I'm glad we sent Sirim to deal with the Pathfinders. Cob has his strong points, but I somehow doubt he could be quite so successful when it comes to this sort of encounter.
Not quite the shop I was hoping for, but a tea merchant is interesting, too. That Meditation Tea is pretty good. A +2 bonus versus Mind-Affecting effects for 10 minutes could easily be enough to change the course of an encounter where we expect mind fuckery to happen. The stuff isn't cheap, but 30 gold a dose isn't crazy expensive, either. Would have been nice to have some of this stuff before dealing with Breolia.
[X] Meditation tea [x4 doses, total of 120 gold]
-[X] Mina will also purchase a small supply of normal tea for the simple pleasure of drinking it (if she likes tea, of course). If she needs to buy herself a bit more time before the others return, she could always ask the merchant for tea recommendations.
This is surprisingly useful. But now I am stuck with a mental image of the party sitting down to perform a tea ceremony before barging into a vampire's den.
"Not a lot of time to get all those balls and scarves flying, Master Shadow, but I have to admit its not the worst idea I've heard. The sellswords might simply lay down their arms, leaving us to deal with Pairo's brother. Keep the mirror close. I'll be in touch."
There is a way to keep our hands clean in there somewhere. If Gavhaul is assassinated, then this could actually work.
This would be a lot of fun if we cross paths with legit people in Taldan uniforms.
[x] Kori explaining himself to Gavhaul
I am a bit anxious about the prospect. Whether to get it out of the way first, or to keep it for last to milk up the drama, that is the question.
Honestly, I don't wanna miss out on those other teas. What if we really want to ID a magical item or try again on a failed Knowledge check for sweet Azanti lore?
I can imagine these staying in the bottom of our pack for another 50 updates and then coming in clutch. @DragonParadox either way kI want these, but can the reroll of the Insight leaves be boosted by spells, or is it just Knowledge skill + 2
[X] Insight leaves [X2, total of 100 gold]
---- [X] Gorok meeting the Lord Commander
[X] Meditation tea [x4 doses, total of 120 gold]
-[X] Mina will also purchase a small supply of normal tea for the simple pleasure of drinking it (if she likes tea, of course). If she needs to buy herself a bit more time before the others return, she could always ask the merchant for tea recommendations.
I can imagine these staying in the bottom of our pack for another 50 updates and then coming in clutch. @DragonParadox either way kI want these, but can the reroll of the Insight leaves be boosted by spells, or is it just Knowledge skill + 2
It was more; when using the Insight leaves' reroll, does one wake up and make the reroll straight away, or is there time for spells to be cast/buffs applied before making it?
It was more; when using the Insight leaves' reroll, does one wake up and make the reroll straight away, or is there time for spells to be cast/buffs applied before making it?
That is temporary negative levels not condition broadly, some creatures, undead most often undead, have powers that cause can temporarily drain levels off afflicted beings which are removed naturally by rolling a save within twenty four hours of the loss.
@Goldfish
By the by, have you thought about Prestige Classes for this game?
They are obviously far less relevant in PF than in 3.5, but there's still a long list of interesting ones out there.
Kori is probably best of just finishing the Oracle, but the others are worth a look.
For example, we are already working for the Pathfinders right now, so a Pathfinder Savant might be a later option for one of our Arcane friends.
@Goldfish
By the by, have you thought about Prestige Classes for this game?
They are obviously far less relevant in PF than in 3.5, but there's still a long list of interesting ones out there.
Kori is probably best of just finishing the Oracle, but the others are worth a look.
For example, we are already working for the Pathfinders right now, so a Pathfinder Savant might be a later option for one of our Arcane friends.
I haven't really thought much about it for our party. As you said, Prestige Classes are far less relevant in Pathfinder than 3.5, where they were practically a necessity. For the most part, they're inferior choices than just sticking with a class, and possibly an archetype.
Kori and Mina definitely don't need them, IMO. Much better to just stick with their regular progression. Same goes for Sirim, too.
Pathfinder Savant is interesting, but has pretty steep entry requirements. Sirim couldn't even qualify because he doesn't have a body and is barred from item creation.
Cob's progression as an Unchained Rogue is pretty good, too. Off the top of my head, the only thing that comes to mind for him that could be a good fit is Shadowdancer. Since we're using the EitR rules, he could qualify easily.
I don't know enough about Rangers and what's available for them to make a guess for Gorok yet. I would have to do a bit of research.
There's one Ranger organisation with their own class, but that's pretty specific and always CG.
Other than that I could only think of generally fighty classes, nothing Ranger-specific.
Also, we are playing with Elephant in the Room?
I really didn't pay enough attention to the mechanics so far, to miss that completly.
It hasn't really been very relevant so far. Everyone is low leveled enough that there hasn't been much of an opportunity for the removal of feat taxes to make a big difference. Gorok didn't need to burn a feat on Power Attack, for example.
It really does depend. There is a bit of a history here. Back in the old days of D&D 3.0 you did not really have many options building a class, sure you had equipment and feats spellcasters had their spells, but generally a new level just made you fractionally better at whatever you were already doing, feats were rare and generally some of them were better than others. So broadly speaking two lets say sorcerers turned out pretty similar. And then someone thought, wait what if my guy comes from the other end of the world? What about culture, education and being bitten by a radioactive spider? OK, maybe not that last one, point is when 3.5 rolled around the concept of a class that you could buy in by building your character up a certain way with both OOC feat buys and IC progression, become part of the Red Wizards of Thay say and you would get bonuses because you are not just some schmuck, you are a Red Wizard, you can pull some of their tricks, maybe at a cost.
The thing is prestige classes then became just inherently better than the base class since they had their own little quirks so when the people at Paizo made Pathfinder First Edition on top of the structure of 3.5 (because 4th edition D&D was a dumpster fire in a sewage plant with a nuclear reactor going going critical, but lets not get into that) they basically said what if we gave the base class a bunch of customizable options. This is stuff like Sorcerer Bloodlines, wizard Schools and especially archetypes. As an example Gorok is a Lantern Beater, a sort of ranger that does well underground and against people with light sensitivity. Arthetypes like prestige classes have features at every level so if you do decide to step into a Prestige Class you are giving up those bonuses and that flavor for whatever the prestige class does.
Prestige classes are not strictly better in Pathinder, but depending on what you are looking for and especially if you want to weave a character into a specific story or organization they can still make sense.
Oh one other thing @xpentakill I should say prestige classes are not strictly better as a group, if you want to power game picking a prestige class with care can still be very good. Though a thing I have found one should always be careful when power gaming is working out when the power shows up. It does not really matter if a build is godlike at level 20 if you had to slog for 19 levels with an under-powered, awkward PC.
[X] Meditation tea [x4 doses, total of 120 gold] -[X] Mina will also purchase a small supply of normal tea for the simple pleasure of drinking it (if she likes tea, of course). If she needs to buy herself a bit more time before the others return, she could always ask the merchant for tea recommendations. [X] Gorok meeting the Lord Commander
[x] Insight leaves [X2, total of 100 gold] [X] Gorok meeting the Lord Commander [X] Meditation tea [x4 doses, total of 120 gold] -[X] Mina will also purchase a small supply of normal tea for the simple pleasure of drinking it (if she likes tea, of course). If she needs to buy herself a bit more time before the others return, she could always ask the merchant for tea recommendations.
To Gorok's eye the Golden Aerie seemed both under and overbuilt. There was no way the teaming hive of Almas' populace would fit within its marble walls in times of strife or peril, and if the purpose was to defend against that very populace the walls could have stood to be lower. At least their chief—'consul' he reminded himself, with so many gathered so close having a specific word for the leader of each band of warriors, great or small, made sense—had the good sense to have a stool brought in instead of leaving him to stand or hold his tail stiffly in a chair meant for those without. To Gorok's surprise, the white-haired warrior even tried to greet Gorok in what was unmistakably an iruxi tongue, not one Gorok knew, but he could recognize the sounds and appreciate the attempt.
"I do not understand you, but I greet you in peace," he answered in the language of the deep dwarfs, being more familiar with it and less likely to break its bones in the speaking.
"You are not from the the south?" the man asked in surprise and differently accented dwarfish, continuing in Taldan. "The Sodden Lands?"
"On your maps our range would be in Cheliax, where the Whisperwood dips into swampy ground..." He hesitated a moment, not wanting to admit weakness, but not seeing any way around it. "There are not many of us left."
"Alas, that I can well guess why," Reginald Cormoth nodded grimly. "You are trying to get them out I heard, an honorable goal. Andoran could always use more hands to work for its prosperity and raise in its defense. Scarce would you find a people hardier and more determined."
Intrigued, Gorok asked the old warrior how he knew of other iruxi. That is how he learned that in his youth Cormoth had lead punitive expeditions against the pirates of the Shackles, which lead him onto the shores of the Sodden Lands where many scaled folks lived for the great storm had made the land hostile to the warmbloods who once lived there and wrecked their cities. Strangest and most distasteful of all to Gorok though was the fact that these Lirgeni had once taken iruxi slaves to labor for them. He could understand the woodcutters of Longacre cutting into the lands of his tribe, even as he hated them, since the less wood and more fields there were the more food their children would have in years to come, but to take a whole people as collared beasts of burden showed a disdain he could not understand. Did they think the strength of their labors could not also be turned to killing? Did they not see their claws?
"They used to pluck out the claws of hatchlings and burn the tips of their fingers with fire," the old knight explained darkly. "Not that it helped them much in the end. When I was new to my spurrs I met an old unclawed, a shaman of the storms, and he told us a story of how he killed one of the Saoc Brethren, the priest kings of Lirgen, bashed his head against the rocks when the storm overtook the stars."
The thought of a land where his people did not fade but grew strong awakened in Gorok a desire to go there and see, but Cormoth warned him that things had changed in the last ten years. "Those who call themsleves the Terwa Lords have been growing in strength and numbers and they love none but themselves. If they saw your companions they would try to kill them."
Gorok nodded to show he understood, but he could not but hiss. "If."
To his surprise the warmblood across from him understood that the word had been meant in jest. "Hard to spot are they? Aye, I heard something of that. There are some in the order who worry about hearing it from Eduarmot DeVorge of all people, but so it goes."
"Why?" Gorok asked. Trying to work out the feuds of warmbloods could be like untangling fig roots with bare claws, but he reasoned the old man was more likely than most to give a proper answer.
"Aristo blood, though if that were all of it I don't imagine there'd be nearly as many concerned. He has an aristo... way of doing things, enriching his kin, offering patronage. People who vote him in don't see it, they just see the flashy fellow going loud on the Lumber Consortium. The fact that his party, Common Prosperity, is sometimes associated with the Eagle Knights really sticks in some knights' craw. Every time they rally to us on the budget it plays into the Equalists' narrative that knightly orders are inherently elitist and hierarchical, a part of the Old Order."
"What of those who are not many?" Gorok asked after a moment's thought.
"Pardon?" Cormoth seemed to have been speaking more to himself than to him, surprised at the interruption.
"My tribe goes to Carpenden, yes? Even if we find good land and good neighbors there I will not live to see the day when we are many and so the many could impose their laws on us. For us the patronage of the few and strong would thus be good."
"Ah... explaining that one is going to take more time and, frankly, a more skillful tongue than I posses." The knight walked over to one to the shelves and pulled out a thin, but battered and oft used book. "Here, you can have this. It's a copy of On Government, what you're looking for is in chapter three: Community Councils and Representation."
Never one to refuse a gift, much less one of knowledge, Gorok took it, careful not to scratch the cover anymore than it already was and put it in one of his bags.
Gained On Government
On Government Description: A thin but battered looking book, its pages worn, but script still clear and meaning shaped with care by the the pen of Darl Jubannich, one of the Age of Lost Omens most influential philosophers. Ability: +2 Reference Bonus to Knowledge (Law) and Knowledge (History) relating to Adnoran and Galt
The Lord-Commander then took Gorok out into the courtyard of the keep and, before those assembled, presented him with a steel buckler burnished blue, the mark of an diving eagle, claws outstretched etched into it, though in another shade of blue rather than gold. The Iruxi guessed that color indicated membership of the order rather than just its favor. Though he knew he'd get more protection out of his axe, the mark might be worth more than weapons when set aside and it's time for talking.
Gained Buckler of Eagle's Honor
Buckler of Eagle's Honor Description: A small round buckler, finely made of steel bearing the symbol of the Eagle Knights, this workmanship is likely to be recognized throughout Andoran and beyond for good and for ill.
+2 Circumstantial Bonus to Diplomacy with those well disposed to the Eagle Knights/-2 to Diplomacy with those ill disposed to the order
As the other knights congratulated him on the killing of the hungry dead, one of them, a younger man, copper skinned and sporting almost as much face-hair as a dwarf, walked up to the man of the hour and swept up his hand up to the battlements. "Ah commendations, grand aren't they? Don't let these old stones weigh down on you though, we are all brothers in arms here, each doing our part."
"Too big, not big enough," Gorok declared to stunned silence... that swiftly turned to good-natured laughter when the iruxi warrior explained his reasoning.
"We work with what we have friend Gorok!" The Lord-Commander said thumping him on the back.
Looking east and a little south Gorok thought of Akorian, preparing to explain the happenings of the day to an audience far less congenial, hoping that his friend's quick tongue would serve him well.
How does he do so?
[] Emphasize that the Eagle Knights would have moved soon in any case, this was just your company getting something worthwhile out of the whole mess
-[]...and offer to share some of the profits: Write in how much
[] Focus on the fact that she tried to enchant him. There was no reason to trust her and less to mourn her Final Death
[] Write in
OOC: I'm cheating a bit with the vote, zooming across the map with the question. Hope you guys do not mind, I wanted to leave this on a meaningful question.
