better than us at what we do.

I don't know how terribly it'd ruffle your sensibilities, but if there's any possibility of chalking it up to "early installment weirdness"... Well. Right now, a couple key things done differently would seriously change what happens down the line.

Heck, I could do it without even actually changing any modifier at all: swap STR and DEX (doesn't change modifiers at this point), swap Coorperative Combatant for Reactionary so that you can swap Noble Scion without changing the Initiative modifier and take Mounted Combat instead. Combat Reflexes becomes Power Attack or, in case you decide on EitR, Ride-by-Attack and we are suddenly looking a hell of a lot more like a Knight.

Without changing the value of a single skill, save or stat modifier. But now we can round off STR at 4th and are able to Power Attack and thus have relevant damage, and also actually do the "riding of the horse" thing.
 
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This is why I don't like playing no magic casting classes. We literally can't do anything outside of combat. Probably should focus on being a skill monkey honestly. Since this is E6 skills will be useful.
 
If there ever was a game for EitR, it's E6 :wink2:

I will say, I edited some stuff in the post you quoted.

I actually haven't caught up further than like chapter 3 since I realized our horse is better than us at what we do, because our horse is better than us at what we do.

I don't know how terribly it'd ruffle your sensibilities, but if there's any possibility of chalking it up to "early installment weirdness"... Well. Right now, a couple key things done differently would seriously change what happens down the line.

Heck, I could do it without even actually changing any modifier at all: swap STR and DEX (doesn't change modifiers at this point), swap Coorperative Combatant for Reactionary so that you can swap Noble Scion without changing the Initiative modifier and take Mounted Combat instead. Combat Reflexes becomes Power Attack or, in case you decide on EitR, Ride-by-Attack and we are suddenly looking a hell of a lot more like a Knight.

Without changing the value of a single skill, save or stat modifier. But now we can round off STR at 4th and are able to Power Attack and thus have relevant damage, and also actually do the "riding of the horse" thing.

The issue is the sheet has been voted on, there was debate, the debate closed and the people who made the winning vote have the expectation that it is going to stay that way until changed by another vote. It feels like bad GM-ing to me to change that overnight. I think it would be best to have stat and feat changes be done through IC progression not only in the interest of preserving past votes but also allowing Roland to grow and change. Maybe he really was fine with being the bodyguard in someone else's story and maybe with the passage of time that will start to shift (that is up to future votes though)
 
If there ever was a game for EitR, it's E6 :wink2:

I will say, I edited some stuff in the post you quoted.

I actually haven't caught up further than like chapter 3 since I realized our horse is better than us at what we do, because our horse is better than us at what we do.

I don't know how terribly it'd ruffle your sensibilities, but if there's any possibility of chalking it up to "early installment weirdness"... Well. Right now, a couple key things done differently would seriously change what happens down the line.

Heck, I could do it without even actually changing any modifier at all: swap STR and DEX (doesn't change modifiers at this point), swap Coorperative Combatant for Reactionary so that you can swap Noble Scion without changing the Initiative modifier and take Mounted Combat instead. Combat Reflexes becomes Power Attack or, in case you decide on EitR, Ride-by-Attack and we are suddenly looking a hell of a lot more like a Knight.

Without changing the value of a single skill, save or stat modifier. But now we can round off STR at 4th and are able to Power Attack and thus have relevant damage, and also actually do the "riding of the horse" thing.
I would be down for this, since it's still so early in the quest and doesn't really affect anything yet.
 
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