/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

>>190735
>I'd be worried with trusting Kira to make more Hide rolls at the moment.
Just take 10.

Or maybe you can both stop this bickering and trying to kill the game for everyone else, and instead work towards helping the party as a whole.

>>190742
Maybe I just shouldn't reply to this leech, but if you scroll up you can see that he continues to spam even in the absence of replies.

Anyway, I think our best bet is to approach the GRU as a group, and then they to attack them before they attack us. With Kira and Cavalier taking 10 on perception, we should have a surprise round. I think this is the best bet because it is the only option that avoids splitting the party. Let's not split the party again.
Blackheel and the commies may need some convincing to fire on the GRU though. Once they fire on non-enthralled commies, they would be deserters and traitors. Perhaps I can roll a bluff check to convince him that they are under the Traveller's influence. If he wants to believe that he's doing no wrong, he gets a -10 penalty on his check. It could be a fun moment to roleplay Posey's manipulative side.

>>190747
>Black Heel
That's why I was thinking we'd parlay first. If they refuse and attack us, he and the other commie ponies would see that the GRU is unreasonable and untrustworthy, deciding to instead stick with us through the end.

>>190749
I think it would be better to just bluff the Stalliongraders to join us in a surprise round. It avoids any conflicts of interests.
I suspect that Blackheel is a Wizard. If we bluff him, we can convince him to fireball the enemy himself. That would be quite poetic.

With the Stalliongraders, birds and party taking aim, it would be a great opportunity to use the volley rules to kill the enemy with a concentrated volley check. The AoE damage will kill most level 1 enemies.
Who has the has the Highest BAB+Int? Posey has a total mod of +5. I think Silver would be the best to lead a volley.

>>190750
Let's at least get some other voices to give their opinions before we fully commit. Something tells me that bluffing the Stalliongraders to join in the surprise attack will cost us dearly down the line.

>>190748
>I meant I didn't want to be the cause of you wanting to quit the game.
You're doing that right now. The prospect of having to interact with you is the only thing that would make me consider leaving this game that I otherwise enjoy and look forward to playing in the long term. I find find your presence is unpleasant and unwelcome. It is a distraction at best, and untenable at worst. I want nothing to do with you.
>You're 'nice' to whoever plays along
Strange, nobody else seems to have a problem with it. Almost as if the problem is you.
>you seem to enjoy the idea of people quitting because of you
No, just you. It would be a great relief to not have to interact with you. If it were anypony else, I would be horrified and ashamed.
>So, don't YOU DARE put this on me.
I will, actually.
Everypony else is roleplaying, planning, encouraging eachother, and doing other things to contribute making this game fun. You do nothing but unsolicited backseat driving and insulting the GM and players, contributing nothing and antagonizing everyone.
>Have I been divisive? Unequivocally! But I learned from experience, from watching how you like to do business.
Why would you intentionally learn bad behavior? Are you a toddler?
>>190751
>No one who is here is 'blessed' because you are here. No one should be grateful. No, it isn't funny when you pretend they should, behaviorally.
I never once said that, and I don't believe that either. I am here because GM and the other players afford me the privilege of playing, and I am blessed to be playing with them (except for you).
>you're probably fucking invincible.
No I'm not. I have survived two encounters in this game with single-digit HP.
See those two dreads that were destroyed in that last encounter? Together, they're about as tough a Posey is. They were destroyed by machine gun fire all the same.
>Wouldn't it be heroic if Clark Kent was fixated on his "clark kent" persona, while all the citizens and staff of the daily planet were dying.
I don't even know what this analogy is supposed to mean. If you think my lvl 4 undead Necromancer is comparable in power to Superman, you are grossly mistaken.
Notice how she did the least damage out of everypony in the party in every encounter this mission, even factoring in the (now destroyed) dreads.
But of course you don't actually care about that. You just want to complain.
>>190753
>I'm calling Posey out for wanting to play a super hero, but then wanting to pretend they aren't a super hero
The opposite, actually. I want to play supervillain while pretending to be a hero. Totally different.
>I guess it really IS a better game for some when one player controls everything
I don't control anything but a single ghoul who is current fishing on a beach somewhere.

And what is it your business endlessly complaining about my character? It's GM's responsibility to decide what characters he wants in his game, not yours.

>>190752
>Let's at least get some other voices to give their opinions before we fully commit.
That's fine. Let's see what Cavalier has to say.
>Something tells me that bluffing the Stalliongraders to join in the surprise attack will cost us dearly down the line.
Yeah, although it would also be pretty fun. I won't deny that it has potential to cause issues if Blackheel finds out, but dead mares tell no tales (or do they?)

>>190755
I suppose if we wanted to figure out the answer to that question, Posey would indeed be the pony to ask. In all seriousness, though, I would still prefer not having to kill them. I'd still like to recruit them as Silver's followers after the mission.

>>190756
>I would still prefer not having to kill them. I'd still like to recruit them as Silver's followers after the mission
I guess I'm none to judge, being a person who is trying to amass undead minions, but can't you just get followers from any other source? They should appear as soon as you take the Leadership feat. You could potentially even design their builds (I would recommend Wild Cohort).
Capturing these ponies alive is risky and may cost the party resources. If we can kill them on a surprise round, that would be better for us overall.
But that's just my perspective as an Evil character.

>>190760
This way feels more natural to me. It also makes for a nice story, you know? A group of sailors and soldiers, marked for death by their former government, saved by our group who manages to kill the eldritch horror that was terrorizing them.

I don't think we need to capture or even coerce them to join us, if we show them that the GRU has indeed marked them for death.

>>190764
The sailors, sure, but I would prefer to have a surprise round than try to parlay with the GRU at the base of the hill (I miss my Dreads and I hate them for destroying them). And I say that as the Charisma/charm build.
I guess we should hear from the rest of the party first though.

>>190766
As far as I can recall, it was never explicitly stated that they were destroyed. For all we know they might have made a beeline to return to their master after killing mage. All I know is that GM pone was getting annoyed at the constant one-at-a-time-in-a-line fighting that we were trying like in some kinda kung fu movie from the 90s.

>>190752
>>190755
I agree about not bluffing them. Tricking them into slaying their fellows will lead to them turning on us at the earliest opportunity, and we can't risk that.

We have the machine gun now; let's set that up so we have an advantage of firepower. We should probably get some cover for whoever will use it. Are there any sandbags around?

>>190769
That's a good question. Let's ask the airponies when play resumes.

>>190768
>As far as I can recall, it was never explicitly stated that they were destroyed.
Nah, I was there for the encounter and played them. They were destroyed. Undead don't go unconscious.
It's a small price to pay to save two party members. I don't mind that much.
Hopefully I level up enough after this mission to make my own minions.
>>190769
>We have the machine gun now
.....
Damnit... I forgot about that.
I should have sent the dreads with the machine gun.
>Tricking them into slaying their fellows will lead to them turning on us at the earliest opportunity, and we can't risk that.
You, but it would be really convenient if Blackheel fireballs those guys for us, and getting him to expend his spell slots now would make him easier to kill later.
I guess I'm out-voted though...
>Are there any sandbags around?
We could possibly use Monstro as cover. He's large enough to do it. I can heal him too.
When he's not moving, he just looks like a pile of bones.

>>190772
We could probably have the airponies help fire a volley. With multiple volleys, the encounter could be over in one round, if only a couple rolls. That would probably be the quickest and easiest way to resolve this.
I've thought about this very hard, because I hope to have a large number of minions in the future.

>>190778
Oh! Unrelated question for you, since you seem to have an extensive knowledge on all sorts of stuff related to D&D: is there any class you know of that's similar to a Magick Archer?

>>190779
>is there any class you know of that's similar to a Magick Archer?
Arcane Archer comes to mind, but that class isn't very good. I guess it's fine if you start out as Mystic Ranger with Sword Of The Arcane Order, once you max that out.
Sword Of The Arcane Order Mystic Ranger is great overall. Basically a Full BAB Wizard. Mystic Ranger itself is especially good because it gives you access to the Ranger's many archery related spells at twice the speed of a typical Ranger.
Peerless Archer, Order Of The Bow Initiate, and Cragtop Archer are all archery prestige classes, but none of them are particularly magical. You can take any of them after you max out Mystic Ranger at level ~10. Scout is also a good option to increase mundane archery abilities after maxing Mystic Ranger.
There are multiple Handbooks on this. The Brilliant Gameologists archives appear to be dead... Which is tragic
https://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-archery-handbook-completed.html?m=1#google_vignette
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?269705-Toxophilite-The-Archery-Handbook

I could be more helpful if you would be more specific for what you want out of your build.

>>190782
Some of Arcane Archer's abilities seem kinda neat, though you do have to get pretty deep into the class to unlock them. Mystic Ranger sounds interesting. Really I'm more just curious various options and exploring what they're like.

Oh, the one thing I had in mind was the use of a Magic Bow: basically a bow made of arcane metals rather than out of normal wood, it lacks a drawstring and instead fires bolts of magic.

>>190785
I think I recommended Mystic Ranger to both Kira and Cavalier before. It's a good variant of Ranger that gives you better access to the Ranger's spellcasting.
https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/ranger.html#mystic-ranger
It does delay your combat style and favored enemy progression, but the spells more than make up for that. It's especially good if you intend to multiclass Scout or prestige class into a martial class, because Mystic Ranger 10 / Something Else 10 has better spellcasting than Ranger 20, and possibly better martial features depending on your second class choice. Also note that many ranger spells scale on the Ranger's normally weak caster level, like Hunter's Eye, so the Mystic Ranger's full caster level can greatly improve your magical archery in volume and potency.
You also lose animal companion, but neither of you seem interested in that anyway, so no real loss.

If you use a weapon Groups variant, the Elven Double Bow is better than a regular longbow, particularly on a Manyshot build.
Targeteer Fighter is also a good option for archery specialist. It can give you an exotic now, and you can even add Dex to damage. A great multiclass for mystic Ranger that makes up for loss of combat style.
https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/fighter.html#targetteer
Be sure to trade your heavy armor proficiency

Cavalier in particular would be very good as a Swift Hunter Mystic Ranger / Scout, since he could use Fly-by attack and skirmish together.
>>190786
Reminds me of Hank's Energy Bow. It is considered to be one of the most desirable magic bows in 3.5e.

>>190787
>Be sure to trade your heavy armor proficiency
*For Hit-And-Run (Underdark Fighter)

I mentioned this on the Silver build I posted before, because Silver has high Dex and seemingly only wears light armor anyway. Dex to damage vs flat footed enemies would be good.

>>190787
>>190788
I am definitely screenshotting these classes for later reference. Thank you so much!

>>190787
Oh, forgot to add, do you have a link to that energy bow, or do you think you could post its description?

>>190787
Be warned, at this level, Mystic Ranger would in fact reduce your archery abilities slightly, but the spellcasting is worth it, imo. I should say this because I practically recommended the opposite of what you asked for.

I would not recommend Order Of The Bow or Arcane Archer. Peerless Archer is okay.
>>190791
Get it before the WotC jannies memory hole it like they're doing with the rest of the archives.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190908194211/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ask/20061227a
Hank's Energy Bow is a +2 bow. I think if you made a +1 version it would cut ~6k off of the price.
I ran a campaign where I gave this to the party ranger. He really appreciated it.

>>190792
Thanks a bunch, Posey! I'll see about asking GM pone for something similar for Kira as a potential reward for a quest or what have you, especially if I do end up shifting from Ranger to Mystic Ranger. I think a magic bow like that would be a fitting weapon for a Mystic Ranger.

I think after this adventure is over, we should have a conversation about Wealth By Level and character equipment. I noticed that none of the new characters are properly equipped for their level. Some of us have +2 weapons, but we would fare better with appropriate wands, healing belts, potions, and other level-appropriate stuff (particularly the healing resources).

I think we could pressure Captain Waters to use his military connections to get us issued full equipment for characters of our power level, as an extra reward for destroying the Eldritch God that threatened the planet. If we get the airponies to assist on our diplomacy rolls, we could get him to agree to it. I could try to charm him too.
>>190793
It's definitely an item for your wishlist. Every Archer wants this bow. It's iconic.

Posey uses a dragonbone compound bow, mostly for style.

>>190794
I have a +1 revolver…
>>190787
It's a good recommendation but I'll probably go into a ranger/swordsage multiclass. I still need to iron out the details. Cavaliere is meant to be a griffon of many skills but unfortunately spellcasting is not one of them.

>>190796
You talk about disrespect but it seems like you're making it into a competition. Everyone is telling you to stop. There's your cue.

>>190797
That's great. Swordsage is great for melee. Be sure to take Adaptive Style.

Scout is also great as an alternative to Ranger, especially with Fly-by-attack. It multiclasses well with Ranger too, if you take the Swift Hunter feat.

I'm running my own game on weekends. It's a twelve part campaign, and the task of getting it done in less than a year has been quite intimidating to me, because I want my party to be able to casually roleplay throughout the game, but I'm also concerned with keeping the story moving. It's a tricky thing to figure out, and it takes both practice and confidence.
A thing I have come to appreciate about these kinds of slow PbP games is that they afford me time to do other things, like working 10 hours a day, or prepping materials for my own game, without worrying about missing out.
I would still prefer it if we could try to work on better pacing in this game, but it's also not a huge deal. I think it we all learned to schedule a bit more clearly, things could pick up.

May Posey attempt a Hypnosis check (Ravenloft Campaign setting) to try to attempt to cure the maddened ponies?

>>190866
For the record, I have not idea if this would actually work rules-as-written, because I don't know what kind of mechanic the Traveller's madness/possession actually is. I just like the idea of using counter-hypnosis to try to expell the Traveller.
There's other rules for possession, and Hypnosis probably would not help with that. Since GM described the Traveller as a being of chaos, it may be similar to an Obyrith demon, and may be possession creatures.

If I'm being annoying with the splats, feel free to just ignore these posts.

Another option to attack the GRU could be for Silver and Posey to work together, with Silver providing total cover with his Tower Shield.
If Posey has a fighter with a tower shield defending her, she can safely concentrate on the spell, which means the swarm of bats would kill all of the enemy artillery while their bullets bounce off of the tower shield.
This would require both Posey and Silver to spend their entire turns concentrating and defending.
The limitation is that a a summoned swarm cannot be controlled and will attack the nearest living creatures, so we would have to avoid entering melee. I think Silver is the only melee fighter in the party though, so that's fine.

We could probably do this on the Kostroma too.

>>190869
Oh, wait, that would only give total cover to Silver. Anyone standing behind him would only have improved soft cover (still good).
Tower shields are great. One reason to have levels in fighter.

>>190869
>>190870
*slow-clp*
Now you're thinking

I know, you're thrilled to hear my opinion, but hear me out.

Silver is the tank (maybe Mala), Posey, Kira, and Garv are DPS (again, maybe Mala), and Dust is the healer (I'm insisting that Mala get Brie's healing potion). You should know where I'm going with that. But, what happens when the tank can no longer tank and the healer can no longer heal?
That's when the evil power-house who outside of circumstance would be hunted down and destroyed for it's very nature,... saves everyone. And I don't mean everyone here, but by being the unstoppable force that she is, ensures that the Traveler is not free to conquer equestria.
At the same time, the characters get to weigh the moral implications of applied evil versus conceptual evil. To quote governor Swann from Pirates of the Carribean:
https://youtu.be/UWQZKqibPvQ?si=9FxDDdLRqMUsXP6J
Dust won't HAVE to like that Posey is LITERALLY what he's diametrically opposed to, but he will also have to recognize that one of "those" just saved everyone's bacon. The rest are easier to explain.
If necessary, Posey can describe how she never asked to be. Does she remember her past life, or did she simply come into being?
Posey is a character reminiscent of some of the Akuma from the series D-Gray Man. I really want to see her shine, in spite of all the salt I've thrown.
Naturally, there's no guarantees that's where GM is going with it, but one can hope.

>>190875
As for the rest of us, I don't think we'll be all that useless for the final fight. It's likely that the Kostroma has at least a small infirmary and armory, given that it was repurposed for military use. Before the big final fight against the Traveler, we can slip into both to heal and rearm.

>>190880
>don't think we'll be all that useless for the final fight
Idk how this is even a question. You all do 2-3 times as much damage per round as me. It's going to be on you to do most of the damage. I am better suited for Fear-based debuffing, but that has not been effective so far.
>It's likely that the Kostroma has at least a small infirmary and armory, given that it was repurposed for military use. Before the big final fight against the Traveler, we can slip into both to heal and rearm.
Healing is the bigger issue. Dust only has so many spell slots. Hopefully they have a cache of healing potions on the ship. The commies are so broke that they haven't even been able to equip their soldiers with cure potions, so healing has been scarce.
After this adventure, you should all probably buy Healing
Belts too.

>>190880
Yes, you've been remarkably efficient
(he is lying when he says that) so far/
It's more likely that when you get to the Kostromo, you're going to be playing in the opponent's hive/zone. Be careful.

>>190881
If fear-based debuffs don't result in vulnerabilities, they're kinda ass. The key is exposing a weakness in the otherwise "immovable object" (oh, you're just now noticing that? Look back on descriptions of the Traveler)

Fine, nevermind, I'm just glad cuz formations is where its at, so I literally have nothing left to offer

Keep in mind the machine gun harvested from the crashed airplane.

>>190907
How do machine guns work in this game anyway? From what I have observed, they seem to work differently from d20 modern/past machine guns. It seems as though they either make a fixed number of attacks (like a siege weapon?), or Grant the user additional attacks (??), instead of doing AoE damage. I could be wrong though. Maybe the NPCs just have different feats, or access to Swift Haste through items.
Are we using some homebrew documents? Where can I read them?

>>190909
Kek. Better question, who is proficient with a heavy machine gun?

Sorry to be a dick again but you MIGHT wanna worry about explaining to the GM about how an improvised and rushed mounting of an airplane heavy machine gun is even going to work, who knows how to operate it, etc. It's not like they have butt-stocks and triggers, they're designed to be fired from a cockpit mechanism.

Bombs however, those are easy

I was thinking, couldn't we use that explosive harpoon to destroy The Traveller, instead of the torpedo that Monstro is carrying? The harpoon is powerful enough to kill a whale-sized creature, and a baleen whale has 132 HP: If the harpoon is strong enough to kill a whale, it may be strong enough to kill The Traveller, or at least soften it up to the point that we can kill it ourselves.
Judging by meta-narrative, the explosive harpoon was put in the party loot for a reason, and that reason was likely to kill a whale-sized monster (I expected there to be a kraken). The Traveller has been compared to a dead whale multiple times in descriptions, and I feel like that might be a hint that we are supposed to use this plot-relevant weapon on it. (Also GM clearly did not plan for us to take the torpedo with us, so the harpoon was probably what he wanted us to use).

The torpedo would likely destroy a lot more than The Traveller if we used it on that, and since Silver wants to commandeer the Kostroma we probably shouldn't be detonating torpedos on board.

If we use the harpoon to destroy the Traveller, we could reserve Monster's torpedo to take-out the GRU ship. If Monstro approaches the GRU ship underwater, its could avoid being destroyed for long enough to drop its torpedo on the GRU ship.

>>190913
The harpoon is also more likely to fit in The Traveller's mouth

>>190934
By that logic, your dick is MOST likely to fit in the Traveler's mouth

>>190913
As soon as the torpedo was suggested I knew it would scuttle the Kostroma in the process. While not a bad outcome by itself, we have no way off the island that can fit all the ponies we have picked up. That instant-boat token will not fit everypony and airplanes will dare not approach with such a heavy military presence. Nor is the airship salvageable (we need to destroy the engines and radar system already). Maybe the griffons' boat was, but it's too late to restore now. Hijacking the Kostroma is the most logical option. We could hijack the GRU's ship instead, but good luck with that. I don't think GM Pony will give a game over to most of his players for going overkill, but if he did I wouldn't blame him. Meta-analyzing his intent for an in-game quest is cheesy, but we might as well try the harpoon first.

>>190935
You are welcome to try that option when the time comes.

>>190936
>As soon as the torpedo was suggested I knew it would scuttle the Kostroma in the process.
It was Silver's idea. I'm still not sure about it, but I decided to transport it anyway, mostly because reanimating the whale skeleton was on my bucket list of "things I must do this adventure".
>we have no way off the island that can fit all the ponies we have picked up.
We have the swan boat feather token, which seats 32 creatures. Posey can ride on monstro
>That instant-boat token will not fit everypony
This is true, although it would fit the party and the airponies. We would have to leave the others behind if we took the swan boat.
>Hijacking the Kostroma is the most logical option.
Yeah, the only thing that complicates this is the chance of the GRU ship ship gunning us down. To solve that, we could use Monstro's torpedo to skink them.
Also, if we highjack the ship, we could sell it for profit.
>Meta-analyzing his intent for an in-game quest is cheesy
True, but surely the adventure has one or more win conditions, right? The harpoon may be key to one of them. We should analyze every resource at our disposal to see which ones will help us meet our goals.

Can we all agree on the plan to torch the systems and be ready to engage the GRU once they come to investigate?

>>190942
Yes.

>>190942
>>190944
Well, we should plant explosives on the systems and wait for an opportune moment to detonate them. Blowing them up prematurely will attract their attention and be regarded as hostility.

>>190945
The point is to draw them in on our terms, so that we are ready when they arrive

>>190948 →
Silver, since no one can be bothered to pay attention to anything

>>190949
I knew it was Silver. I was just roleplaying lack of understanding of modern technology (especially if the silver variety), and prompting him to get the camera out to document the systems being torched.

The Traveller was able to psionically melt cutting tools that the examiners tried to use to dissect it: it appears that even in a dormant state, it can attack with Matter Agitation. Because of this, it may be unwise to recklessly get too close to it with explosives, because it may use the same ability to neutralize the harpoon.
How do we get past that?

>>190972
Yes, but do try the harpoon-grenade

>>190972
Perhaps there might be a way to incapacitate The Traveller so it can be safely destroyed.
The real issue is that we don't actually know what The Traveller is, the limitations of its abilities, or the nature of it's power.
However, if it has stats, you can kill it.

>>190779
For Archery, feats are probably a bigger concern than class. Like two-weapon-fighting, it's a very feat-intensive build.

If Kira is a Strength-reliant Archer, Ranged Pin may be a worthwhile feat to consider would be Ranged Pin. It lets you grapple at a range, which means that Kira's natural grappling capabilities, including her strength, size, and racial bonuses, would apply to the opposed check.
Woodland Archer is also good, because it would have let Kira avoid that sniping fiasco in that last encounter.

What is Kira's racial template anyway? Size? Scent? Natural Armor? Improved Grab? Venom? Str/Dex bonus? Knowing your stats can help me find recommendations.

>>191032 →
Are there any checks we need to roll to set the plan in motion? Demolitions? Knowledge (Warcraft)? Morale checks (I can make a Rally check if this is necessary)?

>That might be a good idea if
>1) Cavaliere and Kira weren't at death's door
Tbh, Cavalier and Kira could stay behind total cover and not participate in the fight.
Defeating these guys might be useful to that end, because these are PC-classed characters, so they should have at least 500-900 gp in equipment per character, so if we killed them we could take their healing potions/wands, in addition to any random loot rolls for the encounter. Most generic NPC martial statblocks have 2-3 potions of cure moderate wounds on their sheets.
We're going to have to face combat either way to get to The Traveller.
>2) we didn't have a bunch of communists with us
This is the biggest handicap. I don't trust that the commies wouldn't side with the GRU over us if forced to choose. In fact, for that reason, I would prefer to avoid talking with the GRU at all.
>3) Posey still had her dreads.
Well, if you would spare Posey some time to take Monstro to the top of the mountain with an enthralled commie prisoner, I could supply the party with more minions, possibly even with healing spells. I'm still itching to make that Icegaunt, and this cold mountain might be my only opportunity in this game...

>>191057
>Tbh, Cavalier and Kira could stay behind total cover and not participate in the fight.
That makes the fight harder for the rest of you. The amount of damage taken will be very random and might cost all the healing supplies you'll get anyway. That's assuming we win.
>I don't trust that the commies wouldn't side with the GRU over us if forced to choose. In fact, for that reason, I would prefer to avoid talking with the GRU at all.
The idea is that the communists in the party might help in pacifying the GRU. If they fail, and the GRU attack, they would be much more likely to join our side than if we attacked the GRU ourselves.

>>191058
>The amount of damage taken will be very random and might cost all the healing supplies you'll get anyway.
With an Intimidate check, I could attempt to force the griffon whalers onto the front line.
>The idea is that the communists in the party might help in pacifying the GRU. If they fail, and the GRU attack, they would be much more likely to join our side than if we attacked the GRU ourselves.
We don't know that.
I'll try to charm as many of them as I can.

>>190880
Yes, well, glad to see everyone pretending to act like a team. About fucking time, how many months? Imagine if players focused more on survival than seeing what ways they can fuck with each-other

I was going over the logistics of my plans to contract demons and create monsters that could conjure a giant obsidian tower (Crystal Palace style) above Curwhinny's dungeon after I bought it, when I stumbled upon a huge flaw in my plan: Zoning Regulations.
I'm probably going to have to make some checks to figure out what Posey can legally build near it's okay to set up a totally-legitimate-and-not-evil magic research facility.
Hmmmm, Perhaps Glass Horizons could help me with that. He likely has some ranks in Profession (Real estate), Knowledge (Law) and Knowledge (Local). I might be able to pay him for Sage advice on setting up guild operations there. Of course, I have to convince him to sell it to me first.
If I can successfully get the property from him, that could give Posey clout with the university, having effectively monopolized the site away from the communist rivals; Posey could use that clout to get University approval and licensing to make her stronghold appear legal in the eyes of the regime.

What exactly are we going to ask the GRU to do once they arrive? Retreat?

>>191117
In essence, yes. We're just gonna ask them to leave us be unmolested as we make our attempt to kill the Traveler.

>>191118
I don't think it's necessary to tell them our plan.

I recommend waffling and not making a decision; clearly it worked well before

>>191118
Alright. If I fail Diplomacy, I can always follow up with an Intimidate check.

I'm trying to figure out how to maximize Posey's Influence Score at the appropriate level so I can start playing EaW with the military leadership, but it might take sufficient feat investment, and isn't going to work for several levels in the future.. Probably going to need Undead Leadership Rulership, and Favored in Guild (to get Guildmaster as a bonus).
Sadly, that would not leave Posey with very many feat slots for metamagic or improved necromancy... I guess sacrifices need to be made for the Black Crusade. Nobody said taking over the world would be easy.

>>191123
Gonna start your own branch of the Dread League in Equestria?

>>191129
That has been my plan since the beginning. I have been crunching the logistics of if for more than a year. I just need to gain to level up and acquire the funds.

>>191130
As long as you promise not to raise my household and my eventual druzhina as undead I'm sure it's fine

>>191131
Alright.
Silver has the leadership feat, iirc. What are you planning to do with it?

>>191131
Don't worry, fluffy pony. Silver's friend Mala will prevent his corpse from being abused by being reanimated.

>>191134
Thank goodness Silver has such a good friend and companion.

>>191133
The usual, making a band of warriors and adventurers, helping people and slaying monsters.

>>191134
Mala bravely defending Silver's grave to prevent Posey from raping him.

>>191139
>Coomed To Death
I always knew this would happen

>>191139
Lmao, that's great

i almost want a story with this

How does GM feel about the Rulership/Influence system in Powers Of Faerum? I was hoping to use it and insert my followers into various institutions to gain political control of New Mareland, before amassing enough power to retake Equestria from the Changelings. Defeating The Traveller could count as a significant military victory to increase my Influence score with The Blackhooves (and if not, it's still a good mark on my resume as a freelance Warmagus), and seizing control of Curwhinny's farm could count as a significant victory within my current guild (the College Of Arcane Sciences). I would like to take the Rulership feat at a later level and insert my followers into powerful institutions, to slowly maximize my influence score over the course of the game until I can eventually rule my own settlement on the battlefield frontier.
It was a thing I thought I mentioned when I entered the game, but now I'm not so sure if it's worth the resource investment. I was hoping to emulate EaW and play a mass scale war/politics game, but it wouldn't really work unless GM is interested in running such a game. I know Leadership was welcomed, I just don't know about other leadership based system..
It's going to be many levels off until I can start my leadership-based plans, but I figured I should ask now, to lay the groundwork.

>>191162
On second thought... Does this feat even do anything? Influence gives you what, +1 to Int/Cha checks related to your Rulership for every 200 points of bonus? I think I'll put that off until higher level (if it ever comes). Posey isn't ready to be a ruler (yet).

.

After we scare away the GRU, out next step is to torch the systems and head to the Kostroma, right?
(I would really, really, really appreciate it if my nat 20 Intimidate check were punctuated by Cavalier setting off the explosions in the background)

>>191177
We've still got the missing airponies to find. Kira managed to sniff them out.

>>191179
Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. Hopefully that doesn't take too long.

>>191179
Question, how old was Silver when he entered the game?

>>191181
If I remember correctly and if I have it written down right: 58

>>191182
Thanks

>>191183
Also, I feel like Posey could take some notes from this video for her plan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqL8EFAGhyo

>>191177
The systems are attached/adjacent to the airship and would hurt us if I set them off.

>>191187
Well, we will be leaving soon anyway.

I have a feeling that after the duration of my Intimidate skill, the GRU are going to return believing that Posey is the cause of the chaos on the island.
Oh well. So be it.

I'm a little bit nervous about how the fight with the Traveller might go, but I think this party has done well neutralizing enemies and preserving resources so far. I still have plenty of spell slots, so I should be able to counter the Traveller's summons with my own.
Amoebic Crawlers have piss damage, but they're large size and have a lot of HP, so they can help put distance between us and the enemy.

>>191211
I have faith in the party. As long as we work as a team, we can overcome anything!

>>191212
Yeah, I'm glad the rest of the party's DPS was high enough for me to avoid expending as spell slots throughout most of this adventure. I'll be able to use them all up at once on the last fight at this rate.
I don't really have any AoE, blasting, or buffing spells, but the summons should work as damage-sponges.

>>191223
>non-canon
This is canon though. I am roleplaying Gloomy Sundae, who is a canon character. I have not roleplayed him very much because I was preoccupied with Posey's quests, but I still want to characterize him. I can only really do that with the occasional meanwhile post, or by describing a flashback. I want him to be likeable if he becomes a cohort, or mourned it he dies, so I have to at least describe him.

>>191224
Oh, then I guess Lacey IS canon, simply because I mentioned her! Good to know, thanks!

>>191225
You sound upset.

>>191226
Why would you think that? Did something I said with enthusiasm suggest upset? You have to be careful with perception, sometimes we can insert our own biases into the interpretation

>>191228
I know you won't do it, but just so there's no confusion and that I can say that it's been said explicitly: the deaths of the colts will cause Silver to reach villain arc levels of anger that will likely result in the deaths of every single living and undead creature he can find. So...best that Gloomy keeps that talisman safe.

And also just so there's no confusion thinking that I'm saying you can't roleplay as Gloomy having fun with the colts, I am very happy to see Gloomy interact with the colts. Just as long as everyone's kept safe and alive, everything's good.

>>191234
Oh, yeah, don't worry. I wouldn't actually just kill off your character's friends. I was just roleplaying to add some mystique to demonstrate Posey's obsessive and protective tendencies towards her own colt. That's the reason I didn't bring the potentially-useful disguised aquatic ghast on this mission

Also, while the Talisman was something I found for Gloomy's equipment, I have neglected to write down the source material (DR #3??), caster level, or maximum range of the item it's based on, so it's up to GM if it actually works or not. Perhaps he might prefer to surprise Posey with her precious little lamb having been kidnapped when she was absent at some point.

>>191235
And as for me, it'll be handy to have it watch over the household during the duration of this mission, just in case any unfortunate gangsters decide to try to get revenge on Silver while he's away.

>>191236
Well, Posey could instead order it to kill anyone who invades the household instead in the event of an emergency, if she cared to maintain a relationship with Silver (which she does).
It is currently disguised as a living (albeit wet) stallion dressed in unmarked military attire, with a rapier at its side.
>One cannot just march a ghoul into the Duke's Court. But as the fumes issuing from the cocoon surround the creature, the form of the ghoul is replaced with that of a stately courtier armed with a rapier. Of course, it will have to keep its mouth shut.
Spell Compendium has the best flavor text for spells. It did nerf a lot of splat spells though, for the better.

>>191237
It honestly would be super helpful, because Silver may or may not have wasted (on accident) an entire business operation led by a low-tier Waterfront Gang boss.

Can we just knock out the prisoners so we can leave now?

>>191248
>you generally can't intimidate dominated adversaries
This is untrue. Nothing about domination shields the creature from additional mind-effecting attacks, such as fear or morale effects. Otherwise players would just dominate their allies in combat to make the Fighters and Rogues immune to debilitating effects.
This must be something different.

I theorize that The Traveller functions as a form of possession, functionally replacing the target's mind with the mind of The Traveller. It may also be conferring its own immunities to its thralls, such as with a Ghostly Visage (Posey's preferred familiar choice at lvl 7).

Are there any other things that need to be addressed before we progress to the missing airponies?

>>191293
We just need to finish getting the possessed ponies ready to move, and Silver needs to blow the airship's engines, and then we're ready to go.

Right now we're not playing because GM pone is on a vacation trip.

>>191294
>We just need to finish getting the possessed ponies ready to move
Didn't we already do that?
>Right now we're not playing because GM pone is on a vacation trip.
Okay.

Do we have any plans for how we want to invade the Kostroma?

>>191307
The original plan was to have Cavaliere and some others infiltrate topside while the rest of the party enters belowdecks. I don't think that is a good idea anymore.

>>191308
Yeah, it didn't work out last time. Plus, Cavalier doesn't have Darkstalker, and it seems as though The Traveller has some means of Extrasensory perception (possibly Mindsight, in which case Stealth is just fucked). That might mean we can only go in guns blazing, perhaps with Monstro carrying the non-fliers onto the deck.
Perhaps if we could make some checks, we could find ways to subvert or distract The Traveller's sensory abilities. If The Traveller uses Telepathic Mindsight, it may be distracted by any creatures with sapient intelligence scores. Sadly, all of Posey's summons are mindless creatures, who would be invisible to mindsight. The Traveller has also been shown to manifest summons right on top of us wherever we are on the island, and we have yet to witness any maximum range or uses/day of its summoning/metacreative abilities... It would be preferable for us to get as close as we can to the Kostroma without alerting it, because if it truly has no maximum uses/range, then we cannot beat it in a battle of attrition, and approaching it head on might end up with a charge of the light brigade scenario.
The Traveller has shown the ability to manifest creatures similar to Ettins (I assume): CR 6 creatures with 10 hit dice, that would be fight for the entire party. Since there may not be a limit to it's summoning abilities, we should avoid engaging with its summons and push though to the source. If Monstro carries the nonfliers onto the deck, Posey may be able to melt a hole through the deck of the Kostroma by Summoning her Amoebic Crawlers, carving a path directly towards where The Traveller is stowed.
A ship is basically a dungeon in its own right. If we know where the Traveller is stowed, we can make a beeline towards that area. Let's ask the Commissar if he knows.
Maybe I should make some Arcana checks to see if we can even know what The Traveller is, and how it's abilities work.

Also, to Silver, you said you wanted the crew of the Kostroma to be your followers, so did you consider making a leadership check to make the Stalliongraders around here your followers right now? So long as they're not above lvl 1, you may be able to take them under your command with a Leadership check. It would be useful later.

My Sunday game got cancelled.
Any chance we could reach the other airponies and/or the Kostroma today?

Weird feat for undead horses
>Airy Gallop
>Type: Special
>Source: Dragon Annual 5
>You can run wherever your rider wishes - whether there's ground beneath you or not!
>Prerequisite: Con -
>Benefit: Mounts with the Airy Gallop feat have the ability to gallop over chasms, run "downhill" from a sheer cliff to the ground below, or even be convinced to gallop "uphill" into the air itself.
>To achieve these unbelievable tasks, the mount's rider must make a successful Ride check (DC 15) at the beginning of the action, and every 10 minutes thereafter with a cumulative -2 circumstance penalty to each successive check. Mounts cannot stand still while performing an Airy Gallop; if forced to move slower than a run or stop, they immediately fall.
It's not a particularly good feat for anything but a minion, because it relies on having a rider make a check instead of the creature with a feat, but it was silly enough to share.
An undead/construct pony with a familiar riding on their back could potentially make use of it, as 10 minutes of effective flight is potentially useful, but there are better feats to pick from. It's a feat better for the rider than it is the horse (as intended).

>>191427
... What?

>>191427
Are you GM traveling?

>>191430
GM has a tripcode...

Oh, I see, it's just the same nigger complaining on behalf of GM about a game in which he is not even a player, once again.

>>191521 →
It's not that we don't appreciate the dialogue, but we have also been waiting to find the airponies for a very long time, so we do want to keep the story moving. It's a balancing act of priorities and suspense. I can sympathize because I have barely been able to start chapter two of my own campaign after months of planning.
This was an interesting way of introducing the villain's motivations though.

At the expense of indulging the nigger's ramblings, does GM or any player (actual players) actually have an issue with how I have been playing these past few weeks/months? Have I been annoying? Has my "posturing" been a major issue to the other players? Posey, my character, is supposed to be a very vain individual with delusions of grandeur and a desperation to prove herself to the world, which is why I make her "posture" in-character, but if it's actually just annoying and unfunny to the other players (actual, real players) I'll stop or try another approach. Just give me some feedback and I'll try a bit. I have a hard enough time communicating in-person, so if what I do is annoying, please just tell me.
>>191521 →
GM seemed a bit disappointed with how the dialogue was received, and that makes me feel sad because as a GM I know what it's like to spend days writing content just for players to not engage with said content the way I planned them to, or worse, ignore it entirely. If I come off as impatient, unappreciative or too eager to move the story forward, I apologize for that.
>>191529 →
GM, I do not want to derail your plans: I want to participate in them, because I really like this adventure and I want to see how it concludes; so if there's anything I can do, or stop doing, to be a better player.

So far, nobody but the non-player who constantly complains has complained, so I want the actual players' feedback.

>>191534
I don't think you've been annoying or unfunny

Btw, pertaining to Kira's topic about Riding, the Skilled City Dweller variant allows any class with the Ride Skill (Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, etc) to swap it out for Tumble in urban adventures. This certainly constitutes as an urban campaign, and horse-shaped characters are unlikely to be riding other creatures, especially if they themselves can fly. Tumble is a good skill that allows for tactical movement without risking attacks of opportunity, and is worth ranking if you're a lightly-armored Dex character. Having 5 ranks in Tumble also gives you bonus AC when fighting defensively.
Just a thing to consider when leveling/rebuilding, with GM approval of course.

Why are you doing 53 damage at level 6 without expending usables? Either there need to be multiple monsters, which I suppose is possible but I didn’t think to do, it needs to have an obscene hp limit, or there needs to be some kind of jank in order for the monster to survive until its first attack. The entire point was to show what the attack was I don’t care what happens after that. Yes yes yes, just poof in order monster, add 50 hp to the sheet, or make up a rule on the spot so some planned attack fails, but the whole thing is just…. Lame

>>191572
Tbh, Monstro did most of the work. Posey would have not even been able to reach the enemy without Monstro, and would have had to rely on her longbow for damage.
I didn't think of it at first because Posey hasn't been doing very much damage at all this adventure, but the CR 4-5 advanced Bone Lurker is a real heavy hitter, so I understand your frustration, especially since it came from an item that emulated a class feature I don't get until 4 levels from now.

Perhaps we could say and say that the bomb that Monstro carries is too fragile to have him recklessly charge into melee going forward, and roleplay it by having another character scold Posey for being such a reckless gloryhound while carrying such a volatile payload, and/or that he cannot also grapple while carrying the bomb. That would basically delegate him for taking swipes at whatever comes near him, instead of charging monsters head on.

>>191572
>or there needs to be some kind of jank in order for the monster to survive until its first attack. The entire point was to show what the attack was I don’t care what happens after that
Well, considering that there is dense fog all around us, it's plausible that monsters summoned outside our line of sight could attack us unexpectedly and have surprise rounds, which would allow them to demonstrate their attacks.

>>191577
I publicly posted Monstro's stats months ago: how was that dishonest? This is the first (and possibly only) time I used him in combat: Maybe it was a better time to demonstrate this now, instead of during an important boss fight?
I sacrificed up my Dreads to save Kira and Cavalier because GM expressed dissatisfaction with how I used them in combat, and I can be persuaded to give up Monstro too if it's too disruptive in combat (like using it to kamikaze the GRU ship, if we can use the harpoon to kill the Traveller).

Tbh, I am running into the same issue in my Sunday game, because the Druid minmaxed his goat by tearing it to sell its soul to Baphomet, so now its an Ubercharger to with Abyss Bound Soul that kills half of everything in one hit. I am Familiar with characters that have heavy-hitting minions, so if there's anything GM wants me to amend I will comply.
If you wants, he could even say that the bone lurker carrying the bomb has its one "arm" occupied, so that it cannot attack while carrying it.

Oh, I just replied to bait.
>>191572
I am sorry, GM. Can we work out a solution?

>>191580
I think I am just going to leave it, and the monster will either show up later or it won’t.

That was *not* a random encounter to challenge the party. It existed basically only to correct the impression that Light Water was entirely along for the ride and had no ability to direct the Traveller, which was a mistake of the preceding dialogue segment that was so severe I felt it needed correction. It also reminds the party that the Traveller has the capacity to harass the party at little cost whenever it wants. Also it shows the Traveller, and to a lesser extent, Light Water, to have the capacity to be vindictive and petty. It was to attack Posey specifically because Posey specifically was making no effort to engage in dialogue with Light Water, and promising to be nothing but a hinderance to his plans, unlike the other two who could at least in theory come around, and therefore not really be profitable to attack. The monster was supposed to have a vague but not specific idea of where Posey was, and thus not get a sunrise roll. I was actually worried that its attack might deal too much damage for an encounter that had an exclusively narrative purpose. Maybe it should have been flying in a pair patrolling over the hillside? If it had not been seen, that would have contradicted the claim that the fog was receding. Again, I didn’t want the damage of two of them for a superfluous encounter. I really didn’t think two were necessary. All I wanted was to correct an earlier mistake in dialogue. Initially it was going to be a hellhound or similar creature. But then posey got on the whale thing and a hellhound wouldn’t work. So I thought if just abandoning the idea, but then was encouraged to replace it with a new, flying creature, since flying enemies were intended from the start when Brie kept fucking promising to cheese every encounter by flying away from enemies. So I thought, sure, maybe the players will like this one. Who knows. Idea 2 was shelved because it didn’t make sense in context. So I was hoping this monster would be introduced, and specifically its attack. And that didn’t happen…

Yes, I’m sure the whale things stats were posted at some point in the past, I assume half a year ago when I was on my way to the Paris airport at 5 AM and I was ranting and raving about other aspects of the same monster. I was distracted. In any case, no, I have not gone through actuarial tables to try to figure out how to balance things very precisely (it wasn’t intended to be a real encounter. It was to serve a narrative purpose. That’s a it was.) No, I do not actually know what Monstro can and cannot do. That attack was completely new to me. I don’t know what it can do. Trying to figure that shit out is uninteresting and not at all compelling to me. I just don’t care about the math of what kind of new shit has popped into the equation. All I think is “eh, better add more enemies” and either the party will be wiped out or it won’t get off a single attack, with no real in between. The math behind encounter design is just so much less interesting to me than literally everything else that goes into the game, like description, set up, plausibility, themes, characterization - literally everything else.

I don’t care. Everything with the game has been frustrating me this last week

>>191584
Well, I can only say that I am sorry to spoil your encounter. I think it did serve most of its narrative purposes though, in demonstrating Light Water's pettiness and active participation and the Traveller's ability to harass us at any time. Its description was so vivid that I thought it was something incredibly dangerous and so I went all out in attacking it; the symbolism of a bird-like seraphim creature was interesting, because I interpreted it to be like a distorted manifestation of Light Water's anger .
If you want, you can summon monsters to specifically attack Posey anytime you wish. I don't mind feeling targeted. Posey has been taunting the Traveller to attack her specifically this whole adventure.
>>191587
What is your fucking problem?

>>191584
I'm going to just elect not to use Monstro in combat and delegate him only to defending the bomb, so he doesn't affect the party's damage-per-round.
I won't even ride Monstro anymore. Monstro is a creature not meant for riding, and I just remembered the penalty for the fact that Posey doesn't have a saddle, so that's a -10 penalty to ride checks, which means taking 10 Posey can't even stay on top of him in combat unless she rolls high (like she did before).

So how's this, I won't attack with Monstro (unless it's to defend the bomb), and I won't ride it in combat either either (although I would like it to carry me aboard the ship). Is that a satisfying course of action?

>>191572
>Why are you doing 53 damage at level 6 without expending usables?
I know it's besides the point, but I did actually use a consumable for that: I used up the last of my scroll and its material components; and I can never cast Animate Dead again until I either level up or acquire another scroll.

Speaking of consumables, I have been trying to conserve my spell slots for emergencies, but does anybody have any requests for spells in the following encounters?
My spell list is here:
https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/magic/spells/classSpellLists/dreadNecromancerSpells.html
I also have a handful of spells from my Apprentice and Cerebrosis, plus Kelgore's Grave Mist.

I can't do blasting AoE/range, I can't buff (save for Death Ward and Hide From Undead), I can't heal non-undead, and I can't battlefield control; but I can do debuffs and support with summons. If anybody wants summons for support or their enemy debuffed, just ask me.

How are we on healing resources? I think we're out of potions and most of our cure spells at this point, so I'll try to use myself and my summons as HP sponges from this point onwards so that the martial characters will have HP left to take the Kostroma.

Posey after she learns how to raise the dead

>>191644
Interesting proposal. I'll note it for when Posey opens up her shop.

Should we convince Kira to eat Light Water alive after we defeat him and the Traveler? Lamias do believe in soul imbibement where the soul of a creature that's eaten alive and whole becomes part of the lamia, which would serve as a fairly ironic death for the hippogriff.

>>191681
It would be grossly out of character for Kira to ever agree to it, even if the entire party unanimously wanted it somehow. The good-aligned party members would not.

>>191682
crosses arms and flicks tongue
Party pooper...

Even if it potentially results in Kira becoming stronger?

>>191684
I cannot tell you what you can and can't do with your characters. It's just not in-character for Kira with how she has acted so far.

>>191681
>Should we convince Kira
If you want to do it, just say so. Or just do it without asking. Don't go asking us to "convince" your character to do weird stuff for no reason.
>Lamias do believe in soul imbibement where the soul of a creature that's eaten alive and whole becomes part of the lamia, which would serve as a fairly ironic death for the hippogriff.
Idk how that really helps the rest of us.
I was considering exsanguinating him, like I consider for most humanoid enemies, but I didn't want the other players to see Posey as a monster (yet); if that isn't an issue for you, go ahead and do it. I won't stop you.
I do kind of want his head for necromantic purposes though. I think I can get info from his skull with Speak With Dead, but it might not really be necessary. His feathers and claws could be valuable as spell components, but again, probably not necessary.
>>191684
If gaining power from eating people is on the table in this game, I absolutely want in on it. Posey are the flesh off of Luminous's bones just so that she could rapidly recover enough flesh to keep herself beautiful.
I was considering asking for favors from the newly-ghoulish Kaftar priest to join me for "dinner dates", where we could repeatedly cast Corpse Rejuvenation on humanoid corpses before eating them, so that over time we may become Fleshvigor undead. It wouldn't do very much for Posey mechanically aside from a minor Str bonus, but it would give her naturally rosey cheeks and make her closer to a living creature, which is nice. Worth pursuing in a milestone game. The main point is to monitor behavioral sink within the Kaftar Clergy, as I stand to benefit from them practicing necromancy and worshipping demons.
When I gained sufficient power, I had hoped to use Graveborn Warrior to create Blood Hulks abominations with birthright bloodlines as bonus feats, so that I could consume their hearts to reabsorb their powers into myself in a grotesque cannibalism ritual.
At some point, when I take over Equestria, I'm going to want to summon Titanic demons to crush cities for it. The easiest way to do this would be to prepare a massive feast for demons like Dalmosh, and the easiest way to prepare such a feast would be to slaughter a few hundred ponies (or similarly sized creatures) and reanimate them as zombies and order them to baptize themselves in wine and roast themselves for the feast (I can calculate their net gp value for the ritual component based on their weight in flesh) before presenting themselves to the demon. It would require a massive desecrated iron pot though and summoning Titanic uncontrolled demons once per month is a tactic that's guaranteed to blow up in my face unless I'm more powerful than them, so that's more of a higher level ambition.

But I am glad that I am not the only one with such ambitions. Welcome to the club, Kira.

>>191689
>Kira already had the "Prey" conversation with Brie
I don't think she did. Or at least, I don't remember it

>>191684
If you're that concerned about breaking character, at a later level I could lesser planar bind a demonic tapeworm and infect you with it. I was going to do it anyway and breed them in the sewers to distribute to living party members. The Gutworm increases its host's Constitution score and the ability to rage like a Barbarian, but it also causes hunger related debuffs if not properly fed and like all fiendish Symbionts it has a chance of compelling its host to commit evil acts (which may eventually result in alignment change). It could lead to some interesting roleplaying moments.
I won't get access to those spells for a while though, so I can't help just yet.

>>191690
It was the conversation about how where when you target prey and 'you' know you can gets, and you should gets, then gets gets gets

>>191694
Eh...offer appreciated, but I think Kira will skip the tapeworm

>>191696
Okay. I was mostly just shitposting anyway.

>>191701
I was shitposting (mostly). It was my way of saying "while we're on the topic of unsolicited gross ideas..."

>>191710
A mare can dream.

So, we could try a mixed approach to the light house? Fliers go to the top window and get in from there. The rest could take the stairs.
Silver should lead the team entering from the bottom, because he's a high strength character with a greatsword: with a Power Attack and maybe an Iajutsu check, he should be able to break down the door (this is a good reason to learn Mountain Hammer). I will enter as well, since my charm spell and charisma skills may be necessary to avoid a fight with the airponies. Perhaps I could try scaling the tower if it's not possible to get in from the bottom for whatever reason.

I think we should just rush past the GRU and monsters. In the event that either the GRU or the monsters choose to engage us, that will simply create an opportunity for their opponents to turn the tide of the battle, cutting the number of our enemies in half.

>>191724
Well you could maybe, I don’t know, discuss it in character instead of just everyone gunning off to do their own thing?

>>191724
Isn't Cavaliere the only flier now? But yes, that was his original plan, now hampered by the proximity of the enemies who would probably notice a flying creature. We also probably don't want to barge into the lighthouse only to get gunned down by the ponies we're meant to save, so we need to be cautious. If there weren't enemies around I would have suggested getting their skipper to talk to them.
>I think we should just rush past the GRU and monsters. In the event that either the GRU or the monsters choose to engage us, that will simply create an opportunity for their opponents to turn the tide of the battle, cutting the number of our enemies in half.
Good point. We also need to be quick because time is not on our side.

>>191725
>discuss it in character
Maybe. It's a bit of an urgent situation and having a council meeting about our tactics wouldn't feel right. Maybe we can decide on something OOC and write a post-hoc justification for our characters.

>>191727
>We also probably don't want to barge into the lighthouse only to get gunned down by the ponies we're meant to save, so we need to be cautious.
I am willing to risk that personally. Shots directed at me are shots that they don't take at each other. So long as I take a prone position while fighting defensively and don't attack them directly, I may be able to charm them, or at least reason with the ones who are still sane.

>>191727
>But yes, that was his original plan, now hampered by the proximity of the enemies who would probably notice a flying creature.
The monsters appear to be melee only, and if you go past the range of their darkvision (usually 60 ft) they are less likely to pursue you when they have more readily available targets (the GRU).
As for the GRU, while they might shoot at you, they have bigger priorities on hand, because shots they take at you are shots they don't take at the monsters right in front of them.

The door may be barricaded, so you should probably try to enter through the window in the next two rounds.
>>191725
I have now had Posey announce her intentions to gallop into the light house.

>>191736 →
How high up are you now? You should be able to make it.
Assuming a 60 ft fly speed and average maneuverability (60° up angle), and the average height of a light house in this era (10 meters (33 feet) to 63 meters (208 feet)), you could probably get there with a single run action (4x movement speed in one direction). They might hear something flapping, but by the time they turned their attention to you you would already be behind cover.
Note that ponies don't have low light vision, and even monsters with darkvision tend to lack low light vision (including Posey). By the time you're at the top of the tower, they would not be able to shoot you even if they could see you, because they'd take a huge penalty for shooting in the dark. They would already be able to hear the gunshots from inside the tower, so the presence of a winged creature flapping there shouldn't draw additional attention.

I think Ponies should have at least 40 ft walking speed.

If you're sneaking, you could try flying at your minimum half speed to move silently (with a stealth check) and avoid being heard, but it would take 8 times as long to get there, which has its own risks and penalties.
You would have no cover to hide, but distracted creatures without low-light vision would be unlikely to see you and even less likely to successfully shoot you.

>>191737
>>191738
It's a better plan than shooting at mooks and almost certainly dying.

>>191739
Do what you will.
I'm running across the ground to the light house, so I will probably draw any potential fire/attention.

Since the paladin is not with us, can I have back the spell slot I spent on Undetectable Alignment to avoid conflict with him? I only cast it because there was a paladin here and I wanted to be friendly with his player.
No problem if I can't though.

>>191921 →
Idk if that would work.
My plan was going to be to engage the enemies in melee to draw fire/attention away from the herd, kill as many as I could manage, and then play dead if things go south.
I want to mention that I think my character is uniquely suited for this. Although Posey does less damage than anyone else in the party, and her HP has been severely nerfed during this mission, she's still in the best position to risk injury to herself and then flee and later. I've barely taken any damage over the course of this adventure, and the rest of the PCs need to save their HP for the Kostroma. Humanoid enemies are also Posey's specialty (aside from undead enemies), since they generally have low AC and are subject to fear-based debuffs.
I could also try to use my limited 1/day gaseous form to make myself bulletproof for the encounter, which would take away my ability to attack, but not my ability Intimidate them. I was going to save it for the siege of the Kostroma, but this feels like an emergency.

But we agreed to make you the decisionist, so I will comply with whatever tactic you want.

>>191932 →
>it's not as if the GRU squad is going to be an easy fight anyways
PC-classed Humanoid NPCs have CR equal to their character level, more. While we can't assume every encounter will be party-level, I wouldn't count on them all being that overleveled either (unless the intention was for us to gain 3-5 levels this adventure, in which case bring it on), so these guys are probably level 2-3 each, maybe with some a bit higher since they're special forces. Engaging them in combat as a distraction feels like a viable option to defend our charges.
If you want to grenade them, one of us will have to be within throwing range to anyway. Maybe Posey could use the grenades to soften up the enemies so that she can finish them in melee, or at least force them to retreat.

>>191936
I'd expect them to be near our level, with them being special forces and all. It's not just levels we need to worry about, it's also their weapons. They likely have machine guns which a lucky streak of attack rolls could end up killing Posey or Silver in a single round. Not only that, they also have support from mortars and the naval batteries on their warship.

>>191937
Well, if we fight half a dozen characters near our level, we're practically guaranteed to level up.

>>191938
XP shouldn't be a motivator in this simply because it's not really being kept track of and level-ups are sparingly given for a number of reasons.

>>191939
I really begs the question of how I'm going to get back through XP I spent on buyoffs in character creation.... I'm still ECL 4.

So, it looks like I'm outvoted on holding off the enemies myself..
What's the other plan?

What do we do next?

>>191945
I still feel like the grenade idea will work. We have to think of these soldiers as real people, and real people, even soldiers, wouldn't run through a field of thrown grenades.

>>191946
I think you are confusing grenades with mines.

>>191941
>>191947
Whatever we use, we need to commit to a fighting retreat. We send the airponies and other followers back to safety and we follow at a slow pace, fighting so the enemies are forced to halt and give up the chase.

>>191948
Let's just do Silver's plan and if that fails we do my plan.

>>191951 →
Apparently Silver isn't concerned with actually hitting the enemy, and grenades are AoE. The AC to hit a particular 5 ft square should be 5, so anyone should be able to hit the square so long as it's in range and they don't get a Nat 1.
>the one character where I forgot to add a smokestick to my inventory
Remind me to buy basic alchemical items after this adventure is done.

Also, you guys should probably buy healing belts, and machine guns.
Actually, I manage to kill the gunner squad, we could loot that gun.

>>191951 →
I don't think the mod really matters, so it may as well be you.

Actually, I have a better idea: load the grenades into Posey's sling (range increment of 50 ft, max range 250 feet). That way you could possibly hit the machine gunners if you slung it with your mod. You could get a +1 bonus from height if you're flying. Even if you can't hit them directly, you only need to hit an AC of 5 to hit the 5 ft square they're standing in.

It's up to GM if loading a grenade into a sling incurs improvised weapon penalties, but you're trying it hit empty space, so even with a -4 with your mod you're pretty much guaranteed to hit unless you get a nat 1.

This should make Silver's plan a lot more viable.

>>191953
If we know the location of the machine gunner, knocking him out with a slung grenade would greatly even the odds. I'm fully in support of this.

>>191954
Yeah, and your ranged combat mods should help with that.
You should be able to roll your perception skills (spot, listen) to detect them right now. They were shooting not too long ago, so unless they have all the good sniper feats they should be taking some -20 penalty to stealth, so I think you're guaranteed to detect them even with a nat 1 at a distance in low light conditions.
Remember, you don't have to hit them directly. You only need to hit their general area (very low AC, possibly as low as 1 if the grenade has an AoE larger than a medieval splash weapon).

>>191954
You could probably start making checks now.

>>191958 →
Should we still do this? I don't know how I can have a clear line to throw the grenade without being shot at by those rifleponies near the lighthouse.

>>191959
You wouldn't need a clear line, you can do your best to arc into their general direction and it should be enough to give us just those few seconds to get some distance. If they get back up, see us, and start firing, then we will have our unicorns shoot our rifles at them as we retreat to keep them pinned down. Standing and fighting will only put is in more danger.

I would like to apologize as the party Arcanist for not knowing Fireball or any other long range blasting spells. We wouldn't need to discuss slinging grenades at enemies if I could cast any decent damaging spells. I'm not really good at doing damage in general, let alone AoE damage. Best I can do is Kelgore's Grave Mist at a medium range, which I guess could be okay to neutralize stationary firing squads.
I will try to learn some blasting magic as soon as I can get my hooves on a Drake Helm or otherwise expand my casting range.

I probably should have just played a Wizard, tbh. Oh well.

Are we still deciding on whether to fight at all? This is decision paralysis. I don't think we should fight with the intention of wiping them out, but we should surprise and weaken them such that they cannot afford to follow. Then we can get away and look for that last airpony.

>>191981
>Are we still deciding on whether to fight at all? This is decision paralysis.
I'm getting kind of frustrated too, tbh.

>>191981
>>191984
I can make something happen.

>>191973
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb2Ee_GYMZI

>>191972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GiPcP30cFc&pp=ygURc2hhbWUgc2hhbWUgc2hhbWXSBwkJrQkBhyohjO8%3D

>>191988
No bully! Posey is trying her best!
>J-just wait until I get to lvl sixteen! Then you will all beg for mercy!
>[sobbing tier-3 fixed-list caster noises]

>>191993
Have a song about scary necromancers to cheer you up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60YJal8s3A4

>>192001
Only 4 more levels until I get my primary class feature...

Anyways, what exactly are we waiting for? I don't want to spend a third week sitting around.

Okay, seriously, who is slinging the last smoke bomb?
As soon as its slung, we can run.

Cavalier, you have Rapid Shot: just sling the smoke bomb with your other claw. You only need one claw to hurl a sling.

>>192041
Wait, does Cavalier have Rapid Shot?
Two,-Weapon Fighting should work too. You're targeting an AC of 5.

>>192042
I do have rapid shot. Does it work like that?

>>192043
Well, if GM will accept you reconning that first obvious hit to have a -2 penalty, it should.

>>192043
>>192044
Or you could just make your normal second attack, at a -5 penalty.

Is Tenebrous ever going to rejoin this game? If he ever does, I would gladly help him with his build if he needed it. I am fond of Stealthy, lightly-armored moon-themed Batman-esque paladins. He would make a good Shadowbane Inquisitor.