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

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Like just adding onto this, can you imagine. We come back from the winter voyage, walk into the hall of the Anwa kings wearing dragonscale and a sword on the edge of artefact status by the standards of the world.

And then we wheel in the head of the beast to prove the point and tell the tale of how we helped free a Godling from the neverborn.
 
Snowfire said:
Like just adding onto this, can you imagine. We come back from the winter voyage, walk into the hall of the Anwa kings wearing dragonscale and a sword on the edge of artefact status by the standards of the world.

And then we wheel in the head of the beast to prove the point and tell the tale of how we helped free a Godling from the neverborn.
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Then Zaia turns water into wine to get the "Yeah, we're flexing on all you mofos!" party started. :cool2:
 
@Goldfish
You know my stance on fire and explosions, so I'm still all for Fire Bomber.

Aside from that, it would be reasonable to keep his focus on Healing as an in-character trait, though Improvisational Healing can fall off, since he can now actually cast CLW, if he takes the Infusion talent.
 
Okay, here's what I have for Zaia's rebuild.

It's just sticking with the Fire Bomber Archetype, even though there are a couple good additional options he could take, like Trap Breaker or Chirurgeon, if he lost Poison Use. That's too much of a change to his character, however, so those are off the table. I'm not completely opposed to losing Poison Use if ya'll want, though. Both Trap Breaker and Chirurgeon would be nice to have, especially Trap Breaker, since we don't have anyone to fill that niche.

Zaia currently has 3 Traits and 1 Drawback. The Helpless Drawback is a real doozy, and one that we should take this opportunity to get rid of, since it recently made itself a PITA in a serious combat encounter. Losing Trained Medic in exchange is a fair trade, IMO, because the Trait was mainly there to get Zaia Heal as a Class skill. Heal is already an Alchemist Class skill, however, so we can do without it. This keeps his other two Traits, Artisan and Scholar of Ruins intact.

For feats, Zaia loses Improvisational Healer and Cosmopolitan. Improvisational Healer hurts a bit, but Zaia will be able to brew his own healing potions now, plus his CLW extracts can be used as healing potions as well. It's a net gain in overall function, IMO. Cosmopolitan isn't a huge loss, mainly because Knowledge (Nature) is a Class skill for Alchemists, so it's only really his Knowledge (Astrology) skill which suffers, and it's of marginal usefulness to begin with. We've kept his Linguistics skilled maxed out, so he won't be losing any languages between what he should know from his high Intelligence and the various skill ranks. The new feat I have him slated to learn lets him learn the Infusion Discovery immediately. That is necessary so that others can benefit from his Extracts, otherwise he would only be able to use most of them on himself.

Very little is actually changing in regards to Zaia's skills, at least the important ones he uses regularly. DP has already confirmed that the penalties to most of his Knowledge skills will be going away after the rebuild, so even stuff like Knowledge (Local), which will now have a +5 bonus will still be effectively just as useful at it was before when it was +10 but penalized due to being on a new world. The two skills that are suffering are Diplomacy and Disguise. Neither are Class skills for Alchemists and Zaia hasn't made much if any use of them since coming to this world. That said, I'm trying to address them in the initial Extract Formulae he's learning; Disguise Self to provide a magical disguise better than he could have ever managed through his mundane skills, and Focused Scrutiny to make up the shortfall in Diplomacy, along with providing a host of other bonuses to the user. For now, I'm not maxing his new Knowledge (Arcana) and Spellcraft skills, both because he needs the skill points elsewhere and because they'll still be pretty high between the Class bonus and his INT. It also kinda makes sense that such completely new skills won't immediately be maxed out so soon.

For his Alchemical Discoveries, I explained why Infusion is necessary earlier. For his other Discovery, I believe Tanglefoot Bombs is definitely the way to go. With it, every Alchemical bomb Zaia throws will behave as a Tanglefoot Bag. That's so good it's damned near ridiculous, especially since enemies in the splash area will also be subject to the Entangling effect in addition to getting doused in magical napalm. Halved speed and a -2 penalty to attacks and -4 to Dexterity (which can also lower attacks depending on the enemy, and will lower AC by 2) is a really painful debuff that can ruin a target's day really quick. And when splash damage is a concern, Zaia can use his Targeted Bomb Admixture Extract to prevent splash damage while inflicting more damage to the primary target.

As for Extracts, I only selected a couple that are purely offensive in nature, since Zaia will have plenty of very effective bombs to throw (plus other Alchemical stuff he creates), and both of them are intended for use with those bombs (Bomber's Eye and Targeted Bomb Admixture). The rest are a mix of buffs, healing, and neat utility effects for Zaia and the rest of the party. Just a few days ago, DP was lamenting how difficult it was to write scenes where the language barrier requires multiple translators (and the occasional telepathic Otter-kin). Various solutions were proposed (some more outlandish than others... :oops:), but a simple and effective one would just be Zaia creating a Comprehend Languages Extract for Roland to use when needed (assuming we don't create a small stockpile of Comprehend Languages potions soon). Other goodies, like Tears to Wine which I mentioned a few posts back, or See Invisibility (which would have been really fucking helpful when the ship had been infiltrated) are great quality of life modifiers or life savers, as the situation dictates. Focused Scrutiny is a 2nd level Extract so won't be available until Zaia reaches 4th level, but it will be a great one to have. Not so much for Zaia, though he could use the bonuses in some instances, but for Roland, who is our chief diplomat and Antonio who conducts most of our trade. A sip of Focused Scrutiny gives the user a lot of really good bonuses against a single target. For example, Ulk probably wouldn't have slipped by Antonio or Roland if either of them were using it.

Whew, that ended up being more writing than I originally intended... 🤓

Any concerns or suggestions ya'll have for the rebuild? We wont' be voting on it until tomorrow, at the earliest, so there is plenty of time for adjustments.

[] Zaia, The Alchemist Rebuild
-[] Class: Alchemist [Fire Bomber] 3
-[] Class Bonus: +3 Hit Points
-[] Traits: Artisan (Alchemy), Scholar of Ruins (Knowledge Geography)
-[] Feats: Extra Discovery (Infusion), Skill Focus (Alchemy), Skill Focus (Heal)
-[] Skills (27 points):
--[] Cross-Class Skills: Knowledge (Astrology) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1
--[] Class Skills: Craft (Alchemy) 3, Heal 3, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (Geography) 2, Knowledge (Nature) 2, Linguistics 3, Perception 3, Profession (Herbalist) 3, Sense Motive 3, Spellcraft 1, Use Magic Device 1
-[] Alchemy
--[] Discovery: Infusion, Tanglefoot Bomb
--[] Extract Formulae:
---[] 1st Level: Bomber's Eye, Comprehend Languages, Crafter's Fortune, Cure Light Wounds, Disguise Self, Endure Elements, Heightened Awareness, Shield, Targeted Bomb Admixture, Tears to Wine
---[] 2nd Level: Focused Scrutiny, Human Potential, See Invisibility
 
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@Goldfish, on staff recharging:
when a spellcaster prepares spells or regains spell slots, he can also imbue one staff with a portion of his power so long as one or more of the spells cast by the staff is on his spell list and he is capable of casting at least one of the spells
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Does that mean that as Esha doesn't currently know neither Shield, nor Magic Missile, she wouldn't be able to recharge the staff and it'll quickly become useless until some indeterminate point in the future when she learns one of these spells?

Or, @DragonParadox, had she learned Shield or Magic Missile from the spellbook she is currently studying?
 
myrix said:
@Goldfish, on staff recharging:

Does that mean that as Esha doesn't currently know neither Shield, nor Magic Missile, she wouldn't be able to recharge the staff and it'll quickly become useless until some indeterminate point in the future when she learns one of these spells?

Or, @DragonParadox, had she learned Shield or Magic Missile from the spellbook she is currently studying?
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Yeah, she'll need to know one of the spells to be able to recharge the staff. That's not a huge issue, even if she can't learn one of them from Ipsit's spellbook. She's not far from 4th level (the end of arc rewards might even get her there), and when she levels up she automatically learns two new spells of any level she can cast. Since she'll only be able to prepare a single 2nd level Necromany spell upon leveling up, there's no reason she couldn't use the other new spell she learns to acquire Shield or Magic Missile.

In the meantime, she can just refrain from using it to cast Magic Missile, as it uses 2 charges per spell. Just having it available for Shield spells is still quite good.
 
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Goldfish said:
DP was lamenting how difficult it was to write scenes where the language barrier requires multiple translators (and the occasional telepathic Otter-kin). Various solutions were proposed (some more outlandish than others... :oops:), but a simple and effective one would just be Zaia creating a Comprehend Languages Extract for Roland to use when needed (assuming we don't create a small stockpile of Comprehend Languages potions soon)
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Have to note, doesn't really change situation from asking Esha to help, unless the party we are speaking with agrees to drink the extract/potion too, which is clearly not a given. And we should always ask Esha to help, she knows things and helps us by giving us info on what we see or what we are talking about, like at the first meeting with the Danuk chief and at other moments, and she works well with Roland due to beneficial effects of Soulrider, like Sending, which he can now prompt her to initiate on his own also.

Maybe it would be better to take something else instead of Comprehend Languages?
 
Arhin said:
Yes, it seemed like an excellent lifesaver and moneysaver...
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It definitely was, but it was more of a stopgap measure. Now we have Inge who can use her Healing Hex and cast CLW as needed, plus Zaia who will be able to pour CLW Extracts down someone's throat, and they'll both be able to use Brew Potions, which they can produce at cost.
myrix said:
Have to note, doesn't really change situation from asking Esha to help, unless the party we are speaking with agrees to drink the extract/potion too, which is clearly not a given. And we should always ask Esha to help, she knows things and helps us by giving us info on what we see or what we are talking about, like at the first meeting with the Danuk chief and at other moments, and she works well with Roland due to beneficial effects of Soulrider, like Sending, which he can now prompt her to initiate on his own also.

Maybe it would be better to take something else instead of Comprehend Languages?
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It isn't a perfect solution, but it is a big step towards one. Esha won't always be available, and even when she is, having two people who understand the language can only streamline dealings with other people. Comprehend Languages doesn't just let you understand speakers, but also lets you read stuff written in other languages. Zaia would want it for that feature alone, IMO.

Zaia knowing the Formula for it also means he can make it into potions, and there are going to be plenty of times where that comes in handy. Antonio will certainly appreciate it when he's dealing with other traders and customers who don't share a language with him.
 
Something else to consider with Comprehend Languages is that it's an easily accessible 1st level spell, and thus pretty cheap to scribe into a scroll, brew into a potion, or even enchant in an item, whereas Tongues is a spell only useable by a small number of 5th or 6th level spellcasters, and much more expensive in any sort of consumable or item.

In a world like this, with low magic and lots of languages between many different people, it's probably fairly common at the upper levels of commerce, diplomacy, and other sorts of business dealings for both parties to use a Comprehend Languages effect for ease and accuracy of communication.
 
Are there any feats thay can allow one to gain an additional spell slot, and if so, is this permanent, and can they stack?
Because, in the future, especially if we ever have to fight large groups of foes, or an extended engagement, Inge and Esha could both quickly end up running out of spells, or else having to sharply ration them.
Having CLW potions makes things far less problematic in that regard, but it's still a potential issue.
 
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Goldfish said:
It's just sticking with the Fire Bomber Archetype, even though there are a couple good additional options he could take, like Trap Breaker or Chirurgeon, if he lost Poison Use. That's too much of a change to his character, however, so those are off the table. I'm not completely opposed to losing Poison Use if ya'll want, though. Both Trap Breaker and Chirurgeon would be nice to have, especially Trap Breaker, since we don't have anyone to fill that niche.
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Chirurgeon is pretty useless, as we already want the Infusion discovery.

Trap breaker is awesome, though, and he has already shown to be good at detecting traps back with the clockwork mage.

Plus, at level 6 he can use his bombs as mines, which are really good for action economy once we set an ambush.

I don't know how relevant is losing Poison Use, or if it can be compensated somehow.
 
Tomcost said:
Chirurgeon is pretty useless, as we already want the Infusion discovery.

Trap breaker is awesome, though, and he has already shown to be good at detecting traps back with the clockwork mage.

Plus, at level 6 he can use his bombs as mines, which are really good for action economy once we set an ambush.

I don't know how relevant is losing Poison Use, or if it can be compensated somehow.
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To be fair, Chirurgeon has other stuff going for it. The ability to remotely cancel Curative Infusions and prepare new ones in their place could be useful in certain situations. It would also allow Zaia to use the Extra Discovery feat for something else, like Precise Bombs or Explosive Bombs while stilling being able to use Extracts to heal. Then he could have learned regular Infusions as a 4th level Discovery. It's not amazing, though.

I agree that Trap Breaker is really good. I don't mind keeping Poison Use, since it matches up well with Zaia's previous class abilities, but it's not something he's made any real use of on this world and might not see much use going forward. If ya'll wanted to give it up so he could pick up Trap Breaker, I wouldn't mind a bit.
 
Goldfish said:
I agree that Trap Breaker is really good. I don't mind keeping Poison Use, since it matches up well with Zaia's previous class abilities, but it's not something he's made any real use of on this world and might not see much use going forward. If ya'll wanted to give it up so he could pick up Trap Breaker, I wouldn't mind a bit.
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I kinda prefer the poison because it works with his prior abilities.
The skills with it can also come in handy if we move in more courtly situations and have to avoid being poisoned eventually.
 
I also want someone who can make traps. It might now be Zaia, but I really want someone who can give us an advantage when we have to prepare for a fight.

P6 will have difficult fights. We need to get every advantage we can get. I don't know if we can hammer craft making skills into Zaia, but it would be nice to do so.
 
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