Actual Play – We are the Champions (2/20/2015)

War of the River KingsGM: Dennis Jordan
Players: Regina Joyner, Karen Twelves, Adrienne Mueller, and Sean Nittner
System: Pathfinder
Adventure Path: Kingmaker

I was so excited about this session, and it did not fail to deliver. We finally met back up with Kasten, our ex-commander that left years ago and discovered why he left us…. but Merrowyn was too caught up with her plans for triumph to care! We competed against our fellow nations in friendly competition, and DOMINATED them! We met Castruccio Irovetti, His Supreme and Inimitable Magnificence, Castruccio Irovetti, by the grace of the gods the rightful King of Pitax, Marvel of Numeria, Master of Mormouth,
and Prince-Regent of the Sellen. Not one, but two of the Daughters of Aldori were smitten by him. We had amazing games of deception and they actually worked! We met up with old friend like Imeckus Stroon (#NotAFriend) and made new ones like Villamor Koth (#AlsoNotAFriend).

All in all we had a delightful time.

kobb

Miquela and Kobb

These two, always in each other’s business. I remember when Kobb had secret meetings with Merrowyn

Anywho, it turns out that Kobb doesn’t eat, or drink (he must have one of those fancy rings) so not only is it hard to poison him, it’s also hard to share a drink with him.

Miquela apologized for her reaction about Aven sneaking on board and said that she called him a shitty spymaster in a moment of frustration. Kobb responded that he didn’t need to be liked, implying that he didn’t care what Miquela thought about him. She apologized anyway, and then everyone was uncomfortable.

The shifted topics to the Rushlight Tournament, of which Miquela told Kobb we didn’t have to win, but we did have to place well. “The most important thing is that we look good in front of the other nations.”

Merrowyn and Kobb

As Kobb walked out of Miquela’s cabin Merrowyn intercepted him “Kobb. The Rushlight Tournament. The most important things is that we win. Oh, and that nobody kills Miquela. Make sure of both of those happen.”

Arrival at Rushlight

Rushlight is a small yet unusually deep lake located about a dozen miles north of Pitax, but still technically within the Stolen Lands. It has a paradoxical reputation as bestowing both great and terrible luck. Its name comes from the lights that dance upon its service, spectral flames of green and blue that whisk into life, slash across the water, and then disappear. During the day the lights are hard to see, but occasionally one can see flashes of brilliance that streak across the water’s surface. Witnessing these “daylights” is thought to bring good luck.

At night the lights are easy to see, and local legend holds that to look upon their eerie glow is to be coaxed by the spirits of the lake, charmed into entering the water and drowning amid the spectral flames.

In the middle of the lake stands a small island, speckled with reeds, shrubs, and hemlock. An unusual species of egret live on the island, possessing unique and beautiful plumage. Hard to capture, the birds are disquietingly silent and still (but said to scream like a woman when slain).

– Guide to the River Kingdoms

Upon arriving we saw the festival grounds were already bustling with activity. There were common stall with merchants hawking their wares, there were all manor of savory and sweet delights, surrounding the late itself there were luxurious tents provided for all the invited guests, and there was a menagerie, presented by the one and only Madame Duclarion. Duclarion is widely know for her amazing selection of beasts. It is said that she is a Chellaxian magic user who was displaced from her home and now travels with her collection. She isn’t cheap and she does not like to be cheated out of business.

The rotunda itself was where the actual games would be featured and those all were welcome, those who could afford it were able to purchase box seats at the mere price of 1,000 gold per day. Domingo said we needed three of them for our retinue. We could hear Giovanni’s ulcers flaring up from here! Also, other strange thinks kept appearing in our camp: steam baths, exotic foods, massages, etc. Domingo knows how to do this right!

Festival Grounds

PitaxWardenScoping out the Security

Planted all out the festival grounds were the Pitax Heralds and Wardens. The heralds were event organizers, entertainers, and the people people. The wardens were there for when civil approaches were unsucessful. From the look of them, these were some bad ass dudes.

[Is it wrong that as a player I really wanted to one by one sneak up and take these guys out, then put our men in their suits of armor. As it turns out that not only wouldn’t have been necessary, but it would have ended up with us “cheating” accidentally in the midnight joust. See below.]

Honor of the Swordlord’s Presence

Lieutenant Ignato Dolfino looks like he was once a pretty man, but years of soldiering and a few wound which never received magical healing have turned him into a horribly scarred mess. He’s a little old for an  lieutenant but that is probably because he likes where he is. He’s ruthless, and a stern disciplinarian, but not ambitious. Dolfino approached general Merrowyn and requested that one of his soldiers have the honor of having lunch at the Swordlord’s table.

“Wow, that is going to be uncomfortable for everyone, but sure, go for it. Only I don’t care if they are only armed with a shrimp fork, as long as the are in her presence, they are still the Swordlord’s own and they are still responsible for protecting her.”

35-nunzio_arpaiaRules of the competition

The chief bard Nunzio Arpaia greeted the audience and told them the rules of the event, and the schedule for the tournament. Rules first:

  1. Harm no spectator
  2. Kill no competitor
  3. Don’t get caught cheating

Then the Schedule

  • Day One – The Archery competition
  • Day Two – The feat of strength
  • Day Three – Boasting competition in the morning and the the drunken joust as midnight.

Who’s who at the Rushlight

Once the announcements were made, we all had some time to socialize with the other attendees. This is what we found.

  • Daggermark is competing, but their competitors are fractures. They are just in it for the price.
  • Gralton is here to win to gain fame among the River Kingdoms and sell to support their war effort with Galt.
  • Mivon wants to win to rub it in Pitax’s face (we knew that)
  • Pitax, even though it is gauche to even compete in your own tournament, still want to win to the be best.
  • Tymon, a nation of gladiators, wants to win, because winning is everything to them.

Go great, everyone wants to win. No surprises there!

Irovetti

Elara’s Entrapment

On the first day Miquela and Elera were invited by Nunzio Arpaia to meet the king himself. What an honor! Nunzio Arpai, chief steward escorted them. He seemed just as pompous as Domingo, but without a sword. The royal pavilion they were brought to was made all of white cloth, which despite the very hot temperatures outside seemed to radiate cold. Elara realized it was the underbelly soft skin of a white dragon.

When the were brought to Irovetti the found him surrounded by two beautiful women who were instructing him on playing a new instrument. Although it had the appearance of being an interruption, both Miquela and Elara, keen into the hearts and minds of men, saw this was all a set up to appear harmless and benficient… and it worked.

As the king spoke with the Daughters of Aldori, he focused his charm on Elara, and much to her surprise she found him very pleasant indeed. He invited her to sit in his box with him tomorrow. Again what an honor… until later when we realized that tomorrow was the archery competition and he knew Elara was our contender. What a weasel!

Other thing they notice were that he personally was decked out in adventuring gear. Magic items in every slot! He also carried bizarre contraptions that Elara later realized where relics of the Iron Gods [Read: super science gizmos from a crashed spaceship] and that his musicians were accentuating his natural charm. Finally, his tastes go all over the place. He’s an adventurer who now fancies himself an art connoisseur. Not all of it is bad, but he couldn’t tell if it was!

OlivettaLegend Lore

Olivetta, curious of the Rushlight lake really did have magical properties walked out into it (which felt nice in all this heat) and cast a Legend Lore spell. Oh my! The mystical lights themselves? Swamp gas. But the other here:

  • Tad and Xanthia accompanied by a glow, perhaps their bond of love. No, it was Erastil’s favor
  • Domingo is very ambitious malevolent [He’s Chaotic Good].
  • Irovetti took his name (it’s an old Taldaran name). His real name is Manda Larucio.
  • This place was important to the elves before they left and many important people have died here.
  • Villamor Koth is here. A barbarian tiger lord and right bastard.
  • Pitax is a seething pit of depression but it looks good on the outside.
  • Milalethia is here. An elven cleric of Calestria.
  • Kasten is here! He’s self important. He’s confident. He’s angry. He’s prideful. And he’s something else…
  • Anamida Belahara, a human bard, is here. Seen seducing and fighting demons. She is a beloved Pitaxian social commentator who the common people love. She has been exiled for mocking Irovetti.
  • Merrowyn and Oninrbaane are communing with each other. Nothing new there!
  • And more, but the oracles were a bit hazy (see if you can make out the missing pieces):

File Mar 07, 5 05 25 PM

File Mar 07, 5 05 50 PM

Shakespeare would be envious

How could Elara compete in the archery contest and be Irovetti’s guest? How could she refuse either? We argued about this for a while before finally deciding that Olivetta, using her Hat of Disguise would pose as Elara, while Elara, using her Hat of Disguise would pose as Arivn, while Arvin, who just wanted to fish, would be sat on by a few of the Swordlords Own. A perfect plan. How could it possibly go wrong?

Olivetta/Elara, for her part did remarkable. Imogen went as a servant (where she heard and took part in lots of gossip, about everyone save Lady Miquela, who she held in the highest esteem and would not besmirch her name). She wasn’t able to help out Olivetta as much as we hoped, but she was there for moral support at the very least. Olivetta/Elara played it pretty cool, asking the king about his interests and trying not to say anything that Elara wouldn’t. She also found that she was rather charmed by his wiles, and when the king put his hand on her knee, she covered it with her own. Scandalous! He invited her to be his personal guest at the Pitax party the next evening.

Also in his pavilion was the inestimable Imeckus Stroon! Yeah, that Stroon. The one who we’ve given a very bad day several times and has removed more than a few of our eyebrows. He was as civil as one can be when all they want to do is drop an empowered fireball at ground zero! “Charmed. I’m sure.

Archery Contest

GrigoriBelow, in the arena the master of ceremonies was announced… and it was none other than Grigori. That bard we killed for treason? Yeah, same guy! We immediately started asking our lone spy what the hell was going on. Was this an illusion? Did they somehow get the body and raise him? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?

But the show went on, and the MC announced the competitors. He even make sure to mispronounce the name of our country. Jerk. The rules were simple. Each archer had 36 seconds (six rounds) to fire six arrows provided into a target of their choice:

  • Blue target with a Kobold face on it (thank god Sootscale wasn’t here for this) at 30′. A hit worth 1 point. A bullseye [crit] worth 3.
  • Green target at 220′. A hit worth 3 points. A bullseye worth 9.
  • Red target at 550′. A hit worth 5 points, A bullseye worth 15.

Additionally two points are to be awarded for every round not used (giving some incentive to finish quickly). Here’s how the contestants scored:

  1. Filatia Manando (Gralton) – Six shots into the green target with three rounds to spare. 24 points.
  2. Ilraith Valadhkani (Daggermark) – Notably palmed his arrows, but when Elara/Arvin called him on it Grigori make it sound as though accusing another contestant of cheating was bad form, so she let it drop. Fired six arrows into the red target, all of them landing. 30 points.
  3. Navarathna (Mivon) – The ringer we met on our travels here. A bullseye into the red, four hits into the red, and then one arrow that hit the red and then bounced off. All fired in two rounds! 43 points.
  4. Damanjot (Tymon) – Alternated shots between green and red. Not sure the specifics but she scored 30 points.
  5. Elara/Arvin (Aldoria) – Began the tournament with prayers to Erastil (Greater Magic Weapon and Divine Power). And then dropped arrow after arrow into the red target. A hit. A bullseye. A hit. A hit. A hit. And then… the sky parted and the sun glinted brightly off the head of her arrowhead and… another bullseye, right through the first and destroying the red target! An amazing 52 points!
  6. Villamor Koth (Pitax) – On his third bow, he dropped powerful arrow after arrow into the red target. I don’t remember the specifics but he got 38 points. A solid third… at which he snapped his third bow!

ElaraWhen the announcement was made that Elara/Arvin was the winner our stands went wild! A team of rangers leapt onto the grounds, charged Elara/Arvin and gave her/him no less than six victory laps around the colosseum. The enthusiasm was shared by all (or mostly all) in the Aldoria tents, but not many others.

Point totals: Aldoria: 3, Mivon: 1

Celebrations hosted by Mivon

They really thought they were going to win. 43 points is damn impressive. But only 2nd place. Still, they were prepared for a party and they were going to host it! And oh what fun we had.

Merrowyn approached Kobb’s hapless agent and told him “I want to win tomorrow and I’m pretty sure that monster of a barbarian is going to be representing Pitax tomorrow, and I’m betting he’s better at feats of strength than archery!” He looked she asked him to move mountains, and apparently she did!

At the party we talked about Kasten, and who should approach him. Merrowyn, who for so long had pined after mending the damage she had done with Kasten, now just didn’t care. In fact she actively thought that engaging with him for any reason beside sizing up his armies was a waste of time. Miquela and Elara disagreed. And Domingo posited the question “what if he has one of those rings? If he does, then he is the victim here.” They agreed to try and find out. Merrowyn, now deep under the influence of Ovinrbaane, scoffed at them.

Aecora SilverfireBlessings to Xanthia and Tad

[After some google fu to find her picture, I realize I’ve been spelling Xamanthe’s name wrong for ages. I’m okay with that. It’s staying Xanthia for my records. Also, this is a picture of her mother Aecora because the one shot available of her, presumably from when we first found her just depicts the head of a beaten woman. I thought this did more justice to her.]

In the morning of the second day Miquela, who had long been trying to figure out how to combine her idea of creating a shared genealogy and the damn sword’s insistent idea of giving her some of Savia’s emeralds (splitting up a 2000-year old set for the first time!), decided to present them as such: a book with the detailed lineages of Tad & Xanthia, which Miquela memorized and recited to Xanthia in full, and a pair of emerald earrings of Savia Aldori, which have never left the family before, and Miquela hopes will will not now either, as Xanthia will now be part of the family. Miquela added that she hoped Xanthia would wear the earrings to the wedding, which gave Xanthia a bit of a start since talk of their elopement had been very hush-hush.

Xanthia, always prepared for a fight, was not prepared for this gesture. She took a dagger from her waist, pierced her ears there on the spot, and put the earrings in them, covered in blood at all. A bit emotional her thanks were “I’ll never hurt him.” The words Miquela had hoped to hear ages ago.

Villamor KothA Feat of Strength

The contenders were once again brought out onto the field and once again Grigori announced the contents. When Pitax was announced Villamor Koth, took his flag pole, snapped of the end and hurled it halfway down the coliseum to stab into the ground. Guy likes breaking stuff! But also…damn, why didn’t Merrowyn think of that?

The contestants were each given their choice of either a great axe or two hand axes. When picking her’s Merrowny found an axe that had it’s half hanging over the edge of the table, the snapped it up by stomping on the exposed end, sending it flying through the air, and catching it just before the blade bit into the skull of Grigori. “I’ll take this one.” Grigori did not mispronounce our name this time!

Each contestant was given one minute [10 rounds] to cut through as many hardened logs as they could, starting in the middle and making their way through anyway they wanted. Each destroyed log was worth 5 points, each damaged one worth 2.

  1. Yegina Varudu (Daggermark) – A small frail looking woman, who after the casting of a few spells, tore into the logs with abandon, Destroying two and chipping away at a third. 12 points.
  2. Kilbaskian Ord (Gralton) – A ranger from Gralton who picked two handaxes. The sawed through three logs, damaged a fourth, and then threw his axes at a fifth and sixth. The fifth struck home but the sixth seemed to bounce off as though by some unseen force. 19 points.Merrowyn_25
  3. Dizon Marmada (Mizon) – A fellow Gorumite, she took her and sawed through four logs. 20 points!
  4. Timsina Siraj (Tymon) – A priestess of Gorum as well, she enchanted her blade and also tore through the logs (though I didn’t record the number but it was under 22)
  5. Villamor Koth (Pitax) – Howled in rage, drank from his flagon, and attacked with abandon destroying four logs and damaging a fifth. 22 points!
  6. Merrowyn Aldori (Aldoria) – As though Gorum’s blood ran in her veins, she quaffed a potion of Enlarge Blades, used her wayfinder ioun stone to cast Lead Blades, and in the end even used her weapon chain of blood doping to burst her strength. She also wore Miquela’s Boots of Speed. Put this all together and not only did she destroy all six logs, she broke the last one apart with her bare hands and had a round to spare. 30 points! [Note, I really threw out all the stops on this one, and borrowing Miquela’s boots made a huge difference. I spent a hero point on the first round to drink the potion, and another on the second round to cast Lead Blades, something the NPCs didn’t get to do. So while I won, I think to some degree I won by virtue of being a PC. 10′ reach helped a lot too!].

Ovinrbaane spoke to Merrowyn as her blade bit deep into the wood and as she wrenched it out over and over. It told her that Gorum was watching, and that he noticed when she broke the log in twain with her adamantine armor spikes!

Grigori made some noise about it being “unconventional” but it was allowed just the same and cheers from the Aldori crowd came that she “Arvin’ed it!” (I think our new term for Acing something!).

Point totals: Aldoria: 6, Mivon: 1, Pitax: 1

After the contest Ribissi and Oromano approached Miquela and told her that they no longer saw a possibility of winning the contest, so if they could win, they were going to help us!

OvinrbaanePitax’s Party

That night the king held a party for all contestants and other important dignitaries to attend.

Olivetta spent time with the contestants from Gralton, especially Lady Mogayne’s son, who had taken her to the dance when we passed through. He said that he was competing for Gralton tomorrow night in the joust. She did a fine job of socializing, but kept an eye out for Kasten. When she saw him she cast true seeing and detect magic and scanned for enchantments upon him. Though it took all over her arcane insight to unveil the magics that hid it from her [DC 40 Knowledge (Arcana) check] she confirmed he was controlled by magics the likes of which must come from the First World. No wonder he turned on us. I’m sure it had nothing to with Merrowyn being immature afterall. </snark>

Merrowyn, Timsina, and Dizon drank together, talked of battle, of the arenas in Tymon, and that they all hate Vallimor. Eventually, after a bit of mead, she unsheathed Ovinrbaane for them both to ogle and covet. When Dizon met her eyes with a look of “You know, I might just jump you now and take that blade from you, Merrowyn welcomed the challenge.

Elara (real Elara this time) was at the king’s side the entire time. He introduced her to several dignitaries, danced with her, and surprised her by being extra amorous!

Arcanist_RectMiquela and Imogen started the evening socializing with the folks from Mivon, but once Olivetta came with word of casten they split up.

Miquela made for Kasten directly and tried to see if there was any common ground between them. He was civil, but clearly brushed her off, and made it clear he had no interest in coming back, and that if he did, it would be with an army behind him. Subtle Kasten, real subtle.

Imogen was approached by none other than the Lord Captain Jontus and he asked if she was following him! Adorable! The left the party and went walking out by the lake where she found that he had been a soldier in Galt and was initially impressed but then her hopes were dashed when he revealed that his family had fled the conflict. She could never love a coward, so she parted ways with him only to find Rudolpho impressing a gaggle of young women. She took him by the metaphorical ear and pulled him away from them, saying it was time for both of them to retire for the evening. Shut down by a two hundred and fourty year old!

Boasting Contest

  1. Ankus Depergode (Gralton) – Boasted of his pirate days and doing well until a bard was discovered manipulating the crowd. Disqualified!Domingo
  2. Annamede Belavarah (Pitax) – The favored pitax comedian told a ribald tale of how she had spied on and sabotaged another River Kingdom…hey that sounds like all the things that happened to Aldoria!
  3. Memon Esponde (Daggermark) – Boasted of seducing all seven high priestess of Calistria and then making off with the high priestess’s corset, which he revealed as proof!
  4. Silia Ravenbrow (Mivon) – Sung a song about blood and danger and did quite well until she fumbled her drink!
  5. Mialolessa (Tymon) – A priestess of Calistria, it seemed from their body language that Memon od Daggermark was talking about her! It looked like she did some quick improvisation and changed her boast to a time when she seduced a succubus, and mentioned that it took weeks for her to recover from a condition she caught from her lover!
  6. Domingo Aldori (Aldoria) – Walked on stage and shoved his drink and cigar into the hands of the other contestants before he began his story of seduction and dueling, dancing at increasing speed as went along… and destroying the competition!

I don’t recall the point totals, but Domingo won by a landslide.

Point totals: Aldoria: 9, Mivon: 1, Pitax: 1, Tymon (?): 1

MiquelaJousting Competition

The drunken joust at midnight was, as expected, a ribald event. Tad, Miquela’s squire, however, kept her from suffering any ill effects. First he gave her a concoction to make sure she was quite sober indeed. Later he gave her other “drinks” between each joust to magically bolster her!

The first round included all the contestants except Pitax (who got a free pass for winning last year’s contest) jousting against the Pitax Wardens. Any who were unhorsed would not move on. Miquela and most of the other contestants advanced. The next round was jousting each other. Miquela faced off against Lady Morgayne’s son. A young lad and quite spirited, but she knocked him off his horse soundly! Finally she made it to the final round and faced Villamor Koth (jeez, I wonder why they didn’t have him the boasting contest too!). The draught Tad gave her just before the joust mader her lance strike true and she unseated the villain!

Point totals: Aldoria: 12, Mivon: 1, Pitax: 2, Tymon (?): 1

And the Rod of Lordly Might goes to… the highest bidder. Or if Elara has her way, the hall of trophies!

New NPCs

  • Castruccio Irovetti – wined and dined Elara/Olivetta
  • Madame Duclarion – runs the menagerie.
  • Lieutenant Ignato Dolfino – unambitious but stern officer.
  • Nunzio Arpaia – chief herald of Irovetti and Pitax.
  • Oh my god, so many contestants. See above!

Updated NPCs

  • Imeckus Stroon – No change. Still loathes us all.
  • Kasten Garess – He’s got one of the rings on!
  • Lord Captain Jontus – Pursuing Imogen but he lost her when he revealed the family fled rather than fought.
  • Xanthia – Given the emeralds of Savia Aldori. Brought into the family. Tad was pleased!
  • Grigori – True Seeing revealed he’s who he says he is, and word form home is that his body is still buried in the unmarked grave we gave him. A twin? A clone? Resurrected from a lock of hair they kept?

AnomanderWhat Rocked

Imogen’s drunk familiar was the best. I loved him being the worst chaperone ever.

 

It isn’t spelled out above but there were only two if Kobb’s agents assigned to give us support. One of them was the Stone Face Killer (with a hat of disguise on but still recognizable for his thousand yard stare and utter disinterest in everything) and the other was a sole agent that has to be a jack of all trades for us. Watching out that others weren’t cheating, cheating on our behalf, and making sure nobody killed Miquela in her sleep. That dude was awesome. I don’t think we got his name, but fucker deserves a raise!

Villamor Koth, and breaking his bow three times due to frustration. Once when teased by Navarathna, once when Elara/Arvin got her second bullseye, and once when he scored third place! He’s a jerk, I know, but I love characters who throw temper tantrums.

I got to do more crazy acrobatics in the feet of strength. Running up one log that was just broken, flying through the air 40′ and landing on another log to straddle it, and make cuts to my left and right. It as ridiculous, and awesome. Also, +10 Divine Strength bonus at the end to crack the log with my bare hands was lovely. Thanks Dennis/Gorum!

I think we cheated on nearly every contest, and just about everyone else did as well. In archer Elara posted as Arvin. In woodcutting, Kobb’s lowly agent hauled up three softer logs [Hardness: 3] for for Merrowyn to chop…but they had also given her the hardest logs filled with knots to start with [Hardness: 6]. In the jousting competition Miquela was given all sorts of alchemical concoctions from Tad to prevent her from being affected by the alcohol, and the spells of Heroes Fortune and True Strike. As far as we know only Domingo won purely on merit, but I hope he cheated too!

I love the conspiracies to keep things from Merrowyn. Miquela didn’t tell her that Savia isn’t Franco’s brother, something a general really should know. I kind of can’t wait for this to explode in someone’s face.

Other thoughts

I think its tough when you’ve got an idea that you want to try out but the consensus from NPCs is that the idea isn’t a good one, and they’re pushing a different idea. I know for Karen, one of the things she likes about Miquela’s direction is that she’s become quite knowledgeable about history and nobility (+21 on both skills, +27 if they have to do with Swordlords) and wanted to give a gift to Xanthia that reflected that. The argument that the Nomen have an oral tradition so a book wouldn’t be well received makes sense in the fiction, but Miquela had already taken this into account with her plan to recite it (again, because of her research into the Nomen history). It can be rough as player to have your choices dictated to you by NPCs and to feel like your ideas aren’t being encouraged.

I’m eager to give Merrowyn a chance to earn respect (or disdain) for more than just being a brute. I don’t really know how to roleplay being a good general because we have no military activity yet. So far it’s just been bolstering our armies. I’m sure wartime will come soon enough but when it does, the success of our armies will have more to do with how much we’ve built them up, and I’m still not sure as a player, how we’re doing on that track. According to ultimate campaign you can raise an army in a week, which seems a bit ridiculous, but if the civil war breaks out, or if the hobgoblins attack, or if we have some major blunder at the end of the Rushlight and we go to war with Pitax, I’ll be recruiting all hands for sure!

I’m a little disappointed the module didn’t have any challenges for non-martial characters. I know we haven’t always been deep in the arcane caster department, but it would have been cool if there was something that Olivetta or Imogen could have competed in. Part of this come down to magic being either too diverse (everyone has different spell lists and special abilities) or too similar (dispel magic, detect magic, etc. look and act the same no matter who is casting it). But I think they could have done something that involved casting spells on targets that either had spell pesistance (Caster Level check, but there are feats, abilities and magic items that can tweak that), are hard to hit and require ranged touch attacks, had lots of hit points (who could do the most damage the fastest), had different array of strong saving throws (do you have something that can still effect targets with high will, fort, or reflex saves?), or just left simple tasks up to the caster to complete and awarded ingenuity and pleasing the crowd. For this we could have seen something like “get the gem out of the trapped chest” and someone might have burst the chest open with telekinetic force, someone might have buffed themselves to withstand the trap, someone might have charmed someone else to open it for them, someone might have summoned a monster to do it, etc. Or it could have been a mash up of Knowledge and Spellcraft skills. Something like Nature, Arcana, Spellcraft, Religion, Planes.  Heck, maybe even trivia show style! So yeah, I’ve got half a dozen ideas, I wish Jason Nelson could have had one.

 

2 thoughts on “Actual Play – We are the Champions (2/20/2015)”

  1. I also loved drunk Anomander and frustrated Villamor. Can’t wait to see Merrowyn’s military chops too!

    Lack of non-martial challenges wasn’t so bad. Got to do some fun social stuff.

    And, the sad thing is, that’s actually some of my nicest handwriting.

    Favourite Bits:
    – Miquela’s apologies (to Xanthia and Cobb and Kasten).
    – Elara and Olivetta’s discussing and sniping and commiserating re Irovetti.
    – The WINNING! (Elara and Merrowyn and Miquela, O My!)
    – Griggory! So hatable!
    – Side-chats with Olivetta. Neither of us were in the main tournament and I was sitting right next to Eric, so it was a fun side-show. Hopefully not disruptive. Olivetta is such a treat to engage with.

    Other Thoughts:
    – Want to round out Imogen a bit. 1) She’s kind of one-dimensional. 2) A lot of her spells are fight-focused, which makes her less versatile in other situations.
    – Are we too awesome? Merrowyn, Mikaela and Domingo won hands down. Elara was at least touch and go.) Personally, I’m totally happy to have us just Own conflicts; but I could see others feel like their win was diminished by having a less close challenge.
    – Dennis is very forgiving/amenable to allowing changes to our characters, their approaches, everything. It’s great. And, coupled with Sean’s extremely fair and extensive knowledge of the rules and our characters’ abilities, this results in our having really enjoyable, and really smooth games.

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