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Just to let you know, I may be a little late tomorrow or unable to make it. Work is having a dreaded ISO audit tomorrow.
It is "meant" to finish at 5pm (as per normal). But is possible (or probable) that it will drag on.

In the (as it stands as I edit this: seemingly likely event) that I'm not there by 7:00 carry on without me.

Kingmaker on Friday will carry on as usual though.

Dear players,

Sending Bester into melee combat

I am not sure Nick would have agreed to what you decided to do as a team. I mean the "Let's use Bester's Sorcerer bloodine and have him claw at Mokmurian" was not the best idea you have ever had as a group.
The 1D6-1 of damage that the PC only managed twice did not go through the DR 10/Adamantine, and you should have known it. I hope you will spare some cash to raise the pile of mush that is now standing at Mokmurian's side.

Wall of fire and splitting the party

As you may have noticed, I sort of eased up a bit on crushing the Paladin with Mokmurian.
I believe that your LV11 party can indeed get through the ordeal. This is indeed a case of being only a Wizard, not in qualitative terms, but in quantitative terms. A lone Wizard, whatever the level, does not really count as its CR. The usual problem of having only one or two actions to take per turn (thanks to haste at the moment). Now that the overland flight spell is gone, Mokmurian's mobility is reduced and you may be able to annoy him a lot when he wants to cast a spell.

Back to the subject: Ian's character had spent two rounds too many being alone on that side of the Wall of fire. Said Wall of fire represents only a 2d6+14 one-off loss of HP, at LV11 this should not affect you much, so suck-it up! Basically this puny (for Mokmurian) LV4 spell has had a pretty good psychological effect on the party!
Hint: with his 30 fire resistance at the moment, he can happilly cast in the fire.

I shall update the game page and post next week's event later.

Laurent,

Tsk I don't know them there Sorcerer hating so and so's sending Bester into Mele... just to use his bloodline trait.

Could have used his other bloodline trate ... line his 1/day breath weapon... may have been almost useful!

Reminde me not to use the Selective Casting feat next time I use a fireball

Nick,

Currently Mokmurian seems to be impervious to fire, well unless it gets very hot that is. Spells like resist energy when they hit their cap provide a pretty good protection indeed.

Bester's puny breath weapon, and even his fireball to an extent, may not be the optimal choice at the moment.

I have updated the game page and posted the event for next week.

Laurent,

Dear Players,

Despite suffering from some digestive system malfunctions today, I should be able to run the game tonight as planned.

Ian has proposed to drive to Derby this weekend for the Big Meet, we can organise the trip at the game session.

Laurent,

Dear Players,

End of adventure.

And here we are, this is the end of Fortress of the Stone Giants, which was authored by Wolfgang Baur. The party has saved the region of Varisia. Some R&R in Sandpoint is assumed and maybe the party will start asking questions about Xin-Shalast and the Kodar Mountains in the North.

New adventure.

On shall we proceed with Sins of the Saviours by Stephen S. Greer.
This - from memory but I will read it again soon! - adventure is going to present more traditional dungeons, where Marcus should at long last resume his display of trap-finding and trap-disabling mastery. As the title announces, your PCs will need to be associated with a sin: greed, sloth, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, or pride.

As a guide to all things Arcane, sin magic associates a sin with a school:
Envy - Abjurers (suppressing magic other than your own)
Sloth - Conjurers (summoning minions to perform your tasks)
Lust - Enchanters (controlling others to satisfy your desires)
Wrath - Evokers (destroying your enemies with sheer power)
Pride - Illusionists (perfecting your appearance and domain with trickery)
Gluttony - Necromancers (manipulating the body to provide an unending thirst for life)
Greed - Transmuters (transforming objects into items of greater use or value)

Divination was seen as inferior in old Thassilon.
The list above does not mean that spellcasters must align on a school or conversely specialist mages must get their associated sin.

Being associated with a sin will have mechanical effects in the adventure, negative effects of course but some positive ones too. In any case, you are all required to pick one or be assigned one. It would be more interesting for a party of six to have six different sins, but this is not a requirement.

Gameplay.

Mokmurian was CR18, thus had a pretty high AC, boosted by spells too. This has led to some of you not being able to do much in combat against him. This will always happen, classes by definition have areas of expertise. For instance, being a Thief, with medium BAB, means not much chance to hit in melee as a flanker on such a high level target. Paladins and Sorcerers may have issues disarming a DC30 trap, although I agree that an encounter tends to last longer than a simple disable device roll.
Try to stack-up on abjuration spells and other Arcane type utility/restorative spells, such as stone to flesh, break enchantment and the likes. True, these are unlikely to be used everyday, but as you have now realised when they are needed, they are sorely so.
Hence the advice to have them on scrolls. Scrolls are not that expensive and as the GM I will not bother you too much with carrying them around, assuming at least a couple of scrollcases.

The game page has been updated with a new picture!
Next week's event has also been posted.

Laurent,

Afternoon all,
Not sure I'm going to be able to make it this evening, mixture of several nights of not having a good nights sleep, and being "kindly" given a bug from a work collegue.

If I'm not about my charicter (before setting off) will have got an Ioun stone (one that gives +2 to Charisma) and a couple of scrolls (one each of break enchantment, and stone to flesh).

Apologies for the short notice, but I won't be able to make it either. I've got a heavy cold, and I think I should stay in in the warm. I should be okay for Kingmaker on Friday if that's still on.

Kingmaker should still be on for Friday, so long as I can get a several good night's sleep and this bug doesnt make me feel any worse.

Dear Players,

It would be uncouth of humble me to rejoice at the illness of others, but I have to confess that tonight's game had not been prepared in an optimal manner.
Right now I am busy typing a humungous report for an evil British consortium who steals taxpayer's money away from schoollzanospitals to make engines of war. Well... they are paying and the project is challenging enough.
Anyway, work commitments are gnawing at my leisure time!

So, I shall call off tonight session. You will need to do some shopping after your recent ascension to LV12, therefore people have to be physically present.

For those who will turn up, I will bring Red Dragon Inn II, a game I have reclaimed during my holidays in the American colonies.

See you all on Friday if Nick can run it.

Laurent,

Enjoyed Red Dragon Inn, think I might have to look at getting a copy.

we having a game this week as no game is posted on the calander?

Ian,

YES

Damn! I knew I had forgotten something yesterday.
I prepared pages for the Big Meet and the Witchwar Legacy event but forgot RotRL. I will post the event tonight.

Edit: Done

Laurent,

I'm sorry to say I'm not going to be able to make it this evening.
(Read.. me the only one in the office today, but still expected to do 3 peoples work).

Nick,

Okay.
I shall have the others kill play your PC.

Laurent,

Dear Players,

I have updated the game page and posted the event for the coming week.

We shall continue that fight with a rejuvenated Scribbler. He still has a couple of spells to play with for the day before "reloading" if the party decides to run away and select more appropriate spells.
He also has a funky falchion.

Laurent,

Dear Players,

Last session.

I had genuinely prepared the Rimeskull encounter, we could have started it during the last half-hour, never mind, this should happen on Wednesday.
I will need to work hard on the Sins of the Saviours adventure as the entrance leads to seven choices, and knowing my luck, preparing for one sin would ensure that the party selects another one. This will be a seven-dungeons-in-one-dungeon (Greed, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Sloth, Wrath, Envy) affair and definitely fun to play.
I just loved the compulsion effect spell. It played wonderfully and I got it to work without even having to fudge it or cheat. I gave Marcus his free perception check, which he succeeded at, thus neutralising the trap. Thanks to the fog effect from guards and wards, even Marcus could not have spotted it earlier at ten feet away, thus the failed will save from Telas was perfectly legal. Ideally the two Thieves would have failed, leading to a one-against-one-against-all-the-rest situation.

Moral values.

As we all know, Demons are Chaotic Evil. They are born this way, not their fault... society's fault... prison does not work... yada yada yada...
Paladins, thanks to their common sense and straight, honest and affirmative beliefs have no qualm wacking them.

That being said, CE monsters (apart from Drow dual-scimitars wielding Rangers) are still evil because of their generic monster entries. What should a Paladin think of someone who:

• Has a Shadow for companion.
• Forces himself to appear EVIL for the sake of material gains.
• Runs away at the very first sign of danger?

And I am not even mentioning the collection and subsequent sale of evil items of treasure: Old Thassilonian scrolls describing horrible torture methods, Runechill Hatchets and Fanged Scimitar. Should I also bring back the "Nah. No time and money to spend to hallow this place. Leave that temple to Lamashtu alone..."

Hopefully all this will allow some funny interactions in Runeforge

The game page has been updated and the new calendar event for next week is up.

Laurent,

Ah, well, you see, it's not a shadow. Not technically. Not really. I mean, shadows are evil undead, aren't they? And it's not evil, so it can't be a shadow. It's something else.

Sir Marcus Varro of Fort Rannick has been the unfortunate victim of a bizarre Shadowdancing accident. As a result of spending a long time creeping around in the dark, he now has dark vision, and has been practising with shadow illusions. One went a little bit wrong, and due to an administration error, quantum mechanics, and some failed spot checks, Marcus ended up being in two places at once. The original is now Sir Marcus. And the, er, copy, is a Varro. Not a shadow. Oh dearie me no.

In any case, this immaterial gain needed to be counterbalanced by some material gain. Equilibrium must be maintained. Balance in all things. Those who know the secrets of the universe understand this.

As for running away. While I admit, to the untrained eye, to those who don't understand the nuances of leadership, it may indeed have appeared that Marcus had just run away. However, actually it was a management technique known as 'extreme delegation'. And the team rose to the challenge magnificently, to the extent that their exulted leader was neither required nor missed in that particular encounter. Can there be a higher accolade for a leader than this? I don't think so. Not only that, they even had manners to retrieve his sword for him.

Who says you can't get the help these days?

Adam,

And we shall not forget the Vorlons either if Shadows and balance are of concern...

Sorry, I should find a way to get Bester in, but hey I am only an amateur when it comes to B5.

Laurent,

Dear Players,

Tough encounter.

I have been thinking, and no, I shall not change Arkrhyst he shall keep his full CR15 glory. Lowering his CR, thus as he is a Dragon, his age group is not going to change his physical or magical abilities that much. The AC is still going to be well above 30, and slightly above 40 if he uses the basic spells he is entitled to use (Shield for instance).

Let's have a quick review of the actors and their advantages in this fight:

Arkrhyst.

• Very high AC.
• Decent SR.
• Decent HP total (I have boosted him too on that account, and this shall also stay)
• Crap loads of spells per day from various levels.

Party.

• Two more PC than the standard four LV12 designed for the Arkrhyst encounter.
• PCs are more powerful in D&D Pathfinder than in D&D 3.5.
• White Dragons have lost their edge in Pathfinder RPG. A White Dragon must be "ancient" to be CR 15 now. Event then his AC is lower than that of a mere "adult" in 3.5 (now 37 base, before 39 base).
• The architectural effort could prove very interesting indeed.

What you have to take into account are these points:

• Arkrhyst has mostly damaged you with cold magical attacks.
• Arkrhyst is vulnerable to fire. Sure he has some SR, but still.
• Arkrhyst now has resist energy: fire at 30 (his CL is 21), but this is a spell subject to dispel magic.
• Arkrhyst now has shield, setting his AC at 41, but this is a spell subject to dispel magic too.
• You are aware of all of Arkrhyst's abilities. You have many spellcasters. In the same vein, Runeforge has been waiting for ten thousand years, the dungeon could wait another week for some scrolls to be scribed or wands to be created above minimum caster level.
• I am the GM... but you should all think of spells that are underused spell immunity and the likes. Also resist energy is like magic missiles it scales with levels. Sure a basic energy resistance 5 straight out of a basic wand is a bit pants, but it maxes out at 30 when cast at CL11! Protection from energy is also quite good. Hint: Arkrhyst loves cold and electricity attacks.
• As Adam moans about every now and then when Marcus has no chance of hitting high AC opponents... At times some classes will appear useless. What if the Paladin, a class built to hit into melee, especially CE creatures and Dragons cannot hit the monster

Well, tough luck, he cannot hit every time! That does not mean he will be hit every round either. Technically Arkrhyst can be hit in melee roughly once a round every four primary attacks (15+ on the die as worked out by Ian), plus two chances to roll a 20 on second and third attacks, so Arkrhyst can be hit. There are indeed situations in D&D when a hit cannot happen but on a 20, this is not the case.

Next session.

The fight should still keep us busy for most of the session, I expect you to get up those stairs and get pushed around a bit more before looting the dragon's hoard. Then of course you shall find a place where to use all those keys.

I have updated the game page and posted the next event for you to register.

Laurent,