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Post by Von K on Jun 27, 2021 17:23:31 GMT -5
A witch character I play in the D&D Pathfinder role playing game: Got a few more of her over at my Deviant Art page. And a familiar face (I hope): Thanks for sharing more of your art here Erik! Hope you don't mind me posting a convenient link to your DA page: www.deviantart.com/erikgoldHow are Beuriel, Eilif and Hepsabar faring? I envy you having an active group. Nearest I've got to an rpg campaign recently has been the crpg Pathfinder Kingdoms. The main campaign has some good NPCs but it just can't beat proper roleplaying with a group of friends.
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Post by Erik on Jun 28, 2021 10:18:18 GMT -5
Thanks, Von K! Nope, I don't mind at all. I haven't played Beuriel in 5 years or so, but our plan is start Part 3 of that campaign when we're finished with our current one, which is 'The Serpent's Skull' adventure path. Serpent's Skull is the one that Hepsabar is in, and we're halfway (or more?) through chapter 6 of 6. We've been playing that for the last few years, and it's been quite an epic journey. At this point Hepsabar and her companions are 16th level, so our group is facing some really nasty opponents. Here's a link to a brief look at that adventure, if you're interested: Serpent's Skull
Eilif was successful in the Emerald Spire campaign, which was finished right before Serpent's Skull. So he's living happily ever after somewhere with the vast wealth he acquired. Hmm I don't think I'm familiar with Pathfinder Kingdoms. Is that like a play-by-post game or a computer game? Do you have a local gaming shop where people post about RPG groups? That might be one way for you...
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Post by Von K on Jun 28, 2021 20:50:50 GMT -5
Glad to hear Eilif survived Erik and that your other characters are still going strong. Serpent's Skull looks like an awesome campaign. No small achievement getting a character to 16th level esp with all the optimization and careful feat selections generally required. I'm always wary of playing favorite characters at higher levels with all that death magic flying around. Whoops it's actually Pathfinder Kingmaker, my bad, a relatively recent computer game like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Night's. It's isometric but with full 3d character models and backgrounds and set in Pathfinder's Golarion rather than WotC's Forgotten Realms. It's based on the Kingmaker Adventure Path.I may well check out the local scene again after the Covid shenanigans have blown over.
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Post by Erik on Jun 29, 2021 9:58:54 GMT -5
Serpent's Skull really is one of my favorite adventure paths, thus far. Yeah, that death magic definitely is one of the scary things about being high level. Last session, our druid's animal companion (who has been with us for a long time) was just disintegrated when he failed his saving throw. We've had a couple characters end up dead, but were able to raise them, which is one of the upsides of high level magic. I just make sure Hepsabar has a Raise Dead spell prepared, and so does our cleric. I also make sure she has a couple spells ready that will add massive boosts to her saving throws, like Moment of Prescience and Nine Lives. It eases my conscience a little bit heh.
Ah OK, I've definitely heard of Kingmaker. I just watched the trailer for it, and it looks great, I think. I used to love Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, so I'd probably really enjoy this one too.
That's true, there may not be a lot of groups looking for new players at the moment.
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Post by Von K on Jul 1, 2021 19:28:38 GMT -5
Saves and resistances seem to get increasingly important at the higher levels. Impressive that an animal companion can pull it's weight with a 16th level party!
Kingmaker suffers from long loading times and some heavy boss battles even at default difficulty, but apart from that is one of the fullest emulations of party based game play I've experienced. You can even assign party members to various duties when you camp like who's on watch, who's hunting, who's the chef, who's setting up camp, or assisting with any of those. Takes a bit of getting used to the (optional) turn based system, but the tactical micromanagement seems required for getting through some of the tougher battles.
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Post by Erik on Jul 2, 2021 17:43:21 GMT -5
He was a small dinosaur, so he did quite well. Those Ranger and Druid companions can get pretty tough at higher levels. We might actually be able to bring him back if our NPC cleric is able to cast Resurrection...
Wow, that game sounds really impressive, actually. I remember all the micromanagement from the older turn-based RPG games like Baldur's Gate, and I really enjoyed taking the time to assign what each character was going to do in a particular round. So I'm sure I'd love Kingmaker. The only question is if my eleven-year-old PC can handle the requirements.
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Post by Von K on Jul 4, 2021 11:53:25 GMT -5
There's also a portrait import function so you could use your own artwork for the in game portrait for the protagonist.
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Post by Erik on Jul 5, 2021 19:26:44 GMT -5
Oh good! I used to love doing that in the old Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale games.
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Post by Erik on Aug 1, 2021 9:51:26 GMT -5
Here's my latest, a sorceress summoning an earth elemental:
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Post by Von K on Aug 6, 2021 5:28:46 GMT -5
Cool new pic Erik! Also enjoyed reading your discussion about elemental summoning with Lunatic over on your DA page.
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Post by Erik on Aug 8, 2021 10:23:15 GMT -5
Cool new pic Erik! Also enjoyed reading your discussion about elemental summoning with Lunatic over on your DA page. Oh thank you! I figured no one else read any of that, so glad you enjoyed it.
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Post by Von K on Aug 11, 2021 15:10:31 GMT -5
Yeah, elementals can make for some heavy hitting support troops, but because I usually go for sorcerer types with a limited spell selection I always end up skipping the summons option. For sorcerers it locks up a spell slot that gets superceded a few levels on. They're great for caster types who can swap out their spell selections though.
My adventuring duo got pounded by some elementals in Pathfinder: Kingmaker a while back - a gargantuan one with mirror image, 50% concealment and a body guard of three large elementals and a few smaller critters. Gonna reload a save and take 'em on again when I get time.
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Post by Erik on Aug 14, 2021 14:10:04 GMT -5
Yeah, elementals can make for some heavy hitting support troops, but because I usually go for sorcerer types with a limited spell selection I always end up skipping the summons option. For sorcerers it locks up a spell slot that gets superceded a few levels on. They're great for caster types who can swap out their spell selections though. My adventuring duo got pounded by some elementals in Pathfinder: Kingmaker a while back - a gargantuan one with mirror image, 50% concealment and a body guard of three large elementals and a few smaller critters. Gonna reload a save and take 'em on again when I get time. Yeah, that's a good point about sorcerers and their limited selection. Even playing a witch, I only chose a Summoning spell about every other level, because I always had in mind that the lower level ones would be pretty useless down the road. That sounds extremely nasty. What kind of elementals were they? Earth?
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Post by Von K on Aug 14, 2021 17:18:43 GMT -5
It was a large earth elemental, plus two large water elementals and a greater water elemental, the last being protected by both displacement (granting 50% concealment) and mirror image. After a couple of reloads I couldn't defeat them with just the duo. Ironically, if I'd chosen a couple of support summons for the caster like you do they might have been able to survive that encounter. Dispel magic could also have been handy.
I restarted the game with a four strong team, three of whom have animal companions (remembering what you said about how powerful they get earlier). This time the new team chewed through the same opposition with relative ease, the toughest party member probably being the battle raging mad dog barbarian with sabretooth companion.
Also this time I took summon large elemental at fifth level on the sorceress, to experiment with using metamagic on summonses.
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Post by Erik on Aug 15, 2021 14:06:25 GMT -5
It was a large earth elemental, plus two large water elementals and a greater water elemental, the last being protected by both displacement (granting 50% concealment) and mirror image. After a couple of reloads I couldn't defeat them with just the duo. Ironically, if I'd chosen a couple of support summons for the caster like you do they might have been able to survive that encounter. Dispel magic could also have been handy. I restarted the game with a four strong team, three of whom have animal companions (remembering what you said about how powerful they get earlier). This time the new team chewed through the same opposition with relative ease, the toughest party member probably being the battle raging mad dog barbarian with sabretooth companion. Also this time I took summon large elemental at fifth level on the sorceress, to experiment with using metamagic on summonses. That sounds pretty rough, actually, and yes, Dispel Magic would have been very effective against the Mirror Image. Ha! That sounds great, actually. Sometimes all it takes is a couple extra targets to divert some of the enemy's attention. Hepsabar and her companions are currently involved in the final battle of the entire Serpent Skull campaign, and we're facing several deadly opponents (including a partially resurrected snake god). I had her summon a Ghaele Azata (a holy warrior outsider) and a Movanic Deva (an angel, basically). I had the Azata fly directly to the enemy serpent folk high priest and occupy him so he can't cast spells at us from a distance, and what a difference it's made. Good idea. I don't know if they feature it in the video game, but the earth elementals have the Earth Glide ability, which is quite handy. Basically, they can occupy squares that are inside stone walls and floors, or simply merge through said walls to attack things on the other side.
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