Edit: Just for fluff:
-[ ] Before casting Extended Mythic Invis on Cob (which is the moment Cob leaves to begin scouting), Kori casts Guidance on him. "Be safe".
Also, would you mind adding the following in a spoiler to your shopping list?
I want it for Deeper Darkness shenanigans:
Purchase: I'd also like to pay for someone in the city to cast two [one as a backup/replacement] instances of Heighten Spell (level 4) Continual Flame on two small (one inch long by one third inch on the sides) rocks or hard pieces of metal that have a small hole in them that we can thread a piece of string through.
Explanation: The idea is that on the string is another rock of the same size that Kori can cast Deeper Darkness on (10 min/lvl, 60ft radius), and then the two rocks on a string are put into a pouch.
That means that if we have a bunch of foes at different ranges, someone can whip out the two rocks on a string, and have 60ft radius of deeper darkness, with a 20ft radius regular lighting space carved out of the middle.
That way our party memebers can focus on the closer foes, while more distant archers will have to deal with a massive miss chance or have to move closer, and Kori and anyone else who can see through Deeper Darkness are completly unhindered.
(Bonus points if the two rocks are much smaller, and can be inserted in a collar around Peppers neck, with some sort of easy-press clasp/button that he can hit with a paw to reveal the stones).
Weaknesses: This tactic requires a casting of Deeper Darkness, which means it isn't useful if we aren't expecting combat in the next hour or so, i.e. are ambushed
I get what you are going for here, but you're making it a bit too complicated.
The only reason I can see to have the Heightened Continual Flame and Deeper Darkness focuses on a string is if you're going to weaponize them as a set of Bolas. That's a ranged Exotic weapon that none of our people can use well because only Kori has See In Darkness and his ranged attack bonus isn't all that good even before you figure in the penalty for using a weapon you don't have proficiency in. Even if he took the time to learn to use bolas, it wouldn't really be worth it, IMO. If he wanted to hit someone with a ranged Deeper Darkness effect, it would be better for him to cast the spell on a crossbow bolt and fire that at them.
As for the Heightened Continual Flame focuses, that seems like a great idea to me. It will cost 330 gold to have each of them cast on an object. What if we just bought several cheap 5 gold lockets for our people, then pay to have the spell cast on a coin affixed to the inside of each locket? That way they could wear the locket attached to their amulets, then open it if they need the extra light to see through Deeper Darkness?
If he wanted to hit someone with a ranged Deeper Darkness effect, it would be better for him to cast the spell on a crossbow bolt and fire that at them.
That way they could wear the locket attached to their amulets, then open it if they need the extra light to see through Deeper Darkness?
My thinking is that we can cast Deeper Darkness on a rocks/coins is are attached (via string) to a Continual Flame item. Put that pair of items in a pouch. Then if it's useful to have a Deeper Darkness sphere (with a 20ft radius core of bright light inside it) someone can whip out the two items at once as one action. Using personal lockets means taking the Deeper Darkness item out of the pouch and then opening that locket, which feels like two actions.
My intention here isn't to put foes inside deeper darkness, it's to create a deeper darkness "shell" around our party that further away foes can't see into, while mitigating the impact Deeper Darkness will have on party. And doing so as a single "retrieve item from Haverstack"/"Pepper pushes a button/switch on his collar" move action.
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Though having personal lockets for when we're ambushed is a great idea in its own right, and I like that too.
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Also, Scabbard of Keen edges is CL 5, and the spell lasts 10/min level. In case Sirim gets made and we need to go hot, maybe Gorok should use it now with the other 10 min/level buffs?
@DragonParadox Also, can other people make use of it, like Cob and Leontas/Pisca? It's 3 uses per day.
Also, Scabbard of Keen edges is CL 5, and the spell lasts 10/min level. In case Sirim gets made and we need to go hot, maybe Gorok should use it now with the other 10 min/level buffs?
@DragonParadox Also, can other people make use of it, like Cob and Leontas/Pisca? It's 3 uses per day.
All Gorok needs to do is draw his sword from the scabbard to activate the effect.
And yes, any blade drawn from the scabbard can have the Keen Edge effect placed on it. The scabbard also changes size to accommodate any blade placed in it, so others can benefit from it as well.
It's tied to caster level, not that it can create a supernatural level of darkness. Deeper Darkness completely no-sells 2nd level and lower Light spells, but certain light spells of 3rd level or higher can counter or Dispel it. Continual Flame is 3rd level, so it can still be used in a Deeper Darkness AoE, but it needs to be Heightened to at least 4th level or it will be automatically countered any time a Deeper Darkness spell is cast nearby.
So, if a third level Continual Flame is cast before a third level Deeper Darkness is cast, then the DD will counter/dispell the CF, as they're the same level.
But if the CF is cast at a higher level, then the Deeper Darkness spell radiates a 60 ft radius sphere of Darkness, but fails to suppress the previously cast Continual Flame spell, which radiates light at mundane torch ranges.
...And it's in crafting this post that I realise that "radiates" might mean that my Deeper Darkness "shell" idea might be non-viable.
If Deeper Darkness just "made an area dark", that'd be great, but my read is that "radiate" means that if the DD's source is within the CF's aoe, then the darknessradiating from the Deeper Darkness'd object will be fully overwritten by the Continual Flame's light.
...And it's in crafting this post that I realise that "radiates" might mean that my Deeper Darkness "shell" idea might be non-viable.
If Deeper Darkness just "made an area dark", that'd be one great, but my read is that "radiate" means that if the DD's source is within the CF's aoe, then the darknessradiating from the Deeper Darkness'd object will be fully overwritten by the Continual Flame's light.
Not quite. The two effects can exist simultaneously, so long as the smaller one has the higher spell level.
The Continual Flame effect will illuminate it's smaller radius, raising the light level while the much larger Deeper Darkness effect will lower light levels.
If nothing else, it can break line of sight for anyone outside the Deeper Darkness AoE who doesn't have the See in Darkness ability.
Unrelated, if this goes well, I'd like to try and use the Governor's goodwill to get him to pressure people really hard to get that Rune of Rule spell. And a trustworthy Raise Dead while we're at it, 'cuz why not?
Second, I'm a bit unclear on Rings of Spell Storing. Can someone put in them and anyone else can equip that ring to use that spell, or does the spell need to be on the user's classes' spell list for them to use it?
Second, if anyone can make use of a Ring of Spell Storing, how does that interact with Bestow Insight?
Idea: we (Wild Arcana/Shadow Enchantment?) cast (boosted Caster Level) Bestow Insight into a ring, give[1] it to a Shipbuilder/Designer to use, and then they cast (at the boosted CL) Bestow Insight (Shipbuilding) on Pepper for the Insight bonus to his rolls?
[1] We pay them to do this for us, should be cheap and easy to find someone (note, use Herman Potential + Fortune when trying to get someone).
@DragonParadox would the above work, or does the person putting Bestow Insight into the ring need to choose (and have) the skill in question at the time of casting?
Edit: If Bestow Insight can work as above, but the spell needs to be cast "properly" rather than via Wild Arcana/Shadow Enchantment, then I want to buy that Scroll too
@DragonParadox would the above work, or does the person putting Bestow Insight into the ring need to choose (and have) the skill in question at the time of casting?
Unfortunately not, boosting a spell like that would boost its effective spell level per the metamagic you are using, you just don't pay that when casting due to being mythic, the ring is not mythic.
Second, I'm a bit unclear on Rings of Spell Storing. Can someone put in them and anyone else can equip that ring to use that spell, or does the spell need to be on the user's classes' spell list for them to use it?
Second, if anyone can make use of a Ring of Spell Storing, how does that interact with Bestow Insight?
Once the spells are cast into a Ring of Spell Storing, anyone wearing the ring can use them. That's why we bought one for Cob and Gorok, so they could use spells that wouldn't normally be available, and to have backups for when we don't have slots or time for one of the party casters to do it.
If a Bestow Insight spell is cast into the ring, it would need to have the type of skill it's boosting predetermine by the caster.
Unfortunately not, boosting a spell like that would boost its effective spell level per the metamagic you are using, you just don't pay that when casting due to being mythic, the ring is not mythic.
I don't see where my idea increases the effective spell level?
I thinking about using stuff like Sharespell and Wild Arcana, not using metamagic at all.
My goal here is "maximal skill buff stacking for the design (Pepper, shipbuilding) and building (Kori, stoneworking) of the next Dancing Slurk)", so even if boosting the CL of Bestow Insight isn't in the cards, I'm still interested in eking out as much of a boost as I can.
(I'm not interested in doing this sort of absurd skill buff stacking thing for social/combat interactions, just the rare infrastructure type stuff)
While I'm a bit worried about being annoying and not picking up on a "QM says no", but am interested in getting every bonus I can here, so:
Can we cast Bestow Insight into a Ring of Spell Storing, and hire a shipwright to use the ring to cast the spell, or does the skill (Shipbuilding) need to be picked when the spell is put into the ring, and thus the initial caster need to have the skill?
I don't see where my idea increases the effective spell level?
I thinking about using stuff like Sharespell and Wild Arcana, not using metamagic at all.
My goal here is "maximal skill buff stacking for the design (Pepper, shipbuilding) and building (Kori, stoneworking) of the next Dancing Slurk)", so even if boosting the CL of Bestow Insight isn't in the cards, I'm still interested in eking out as much of a boost as I can.
(I'm not interested in doing this sort of absurd skill buff stacking thing for social/combat interactions, just the rare infrastructure type stuff)
While I'm a bit worried about being annoying and not picking up on a "QM says no", but am interested in getting every bonus I can here, so:
Can we cast Bestow Insight into a Ring of Spell Storing, and hire a shipwright to use the ring to cast the spell, or does the skill (Shipbuilding) need to be picked when the spell is put into the ring, and thus the initial caster need to have the skill?
That's what I was expecting, but I needed to check. Anything to get a 55 on the design for the Elegantly Dancing Slurk
Oh right, sorry, did not realize what you were asking. A wild arcana spell can be cast into a ring normally, though bestow insight specifically needs you to have the skill
On that note vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Nov 18, 2024 at 8:26 AM, finished with 30 posts and 5 votes.
[X] What Lurks in the Dark...Us! -[X] Using the Encouraging Metamagic Rod, Mina casts Encouraging Mythic Heroism on Cob, along with Hermean Potential, uses her 3rd level Pearl of Power to regain one of her Heroism spells, then casts Encouraging Mythic Heroism on Gorok. She casts Mage Armor and See Invisibility on herself. -[X] Kori will cast Guidance (just before he goes swimming) and Extended Invisibility on Cob using the Extend Spell Metamagic Rod who will switch out his Cloak of Resistance for the Cloak of the Hedge Wizard. He will swim out to inspect the waters around the barge and beneath it, using his cloak to cast Detect Magic to look for magic auras, then Detect Secret Doors to search for hidden escape hatches or entrances to the barge. Just in case his presence is revealed, Cob will first disguise himself as a feral Grindylow. -[X] While Cob scouts underwater, Sirim will cast Mage Armor and Invisibility on himself and scout the barge from above. He will alternate between Detect Magic and Detect Fiendish Presence spells to look for magic auras, traces of Demonic activity, etc. -[X] Kori will activate his Cloak of Darkness and cast Dark Whispers on the party, plus Sir Pisca and Leontas before Cob and Sirim leave to scout, he will also use Inspired Spell to cast Delay Poison: Communal on the party, plus Sir Pisca and Leontas. Sirim will use Wild Arcana to cast Darkvision: Communal on Gorok, Sir Pisca, Leontas, and five of his men chosen by Leontas for being especially perceptive.
I quit my job (yay!), and as a result I have a lot of free time for gym (starting tomorrow) and time and energy to engage with this quest.
So, over the next few days I intend to put together a couple of plans (I'll edit them into an older post as I work on them) of how we might best, a) design and b) build the best damm Ocean ship we can. A worthy successor to The Dancing Slurk.
There shall be Shenanigans Sublime. There shall be Munchkinry Most Vile and Cheese Most Pungent.
There shall be multiple plans because that way I get to present something reasonable in terms of time and cost, and also present an extreme version that includes stuff like Visualization of The Mind – d20PFSRD .
And (if you're ok with it DP) I'll be poking you about how some things interact. Even things that we probably aren't going to end up doing due to the cost needed, would require Mina/Sirim to spend time learning spells that they are never going to use again.
Casting Time 1 hour Components V, M (soothing incense worth 200 gp)
EFFECT
Range personal Target you Duration 24 hours or until discharged
You enhance a single aspect of your mind, nurturing and empowering it. Choose a single mental ability score (Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom). You gain a +5 bonus on ability checks and skill checks associated with that ability score.
At any time during the spell's duration, you can expend the spell's remaining duration as an immediate action in order to gain a one-time mental enhancement associated with the ability score you chose to visualize, as detailed below. After you do so, the spell ends.
Charisma: You are immediately infused with a wave of supernatural luck, and gain a +2 luck bonus on all d20 rolls for 1 minute.
Intelligence: You immediately gain a flash of insight, and gain a number of ranks equal to your Hit Dice in any skill in which you have no ranks. These ranks last for 1 minute, during which time you can also treat that skill as a class skill.
Wisdom: When you fail a Will save, you can immediately attempt that saving throw again, gaining a +4 bonus on the new saving throw to resist the effect.
Says it can give skill ranks equal to the caster's hit-dice that last for a minute.
So during that minute, could Sirim cast Bestow Insight[1] (Shipbuilding) on someone?
Followup; could he cast BI (Shipbuilding) into a Ring of Spell Storing for later use after VotM's skill ranks expire?
[1] Needs at least one Skill Rank in the skill to cast.
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I know only have two Rings of Spell Storing, but ignoring that, is it possible to stack castings of Visualization of The Mind on someone - specifically Intelligence twice, and then expend one of the instances to get the skill ranks, while still having the untyped +5 bonus from the other instance?
Separately, can two Visualization of The Mind casting stack if one is for Intelligence and the other is Charisma?
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Oil, Anointing
This sacred oil, infused with aromatic spices and distilled holy water, may be applied to a creature while casting a harmless divine spell with a range of touch, increasing the casting time to a full-round action but also increasing the caster's effective caster level by +1 for that spell.
Cob had never swam in the sea before, even though he's floated on it a lot. Maybe I should've, he admitted mentally as the current yanked him like some kind of water demon. He looked down. Nope, no water demon, just boring old water. He wasn't going to let water beat him. Muscles bulging with strength, or maybe it was magic, Cob wasn't very clear on why those were different words in longshank tongue, he dragged himself out of the current, clawing at the side of the pier. That was another neat thing he could get now that they had a lot of money, claws, iron ones, or maybe that shinny 'sky-iron' they carted all the way here that was worth loads of gold.
Remembering to take a deep breath he dove under the water again to get a look at the underside of the Floating Bloat... and then he remembered he had to say the word stitched on the inside of the cloak. Good thing he was magicked even better hidden than normal. Back up to the surface he went, twisting his tongue around the wired word, then down again and... there, he saw a light on the underside of the barge where it was covered in thick green slime. The magic told him the opening mechanism was on the the other side. Of course you wouldn't want one on this side, it could sink your boat when you didn't want it to. It would be a pretty easy swim to shore if you knew not to let the water grab you at least. The more he looked at it the more Cob got the sense that the slime was part of the door. He'd never heard of a slime door before...
It was perhaps for the best that the magic he was using ticked over one final time to give him an inkling before the thought got closer. Closed slime, slime... closed. The slime was there to seal the hatch after someone jumped in so the water wouldn't come in and sink the boat.
The inside of the tavern was about what one would expect: crowded with rough-looking patrons and nobles out slumming it, both perched atop the sorts of stools that would break under Gorok's weight, and filled with the sound of too loud voices and rattling dice. Briefly, the mage wondered how badly one could rig the dice when most of the patrons were too drunk to see color. Then he stopped, it was too depressing, instead looking around for signs of drow. Unsurprisingly, he did not catch any at first glance in the crowded common room, but a second look with a mage's discerning eye revealed the telltale gleam of glamor in the air around five of the 'customers' loitering around the tap room door to the rest of the ship. One could not know for sure if they were drow, but one thing was clear, the weapons they were holding their hands close to were not the crude clubs and simple saps they seemed.
Sinking down through a gap in the boards he found himself in a place illuminated by faint bluish light, not meant for human eyes, that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. There was no doubt about the identity of its sole occupant. Working at a chopping board while whistling an meandering tune in a minor key was a bespectacled elf with silver hair and skin the color of slate suddenly looking up from his work, eyes so red they almost seemed to glow with their own light in the gloom. Something thumped against the side of the barge.
Hope that was not Cob, Sirim thought, the self-consciousness of such thoughts having long since worn away in company. The elf sighed and looked back at his work.
Brass dust, bone-meal, meadowsweet, yarrow, and harebells... Sirim recognized the ingredients, he'd spent long enough labeling and preparing them back as a junior student, even if he never personally had skill in alchemy and was glad to be rid of the duty when he advanced in rank. Why was the drow making dust of appearance?
A suspicious mind would wonder if he'd been expected, but if so he was about three hours too early. The dust would have to be cooked and then exposed to the sunlight for a full hour before the magic would stabilize.
Another creek, this time from inside the ship, heralded the entrance of another, this one wearing a warrior's leathers to ask something. Sirim did not know the tongue, but he could recognize the habitual disdain that coated them like oil. The alchemist gave a curt answer to which the other drow laughed and left.
The sounds of grinding and cutting filled the room once more behind Sirim as he trailed behind the new arrival.
It was clear at a glance the room he was in now served as a barracks. No matter their banner or creed, professional soldiers arrayed themselves with a paradoxical mix of practicality and lack of decorum. A quick count around the room showed another three drow present and bedding for about the dozen Skal's thoughts had revealed. They spoke in quiet voices and one of them motioned to what Sirim had initially taken for the washing pail. One does not make a washing pail out of silver. Some kind of scrying or communication method through the water then. Alas, there was no way to trigger it without revealing himself.
Final Count:
5 suspected drow in the tap room
1 drow alchemist working in a below deck room
4 other drow warriors of some kind in an adjoining room in the hold turned barracks
How do you approach the situation?
[] Take the boat by storm
[] Sneak abroad under glamors before giving the signal to Leontas and his soldiers
I quit my job (yay!), and as a result I have a lot of free time for gym (starting tomorrow) and time and energy to engage with this quest.
So, over the next few days I intend to put together a couple of plans (I'll edit them into an older post as I work on them) of how we might best, a) design and b) build the best damm Ocean ship we can. A worthy successor to The Dancing Slurk.
There shall be Shenanigans Sublime. There shall be Munchkinry Most Vile and Cheese Most Pungent.
There shall be multiple plans because that way I get to present something reasonable in terms of time and cost, and also present an extreme version that includes stuff like Visualization of The Mind – d20PFSRD .
And (if you're ok with it DP) I'll be poking you about how some things interact. Even things that we probably aren't going to end up doing due to the cost needed, would require Mina/Sirim to spend time learning spells that they are never going to use again.
Casting Time 1 hour Components V, M (soothing incense worth 200 gp)
EFFECT
Range personal Target you Duration 24 hours or until discharged
You enhance a single aspect of your mind, nurturing and empowering it. Choose a single mental ability score (Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom). You gain a +5 bonus on ability checks and skill checks associated with that ability score.
At any time during the spell's duration, you can expend the spell's remaining duration as an immediate action in order to gain a one-time mental enhancement associated with the ability score you chose to visualize, as detailed below. After you do so, the spell ends.
Charisma: You are immediately infused with a wave of supernatural luck, and gain a +2 luck bonus on all d20 rolls for 1 minute.
Intelligence: You immediately gain a flash of insight, and gain a number of ranks equal to your Hit Dice in any skill in which you have no ranks. These ranks last for 1 minute, during which time you can also treat that skill as a class skill.
Wisdom: When you fail a Will save, you can immediately attempt that saving throw again, gaining a +4 bonus on the new saving throw to resist the effect.
Says it can give skill ranks equal to the caster's hit-dice that last for a minute.
So during that minute, could Sirim cast Bestow Insight[1] (Shipbuilding) on someone?
Followup; could he cast BI (Shipbuilding) into a Ring of Spell Storing for later use after VotM's skill ranks expire?
[1] Needs at least one Skill Rank in the skill to cast.
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I know only have two Rings of Spell Storing, but ignoring that, is it possible to stack castings of Visualization of The Mind on someone - specifically Intelligence twice, and then expend one of the instances to get the skill ranks, while still having the untyped +5 bonus from the other instance?
Separately, can two Visualization of The Mind casting stack if one is for Intelligence and the other is Charisma?
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I hope you've got something lined up for your next job? Always harder to find one when you don't already have one, at least in my experience.
Don't forget that for your calculations we now have the Encouraging Spell Metamagic Rod, so Mina's Mythic Heroism can provide a +5 bonus. Double that with Moment of Greatness and if we had that when the original Dancing Slurk was being designed we would have hit the maximum DC threshold of 50 rather than 48.
I was hoping we'd be able to throw in a Fungal Stun Bomb, flash-bang style, but that won't work with civilians in the taproom, due to the 20ft radius Confusion effect that happens outside of the 10ft radius stun effect.
Trying to think of how to get into the bottom of the boat to stop the Alchemist bugging out.
Maybe apply some some sort of freezing alchemy item to the outside of the hatch so it's frozen shut and can't open? (The ice being on the outside should stop the alchmeist from being able to melt it/know what is going on). I think we have one from the those forest adventures that stole fro Urgor.
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DP, is a Suggestion to "Do nothing" viable? My intention is that cast on the alchemist will means he will not try to fight or escape.
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Also, we might need to try to take the glamour'd people in the taproom alive, in case they aren't drow. Since Sirim can see the auras of the glamours, can he roll to disbelieve the illusions?
He could try but that risks shattering the trap door door as the ice expands. It would be a craft alchemy roll DC 25 to apply it in such a way that it jams rather than breaking.
He could try but that risks shattering the trap door door as the ice expands. It would be a craft alchemy roll DC 25 to apply it in such a way that it jams rather than breaking.
"Surrender and you shall not be harmed!" Shouted Kori a few seconds before casting a spell, lying through his lying teeth.
Kori casts Suggestion: "Do nothing"
Alternatively, we could coordinate things so that an invisible Sirim and an invisible Cob (who has first frozen the outside of the escape hatch) are in with the Alchemist, and Sirim casting Suggestion: "Do nothing" is followed with an instant telepathic signal to start the breech.
Or, the instant (readied action) Sirim hears the sound of an attack starting, that's when he casts the spell, because while Sirim knows what's going on, I feel confident that the alchemist won't interpret the very first sound of the door being busted/violence starting as an immediate threat to limb and life.
The Alchmist has no reason to be on guard right now, and his brain will take at least a moment to process a) 'the noise', longer for b) 'that's a big brawl from nowhere?' and another moment for c) 'oh shit this is big, I'm in fucking peril!'
Cob has a readied action to stab the dude if Sirim feels him resist the spell, otherwise Sirim casts Invisibility on himself/hides and gets in position to cast Mythic Haste on friendlies or other appropriate spells
"Surrender and you shall not be harmed!" Shouted Kori a few seconds before casting a spell, lying through his lying teeth.
Kori casts Suggestion: "Do nothing"
Does the escape hatch lead into/out of the alchemy lab?
I am wondering whether we can use it as a way in... provided there is no one to see us enter, of course. We have the Symbiote masks to breathe under water.
Very good point. We should have the masks on-hand in case we need to dive into the water after someone.
Can we cast spells with verbal components underwater if we are using them?
