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Appologies all, work is keeping me late tonight (need to finish things off).

What Bester is likely to be wanting to do with that nasty nasty White Dragon (his brass dragon sensibilites is not likeing it at all :P) is blast it with as much Fire based magic as possible.

He would likely be aware of the energy resistance the dragon now has to fire .. however his is also aware that on average his fireballs do more than it has resistance to.
If that fails he has many Magic Missles spells to use too! And he has (from memory) True Strike to help the Paladin out.

Dear Players,

Arkrhyst's demise.

Contrary to what I - and others - thought, Arkrhyst, this lovely White Dragon, was not impossible to kill after all. The party did not even need to teleport and refuel as I would have expected.

The gaming plan for last night was only to reset the battle with Arkrhyst, I had prepared the Earth Elemental encounter but thought it would have been a walk in the park. Ironically, three CR9 critters in their element mixed with tactical terrain (big stairs) lasted longer than the CR15 encounter with Arkrhyst.
It nearly was as dangerous for the party too!

Nick's roleplaying.

Since you could not make it, Bester was played by the group, a group that is now pretty peeved with your behaviour. The problem started during the fight with Arkrhyst. The group decided that because Bester was a Dragon Disciple he would be siding with Arkrhyst. So when the party was pretty low on health, they had Bester throw a fireball at them while speaking Draconic with Arkrhyst, something about sharing the loot. I have to agree with them when they argue that this is not the kind of behaviour to expect from a fellow gamer. One more incident like this and I will have to kick you out of the game!

The game page has been updated.
The event for next week is on the calendar.

Laurent,

Suppose I shouldn't moan about what my charicter does when I'm unable to make a session.

Although everyone knows that metalic dragons (and those who have their bloodline) do not get on with Chromatic dragons (and their kin).

Not sure why people think Bester a Dragon Diciple though..... there is nothing on the charicter sheet that says that. Bester is a Dragon Bloodline Arcarnist.

Nick,

Your behaviour yesterday was unacceptable... even if you were not actually there.
Dragon disciple, Draconic bloodline... whatever...

Laurent,

I may take you up on your suggestion however.

Dear Players,

A recent entry on the Paizo blog has led me to conclude that I have been too kind a GM when it comes to poison. Yes, I know, I nearly killed a PC, but according to this, the PC should have been toast.

Jason Bulmahn, the lead designer on the Pathfinder RPG project says this:

I Drank What? An FAQ on Poison
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

For quite a while now there has been a bit of confusion on how poison is applied in the Pathfinder RPG. While the application of a single dose is simple enough, the rules allow for the stacking of poisons that causes them to combine into a more powerful effect. There are, unfortunately, some timing issues with these rules that can make poisons a bit tricky to adjudicate during play. Since this issue is a bit more complex than your average FAQ issue, the design team thought it would be a good idea to take a more in depth look at the issue here.

Poisons fall under the category of afflictions. They each have a save, a frequency, an effect, and a cure. At the most simple level, this means that when a character comes into contact with the poison, she gets a save. If the save succeeds, the poison has no effect, regardless of the cure entry. If the saving throw is failed, the character takes the effect and must continue to makes saves, dictated by the frequency, or continue to take the effect with each failed save. The only way to be free of the poison at this point is to meet the conditions of the cure entry, usually one or more successful saving throws (usually consecutively if more than one).

When a character is subject to more than 1 dose of the same poison, things get interesting. Each dose increases the DC by +2 and increases the total duration listed in the frequency by half of the original duration. Due to timing, however, this can make for a rather confusing situation. When does the DC increase apply? When are the saving throws made? When is the duration increased? To keep things simple, use the following guidelines.

1. Whenever a character is exposed to a poison (regardless of method), that character gets a saving throw to negate the poison.
2. The saving throw DC is increased by +2 for every active dose currently affecting the character. Poisons that were cured, have run through their entire frequency, or were negated with a successful initial saving throw do not increase the DC.
3. The character must make a saving throw against every poison affecting him on his turn, but may make the saving throw at any point during his turn. If a poisoned character delay's his turn, he must immediately make these saving throws. They are not delayed.
4. Unless the poison has an onset time, the character takes the effect of the poison every time he fails a saving throw against the poison, even when additional doses are inflicted.
5. The total duration of the poison listed in the frequency only increases by half the original duration and only when the initial saving throw against a dose is failed. If the initial saving throw is made, the duration is not increased.
6. If a character is exposed to multiple doses of inhaled and ingested poisons simultaneously, only one save is made at the higher DC. If the save fails, the character is subject to all of the doses, but still only takes the effect once for the failed saving throw. If the save succeeds, the character avoids all of the doses.
7. Finally, if the character is exposed to a poison that is similar, but not the same, such as having a slightly different frequency or DC, it is treated as a different affliction that is tracked separately, even if it has the same name or other identical entries.

So, keeping these rules in mind, let's take a look at a few scenarios using poison and how they are resolved. In all cases, the character is exposed to greenblood oil, an injury poison, with a DC of 13, a frequency of 1/round for 4 rounds, an effect of 1 Con damage, and a cure entry of 1 save.

The various examples are quite scary:

Scenario A: Valeros is hit by an arrow coated in greenblood oil. He fails the DC 13 Fort save and takes 1 point of Con damage. At the end of his turn, he fails a saving throw against the poison and takes 1 more point of Con damage. Before his second turn, he gets hit again and must attempt a DC 15 Fort save (because 1 dose is already affecting him). He fails this save as well, which deals another point of Con damage, increases the save DC he must make each round to 15, and extends the total duration by 2 rounds.

Scenario B: Valeros is hit by a pair of arrows coated in greenblood oil, during the turn of one enemy archer. He fails the first DC 13 Fort save and takes 1 point of Con damage. He then must make a DC 15 Fort save for the second arrow. He makes this save and suffers no ill effect. On his turn, he must make a DC 13 For save (since only 1 dose of the poison is in effect). He makes this save and takes no damage, as the poison ends. If he is hit again on the next turn, his save would reset to DC 13.

Scenario C: Valeros is hit by a pair of arrows coated in greenblood oil. He fails the DC 13 Fort save and takes 1 point of Con damage. He then must make a DC 15 Fort save for the second arrow. He fails this save and takes 1 point of Con damage. On his turn, he must make another DC 15 Fort save, which he fails, causing him to take yet another point of Con damage. On the next turn, the archer fires an arrow coated in special greenblood oil poison, with a DC of 20. It hits poor Valeros, who fails the save and now must track the two poisons separately (since they are not identical). To add to his misery, another arrow coated in ordinary greenblood oil poison hits him as well, forcing him to make a DC 17 Fortitude save, which he also fails, increasing the total duration to 8 rounds (1 of which has passed). Valeros is in trouble.

Scenario C is definitely coming from an evil GM. I would never think of something like that.
I mean a "special" version of a poison.

Jason Bulmahn concludes with this truism:

As you can see, poison is a deadly business. Monsters that can use injury poison, such as spiders and centipedes, should not be taken lightly. Best to stock up on a scroll or two of neutralize poison, or better yet, a wand.

I shall strive to apply these rules, thus cancel my house rule of "Saving a round after being hit". Poison is deadly, poison that deals constitution damage is plain scary. I guess that once your PC gets killed you will all want to come back as Dwarves then.

Laurent,

Due to work commitments raising their ugly head again, I'm going to have to remove myself from the LotRL game again.

I'm unsure when (or if) these work commitments will allow much in the way of weekday gaming.

Dear Players,

Nick's devotion to the rebuilding of the British Empire's economy.

While Nick's selfless act of toil and the sacrifices he makes for his employer, thus in turn for the good of the country are commendable. However, this is going to disrupt the game to some extent: Arcane magic will be down to Marcus activating wands with use magic device and the Mystic Theurge.

Ironically, the party is about to enter a demi-plane (the guys at Paizo just loves them! ) and should be there for a while, so it would be helping the suspension of disbelief if Bester got parked now. Even more ironically, once inside, you cannot get out - at least until you find an exit further in the complex behind some encounters of course - but anybody who knows how to get it can do so. Therefore if Nick can resume his attendance on Rise of the Runelords' night, Bester can jump right back into the game.

Shorter session.

Tonight, I would like to leave by nine o'clock if you do not mind. I am feeling a bit tired at the moment and there is a long day ahead for me on Friday.
Also, I have succumbed to the sin of sloth and have not really prepared much for tonight session, it could turn into a buying and administrative session though: There is a dragon hoard to clean!

Laurent,

Sorry to hear you won't be able make it, Nick. Hopefully the work pressures will ease before too long....

I'm up for a shorter session of 'Accountants and Administrators' tonight... there's probably even more shopping to be done if we're going to need more wands/scrolls etc.

Dear Players,

Thank you for understanding the lack of preparation and the rather pedestrian GMing last night. As I told you, busy at work, a bit tired, all this does not lead to a very high motivation.
GM fatigue sinks in at times too, and yesterday was one of those days.

We could have had some fun had Marcus not succeeded at his Will Save!
The trap was what I called a "passive" trap, which is all or nothing. Finding the illusion made it "nothing". The "all" part would have lead to a pretty nasty drop for those not equipped with a ring of feather fall.

In any case, we need one of these "sell loot and re-equip" sessions every now and then, so the timing of yesterday's slow game was perfect.

Long day of work tomorrow: 7.00 a.m. pick-up at the Canning Circus bus stop, back around 7.00 p.m. at best. Still I should be able to run the end of the Witchar Legacy on Saturday afternoon.

Anyway, revise your Poison, Grapple with Grab, and Entangle subjects for the test next week. I cannot possibly let you play safely above LV12 without proper qualifications

Laurent,

The game is on tonight.

Dear players,

We started a set of typical dungeon crawl last night, as promised, seven dungeons with a theme. You have done one already, The Abjurant Halls of Envy, and are about a good third into the Ravenous Crypts of Gluttony. Remind me again to give you the XP for traps, I always forget about it. Sure, you got rewarded with the partially functioning rod, but you were also entitled to some experience points.

As mentioned, the bad news is that you cannot escape Runeforge at the moment. The good news is that you do not need to eat or drink as the magic that suffuses Runeforge takes care of that.

I shall strive to remember taking the mini for Aldern Foxglove with me for next week's game. The aristocratic undead that is following you would likely resemble this memorable villain from episode two: The Skinsaw Murders

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

Laurent,

Dear players,

The Ravenous Crypts of Gluttony.

More undead battles and the realisation that the party is indeed without a mean of exiting Runeforge. I just loved it when you realised that only when Kazaven asked for a way out!
Not to worry about the divine link for your paladinously valourous Dagar. Unless Telas, and to some extent Valakan have a "I want a Pit Fiend too!" moment, I do not really see Kazaven actually making any deal. Like The Scribbler before him, he is intended to unleash his magic upon the party: "Finger of Death anyone?"
Good news: the party has just rested. Bad news: I have not heard anybody preparing undead specific spells to resist a decent undead encounter. Even though the context has been VERY "undeadly" for the past in-game day I would surmise.

And to put Valakan to shame, he has been cut, bitten and eaten by... a monster with NPC classes: Twelve levels of Aristocrat! Sure, the NPC got some nifty undead templates, but still.

The damage collection was optimal though:

• Low AC character.
• Decent "to hit" modifier for the monster.
• Humanoid (human) PC for a monster specialised in damaging Humanoid (human).
• Average AC, fast healing 10, DR 5/- allowing a moderate soaking of damage per round.

Mummy rot.

Marcus just cannot help himself, give him a source of Mummy Rot and he will wallow in it. He just loves the stuff! Oddly enough, he has never died of it.

RotRL on hold.

I hope you all agree, because I think alternating the two games is the best option for the time being. Especially since the gaming group remains the same. We shall all go back to low-level adventuring, when rolling damage rolls does not require the use of logarithmic scales to assess the effect.
I just love the complexity of a monster vulnerable to fire with DR getting hit by flaming weapons: This... minus five... the other bit is fire... so half as much... plus what went through DR... gives THAT!

The game page has been updated and the next RotRL event has been posted. The only event in distant May so far!

Laurent,

Dear players,

Game cancelled tonight due to a personal issue.

Andrew and Ian know, and are allowed to tell you, I am not posting it on a Public Forum.

Ian could run his game tonight, I am not sure, check with him.

Laurent,

i will be running legacy of fire tonight for those that show up

Dear Players,

I have put the game up, always a good idea if I want to complain about people not signing-in.

Hopefully we shall at long last continue the conversation with Kazaven!

Laurent,

Dear players,

At long last we got back to Rise of the Runelords!

Same as it ever was.

Despite one more gaming session, the game has not progressed an iota. It is creepy that in two weeks time we will start from more or less the same set-up.
When I think of it, Kazaven could have carried on for a while, but I guess the party would have run away after too many touch attacks on non-protected PCs. Then it would have been a Benny Hill show type of retreat with Kazaven flying invisible and hitting the last one in the line.
So, yes, no regret to cut the fight off. I had fumbled my best spells anyway.

Dice rolls.

Kazaven managed to miss at least three touch attacks with a decent +8...
The party's dice rolling abilities were also on the lucky side. The Devourers were not even fulfilling the role of canon fodder usually associated with basic Skeletons.
Even my cunning plan of using the Wraith as healing batteries did not work. Nothing worked last night. My game is turning into an easy game!

Invisibility.

Well, I guess we have already discussed that after the session. It was not really funny as the GM to run an encounter like that as I had to adapt to the inevitability of shooting PCs in a barrel until they ran. The problem of Kazaven is that he does not have much spells to use in a chase type of encounter. Liches are good masterminds and archetypal villains but not that great in the end when the appropriate saves are made... or when the Lich is pathetic at dice rolling.

I will update the game page later and post the next couple of events on the calendar.

Laurent,

Dear players,

Just a quick note to say that the game is on tonight. Please register if you have not yet done so.

Laurent,

Dear players,

Kazaven's last fight.

It took two encounters to get him, but Kazaven fell.
Trying my best not to have a repeat of the previous fight with just a (hopefully) different die roll per action; I decided to change the tactics from what was written in the adventure book. It could have worked, but did not, because I had not expected Marcus to end up standing on the lid of that sarcophagus.
Further and more focused reading taught me that the three sarcophagi were trapped, but this did not make sense. Technically, it was better for only one of them to have all the loot and the phylactery, thus only that one being trapped. So, I rolled on with my initial view and let the party benefit from a clever move.
As you may have noticed, Liches are very unlikely to have the strength of a raging Barbarian. Poor Kazaven was more like Mr Burns in the Simpsons: pure evil but with STR 10, thus barely able to lift open the trapped sarcophagus in the first instance.

Vaults of Greed.

Too bad the greedy Mystic Theurge did not lead the party into the Vaults of Greed the false door trap would have been cool. Greedy or not, it was about to spring.
The Baleful Polymorph transmuting and teleporting mist was fun. We can easily ret-con that Thorak turned into a gold fish too in order to maintain the suspension of disbelief.
Ordikon is the next powerful mage to bump into. This one is pretty crazy.
I need to double check if he is actually evil.

Smaller vaults.

Indeed as the adventure progresses, the vaults are getting smaller and smaller. In a way this makes sense as the sins that are left tend to be more selfish than the others. Envy should have had a big dungeon, but since a battle took place there, it ended-up being collapsed. Gluttony was all about excess, hence a large complex. This is what I like in Rise of the Runelords the design and general background (not always available to the PCs I agree) make a lot of sense.

The game carries on in two weeks time, hopefully the party's bat will be back.

Laurent,

The Baleful Polymorph transmuting and teleporting mist was fun. We can easily ret-con that Thorak turned into a gold fish too in order to maintain the suspension of disbelief.

It's seldom in life you can improve the suspension of disbelief by the means of just assuming that a protagonist was turned into a goldfish.

It could have worked, but did not, because I had not expected Marcus to end up standing on the lid of that sarcophagus

Well, it's almost unknown for Marcus to take up a flanking position. He's hardly done that once all campaign.... or least very seldom as effectively. One cunning manoeuvre, a successful sneak attack or two, and an actual critical amongst the usual fumbling and bungling. He's actually approaching useful!