Dungeon Bashing! Penultimate Pathfinder Session

Yesterday we had another session of our Pathfinder game.  Jesse was back, Robbie couldn't make it, and we had a new member of the Busan Gamers, Shard, joining us to fill in for Robbie.

This game session's cast: Oxide, Warforged Fighter (Jeremy), Zesser, Half-Orc Alchemist (Jesse), Brother Repose, Human Cleric of Wee-Jas (Dean), "Red," Half-Orc Cleric of Olidamara (Greg), Siseret (sp?), Human Wizard (Shard), and Elwood, Human Paladin (me).  Brian of course is the DM.

Again, SPOILER ALERT for the Age of Wyrms Adventure Path modules.

We ended the last session in the middle of some caverns, and handwaved the disappearance of Toki the Sorcerer (Robbie's PC) and the arrival of Zesser with Siseret.  Brian decided that Toki the jokester was just running around behind us, completely invisible.  Zesser had stayed behind in town to brew more poisons, and came to join us with his new companion Siseret.

We continued further into the grimlock caverns, and came to yet another "pit" room, where we had to drop down a slope, then got attacked by grimlocks in a room with a cliff on the far side as well.  Weak grimlocks (maybe 1 or 2 HD) came charging down a 5' wide passage on one side, so we mostly kept them contained and whittled them down, but a big, tough grimlock attacked from the other side.  The big guy was going after anyone with light armor first, so Brother Repose was knocked from full health to negative hit points in one hit!  Zesser also took some damage from the brute after that, but a combination of attacks, including my smite evil ability, took the brute down just as the grunts managed to bull rush past Red and attack our flank.  I let the other guys finish off the grunts while I healed Brother Repose.

We looted their lairs and found a bit of good stuff, including more magical armor.  Then we continued on and the next big chamber was the "boss fight."  [Very linear dungeon design in this section, but there were some interesting, if repetitive, tactical challenges from the terrain.]  This was another large chamber with a drop from the entrance to the main floor, then another rise at the far end, where the Cleric of Erythnul, a grimlock with beholder eyes sewn over where his eyes would be if he had any, sat.  He was buffed up already and prepared for us.  With him were five grunt grimlocks and a female bruiser (maybe another barbarian?).  The grunts formed a spear-line along the ledge, threatening us with AoO if we tried to jump/climb down, but held their ground.  We spend a couple of rounds buffing and trading spells (Oxide was Held in the first round, so was out for the first five rounds, but didn't miss that much of the battle).  Then, having used alchemist's fire and bombs to break up their line, and a pair of the grimlocks backing up to throw javelins at Oxide, several of us made it down the cliff.

Zesser and Elwood took on the barbarian-hag, while Red, Oxide and Brother Repose engaged the grunts, and Siseret traded spells with the leader.  Eventually, we eliminated the "help" and Oxide lifted Elwood up to the ledge so I could smite the leader.  Shortly after that he was toast, and we looted the corpses.

We briefly debated resting up in the caves, or heading back to town.  We decided town was the better option, since it was only about an hour's walk away.  In town, we re-armed, healed up, rested, and sold/split the loot.  I decided to stock up on scrolls of Magic Weapon, and got a couple of Bull's Strength as well.  Dean suggested letting Brother Repose carry some, so that he could buff me while I meleed, or we could both cast a buff in the same round.  Sounded good go me, so I let him have a couple scrolls.  [For in character reasons, Brother Repose just donates all of his gold to his temple, and sometimes they give him a 'reward' that he can use.  He was allowed to keep his chain shirt +1, which is nice.]

We returned to the Dourstone Mines, and hit the Vecna section of the dungeon.  It was a twisty maze of 5' wide corridors, riddled with secret passages, and kenku Rogues who would slip around, use potions of invisibility, and the like to ambush us at every turn.  Zesser was really good at finding secret doors, and I suggested, after realizing that Oxide had some pitons, that we spike them shut after finding them.  Other than some of the kenku, we battled some giant weasels and I got to show off my mad mapping skills.

And we experienced an "unfun" maze.  We spent a lot of time with Brian describing the twists and turns of the passages, while I mapped them and he checked my mapping to see if it was accurate.  Several other players were bored, because a lot of the twists and turns and loops didn't really serve a purpose.

We ended the session having found a small treasure trove with three pairs of Eyes of the Eagle, which improve perception checks, which should make the rest of the maze a bit easier.

Next week we'll have our final session for this game.  Then some of the guys will be playing in Adam's Birthright 3E game.  Shard's also considering running Pathfinder if anyone wants to keep playing it, but it would be in his campaign world and would likely require starting over at level 1.  I've decided not to play in any of the Sunday face-to-face games and instead play in a G+ Labyrinth Lord game on Fridays run by Justin, a guy in Pohang.*  At least for a while, anyway.  This way I can get some gaming in and still have lots of weekend time to spend with my family.

*Apologies, Claytonian.  Sorry I couldn't get in on your online game.  Mondays don't work so well for me, but Fridays are OK.

Beast of the Week: Lady of the Lake

Re-reading Pyle's Arthur at the moment.  Haven't read this version since I was a kid.  And I'm really liking it.  Especially for its overly archaic and elaborate prose, trying to mimic the King James Bible, Malory, and an oral story-teller tradition with constant repetitions of set phrases.  "And they camest together with a crash verily as like to thunder, and their spears wast shriven to splinters, even to the truncheon thereof."  So a bit of Arthuriana for this week's Beast.

Lady of the Lake
AC: 8 (12)
HD: 3***
Move: 120 (40)
Attacks: 1 weapon or spell
Damage: by weapon
No. Appearing: 1 (1-4)
Save As: Elf 6
Morale: 6
Treasure Type: E +O (V)
Alignment: any
XP: 65

Ladies of the Lake are demi-humans related to nixies and elves.  They appear as beautiful human or elven women, clothed in the finest samite dresses.  Each makes its home within a lake, pond, river, or fountain.  These homes are typically part of the fairy realm or some other extra-dimensional space, the entrance of which is hidden in their body of water.  They avoid combat whenever possible, preferring to use their spells or to let their body guards and champions fight for them.  Ladies of the Lake use magic as an Elf of equal level, and exceptional Ladies of the Lake may have up to 10 Hit Dice and cast spells as a 10th level Elf.  They tend to have demi-human and woodland/aquatic monster guardians, and each Lady has a 50% chance to also have a knight-champion (Hero with plate & shield, lance, sword, war horse) to protect them.  Ladies of the Lake often meddle in the affairs of mortals they find interesting, and have been known to provide gifts of magic items to worthy or interesting mortals, offer information or give quests to passing adventurers, or to take steps to destroy the power of those who they find displeasing.

Oh yeah, those guys

In our Pathfinder game, we had a run-in with a Grick.  It's one of the monsters that were created for the 3E Monster Manual.  That encounter spurred this idea in me, but it's taken me a while to get around to it.

I opened up the 3.5 SRD (don't think I have the 3.0 one on my computer), and copy/pasted all the monsters that I thought were original to 3E into a document.  Now I'm going through various monster books (mostly of the 2E era, like Planescape stuff) to see which ones actually already have old school stats.

I've narrowed the list down to 26 critters.  I'll 'convert' or 'downgrade' or however you want to call it to Classic D&D.  Maybe I'll turn it into a supplement for Labyrinth Lord or something.  These guys are all in the SRD, so they're fair game.

Here's the list I've got so far.  If anyone notices a monster that was in a 2E or earlier product, let me know so I can take it off the list.

Allip (insane undead thing)
Arrowhawk (sort of a Stymphalian Bird)
Chaos Beast (Lovecraftian horror)
Chuul (lobstrosity)
Darkmantle (basically the Cloaker, but under another name)
Delver (giant acidic digger beast)
Destrachan (Gungan dino-mount sonic blaster beast)
Digester (Gungan dino-mount acid spitter beast)
Ethereal Filcher (ethereal plane thief monster)
Ethereal Marauder (ethereal plane bruiser)
Frost Worm (arctic giant serpent)
Gray Render (hulking semi-humanoid beast)
Grick (tentacled worm beast)
Howler (demonic wolf beast)
Inevitable (Lawful constructs - 3 types)
Krenshar (cat beast with reversible skin on face)
Mohrg (undead with hardened guts for tongue)
Phantom Fungus (invisible shrooms)
Phasm (another amorphous shapeshifter beast)
Shield Guardian (construct bodyguard)
Shocker Lizard (electric gecko)
Skum (aquatic degenerate humanoid)
Spider Eater (giant insect beast)
Tendriculous (vine monster)
Tojanida (aquatic turtle-ish beast)
Yrthak (flying sonic blasting beast)

On the AD&D Reprints

I've decided not to try to pick up the AD&D reprints that WotC is going to be publishing this Spring.  There are several reasons for this:

• I've already got the PHB and DMG, plus back when I was working in public schools in Japan I printed out the MM and MMII and have them in clear-sleeve binders.  I might have picked up just the new MM, but for the following reasons.
• WotC are only offering the reprints through hobby stores in North America.  I'm in East Asia.  If I could have gotten one online, shipped to me, I might have bought.  Having to ask a friend to pick one up for me, sending them the money, then asking them to ship it to me is just too much of a hassle.  And if I asked my mom, who sends us semi-regular care packages anyway and could just toss it in with whatever else she's sending, she'd likely get confused and I'd end up with some 4E book.
• There are second-hand vendors on Amazon and other places that will ship internationally.  Plus, the price for an original MM in decent condition is in the $13 to $20 range.  Add in about $10 shipping, and I'll be coming out ahead this way cost-wise.
• I don't really play AD&D.  I run Classic D&D, but with some select bits and bobs from AD&D.  So it's not like I need extra copies to use around the table.

So, while I'm not a big fan of WotC, I've decided not to give them my money for these items, even though they are of some interest to me.  Sorry, WotC.  See if you can Wow! me with 5E (looking less and less likely the more I read of it).  Then maybe you'll get a bit more of this old schooler's cash.

Beast of the Week: Spearfinger

OK, last week's Beast of the Week was definitely not for everyone (although with a name swap it could be a nice challenging baddie for upper level characters without the silliness).  This week I go back to my mythology/legends for inspiration, and pulled up a Cherokee ogress/witch, the Spearfinger.

Spearfinger*
AC: -1 (21)
HD: 4*
Move: 120 (40)
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d10+1
No. Appearing: 1-3 (1-4)
Save As: Fighter 4
Morale: 7
Treasure Type: B
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 125

Spearfingers are ogre-like hags with hulking forms and scraggly, tangled black hair.  They have a long bony finger on their right hands, which stabs like a lance or spear.  They wear a dress made of stone (some say it is their skin that is stone), which renders them immune to attacks by normal weapons.  Even magical weapons have difficulty piercing their stone armor.  Spearfingers skulk around the outskirts of mountain villages or other rural communities, seeking victims - often children - to capture.  They have a great love for livers, and will often eat only the liver of a slain victim.  In order to draw unsuspecting victims into the wilds, they use ventriloquism, as the spell, at will.  In bare, rocky terrain, they blend in with the natural habitat, allowing them to surprise on a roll of 1-4 on 1d6.

Flying Swordsman Page

So, you may notice there's now a Flying Swordsmen RPG page at the top of the blog.

No, the game's not out yet, but it's coming soon.  I've just about got it formatted.  I'll print it out when the last little bits are done, and see how it looks in printed form, then if I don't find anything that needs fixing, I'll release it.

I wanted to get this page up on the blog first, for two reasons.  First, I will link to it in the game document.  Instead of having a section describing what RPGs are and how to use the dice in the rule book, I figure most people who download it will already know that.  So I'll direct new folks to the page instead.

Second, I wouldn't mind a bit of crowd sourcing help with the introduction to gaming.  I've read plenty of them over the years, and think the one I've written is passable, but if you've got any suggestions, feel free to to fire away in the comments here.  Thanks!

A bit more than a 15 minute work day.

We had another Pathfinder session yesterday.  Again, lots of fun.  Again, if you play or think you might play the Age of Wyrms adventure path, SPOILER ALERT!!!


This session, we had talked about meeting earlier.  The guys who run the used bookstore/cafe where we play had agreed to open early if we let them know what time we wanted to play.  But nobody took the initiative to contact them until Saturday, when I finally realized no one else would and did it.  But two people didn't realize we were starting early (one due to lack of internet access while traveling, the other due to hangover).  Jesse was away up in Seoul as well, so we didn't have our alchemist Zesser this session.

Eventually, we got started at about the time we normally plan to get started (before everyone got there, those of us who were decided to leave the dungeon, sell loot, rest up, and regroup).  This session, we had Toki the Human Sorcerer (Robbie) back again, Oxide the Warforged Fighter (Jeremy), "Red" the Half-Orc Cleric (Greg), Brother Repose the Human Cleric (Dean), and Elwood the Human Paladin (me). 

In town, lots of people had died and many more were leaving in the aftermath of the undead attack.  The garrison was depleted, the big mine operators Balabar and the dwarves were both holed up in their strongholds rather than helping defend the town.  And we got word that both Kullen the albino Half-Orc (whose goons we had taken out last session and who had nailed up the corpse of Ragnol the Dwarf our former companion in town) and a pasty, one-eyed dude (Filge the necromancer) had left town.

While everyone was off doing their thing (I bought some scrolls after healing up and making a donation to the garrison to rebuild), Oxide got jumped by monks and a sorceress who held him and stole the baby owlbear.  We considered going off track to get it back, but then decided not to and headed back to the evil temple complex below the dwarven mines.

We went back to the Hextor temple and finished exploring and looting it.  We ended up fighting some troglodyte zombies, a dire boar we didn't have to fight (it was locked in a dead end room), and the renegade tiefling who had run from us the first time.  Got a bit of gold, and the key to the Erythnul temple as well.

We continued on to the Erythnul temple, which was rough stone caverns rather than worked stone.  We basically ended up in a series of ambushes, one after another, by Grimlocks and a few other beasties.  We had to get creative in a few of these battles, which was a lot of fun for everyone - and ties in a bit to the recent "Combat as War" vs. "Combat as Sport" idea several bloggers were posting about yesterday.  I'll likely have more to say on this later.

Anyway, some notable events of the afternoon/evening were Brother Repose finally rolling above a 5 on an initiative roll, then having no idea what to do!  Dean's used to going last or second to last now, and having that time to consider his options!  Elwood managed to kill one of the Grimlocks with a rope and grappling hook - it was on a ledge and I was missing with my javelins, so after Toki cast Grease on their ledge, I hooked one and pulled it off, letting it drop to its death.  Most of us took more falling damage than combat damage, except for Red, who was the first one down the cliff and got ambushed by Chokers at the bottom, and Brother Repose who got beat up by a female Grimlock Barbarian.  Oxide was unusually quiet this session, because Jeremy wasn't drinking and was in a pretty bad mood due to some out of game bad luck, but he still managed to pull off some handy combat maneuvers.

It was pretty fun.  Brian thinks we'll need two sessions more to finish, so we'll meet again on the 19th and the 26th to finish up the campaign.