Session 45 - Action Shots

The Skull Collectors storm Archbishop Wardrick's retreat.


Pay no attention to the demons!

Seriously! They are just here because I have no where else for them.

The first level.

The second level.

The first and second level.

The Skull Collectors enter the dungeon level.

The Skull Collectors fight their way down the stairs to the lower level.

Treasure Haul from Last Night: The Retirement of Hackamaam

Turning everything into cash,  Whang, Murderface, Rinaldo and Masked Archer each get 14,652 gp  from the Bishop assault.

We have a nice pile of magic treasure,  including The Golden Spurtle of Angus McTavish!  I have them all carded up and stapled together to be distributed next time.   I put the monster parts on a card (40,000gp equivalent of Elf hands, useful for making magic bows and arrows).   I'm assuming they have no cash value.

Oh, I also put our prisoner, Kneivel Rampage's, card in the draw deck, because I'm sure someone will want to take him home.

Also, Hackamaam is retiring.    Both of her legs were lamed in the battle, requiring crutches to walk around.   Tried "Restore Life and Limb" but ended up with the legs being restored by something on the Reincarnation table, so now she has wee little pixie legs and has decided to take her treasure pile and very slowly drink herself to death in the country.

The Aftermath of the Attack on Bishop Wardrick's Workshop

Sorry we went so late last night. I really just misjudged when the first act ended and completely lost track of time.

By process of elimination (I have all the treasure you didn't manage to take) this should be the complete treasure list:

40,000 gp in monster parts suitable for creating magical bows, bolts, and arrows

2,000 Gold in bars
5 wrought silver trinkets (200 gp)


2,000 Gold in bars
1 chalcedony (275 gp)
1 chalcedony (375 gp)
1 pearl (250 gp)

2,000 Gold in bars
1 topaz (500 gp)
1 tourmaline (500 gp)


2,000 Gold in bars
1 ivory jewelry (800 gp)
1 Agate (125 gp)
3 Fine wood jewelry (100 gp)


2,000 Gold in bars
1 Garnet (250 gp)
3 jasper (250 gp)

2,000 Gold in bars
1 jasper (500 gp)
4 jet (100 gp)


1 opal jewelry (3,000 gp)

1 moonstone jewelry (1,000 gp)
3 pearl (250 gp)
1 amethyst (100 gp)


2,000 Gold in bars
1 Garnet (250 gp)
3 jasper (250 gp)

2,000 Gold in bars
3 sardonyx (500 gp)

 
2,000 Gold in bars
5 spinel (200 gp)

 
1,000 Gold in bars
4 topaz (500 gp)

 
2,000 Gold in bars
1 wrought silver jewelry (1500 gp)

 
3,000 Gold in bars

 
2,000 Gold in bars
5 chalcedony (250 gp)


1,000 Gold in bars
15 Fine wood jewelry (100 gp)

 
2,000 Gold in bars
1 Garnet (250 gp)
3 jasper (250 gp)

1,000 Gold coins
15 Fine ivory jewelry (100 gp)
1 draw from the magic deck

 
1,000 Gold coins
1 Garnet (250 gp)
3 jasper (250 gp)
1 Jet (300 gp)
1 draw from the magic deck

 
1,000 Gold coins
2 Garnet (350 gp)
1 draw from the magic deck


3 wrought silver jewelry (300 gp)
1 draw from the magic deck

5 fine wood jewelery (250)
1 draw from the magic deck

2,000 Gold coins
1 draw from the magic deck

2 draws from the magic deck

1,000 Gold coins
1 Garnet (250 gp)
3 jasper (250 gp)
1 draw from the magic deck

2,000 Gold in bars
3 chalcedony (250 gp) 
1 draw from the magic deck


4 sets of garnet and diamond earrings (100gp)
4 sets of garnet and diamond bracelets (300gp) 
1 draw from the magic deck


1 diamond-studded decorative trident (2000gp) 
1 draw from the magic deck


1 gold Ardean ship model (500gp)
1 set of navigational maps Baldgath (500gp) 
2 draws from the magic deck

Here is a list of everything you guys killed in the battle. Any equipment you could salvage on the way out I also put on this list:

12 5th level clerics  (12x +1 mace)
4 6th level clerics   (4x +1 mace)
2 8th level clerics   (1x +1 mace, 1x  +2 chain, 1x  +3 shield)
1 13th level cleric   (1x +3 plate,1x  +2 shield, 1x  gauntlets of ogre power,1x  Ring of Spell Turning - 10 charges,1x  Wings of Flying,  Hammer of the Dwarven Lords, Crest of Wayneduke)

3 8th level magi (1x wand of magic missiles, 20 charges)
5 angels  (2250xp)
1 archangel  

6 2nd level fighters
8 5th level fighters  (80x +1 arrows)
3 8th level fighters  (2x +1 greatsword,1x +1 plate,1x +1 arbalest, 20x +1 bolts)


10 4th level paladins (10x +1 sword, 10x +1 shield)
2 9th level paladins  (1x +1 sword, 1x +1 shield, 1x +3 sword, 1x +1 plate armor)

8 Blink Dogs (135xp)
2 Lammasu (1900xp)

12 5th level vaultguard  (12x +1 dwarven plate, 12x +1 spear)

20 ghost knights (1100xp)

The final monster experience total was: 71984 which works out to 5200xp per PC and 2600 per henchman.

Workshop's reopened

My personal game blog "Dr Skull's Workshop" (see the blogroll to the right of this page) is back in operation after a 5 month X-COM related coma.  

Session 44 - Action Shots

Mortal Wounds

I've been thinking that the Mortal Wounds and Tampering with Mortality tables in ACKS were good in theory, but end up being a pain in the schwartz in practice.   It also seems to me that once one PC cleric gets to 7th level, all the risk goes out of the game (except for level-draining undead).  Basically there are no permanent consequences short of a TPK.  Conversely it kind of sucks that there's no way to get a wounded character back into the action while the melee is still going on.

I though that maybe something closer to AD&D1 might be better.  (I'm not talking about the current campaign by the way, just future theoreticals).

How about something like this:

•   When someone is brought to between 0 and negative 3 hit points, he's totally messed up, all he can do is crawl at 1/3 his normal combat speed or drink a potion, or activate a magic item that has a single command word.   If he is healed to 1 hit points he's back in the game.
• If someone goes to negative 4 hit points he's unconscious and bleeding out, losing 1 hit point per round until treated or he reaches negative 10 plus his level, at which point he dies.  If magical healing is used before death, and enough hit points are healed to get him to 1 hit point or more, he's back in the game.
• Instead of the various wound effects and so forth, how about any time you go to -4 or less, and are saved, you lose 1 point of an ability score at random.  There should be no magic work-around for this.  However, maybe adding an ability score increase at levels, 3, 6, 9 and 12 would mollify it a bit.
• If you are raised from the dead by restore Life and Limb, you should lose 1 point of Constitution and save vs. death or loose a second.  (Thus Reincarnation becomes really appealing to the frequently bechopped.)
• Use the Hackmaster reincarnation table instead of the ACKS one.

Augury Magic - Compare and Contrast

I've done some research on the spells we regularly use to predict the future and speak with the gods. I thought I would share my findings here:

Augury
An augury can tell the caster whether a particular action will bring good or bad results in the immediate future. It has a 75%-ish chance of answering a yes or no question correctly. Good for questions like, "Would putting this salve on the lizard man's wounds be a good thing?". It is a second level divine spell.

Divination
A divination is a 4th level divine spell in ACKS. A divination spell can provide the caster with a useful piece of advice in reply to a question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity that is to occur within one week. The advice can be as simple as a short phrase, or it might take the form of a cryptic rhyme or omen. It should always be cast with the phrase "Oh elders fleet and strong and wise...". Good for questions like, "What could happen if I escort these completely random folks out into the Badlands without support." If the caster doesn’t act on the information, the conditions may change so that the information is no longer useful. The base chance of a successful divination is 60%+ level of the spellcaster, but that could be altered depending on whether the question is posed in the form of a proper rhyming couplet or whether it serves the plot or not. Also, if it is awesome.

Commune
The most powerful of the three divination spells, it is a 5th level divine spell. This spell puts the caster in contact with the great powers he serves, who will answer three yes-or-no questions. The being contacted may or may not be omniscient, and further, though the being is technically allied with the caster, it may still not answer questions clearly or completely. The ritual to cast this spell takes 1 turn to complete, and may be performed but once per week. Once a year, possibly upon the patron deity’s feast day, the divine spellcaster may ask twice the normal number of questions.

Contact other Plane
Although most augury magic is the wheelhouse of divine magic, this one exception is available to arcane casters. It is a 5th level spell, so it is more costly than the divine spells. The caster sends his mind to another plane of existence in order to receive advice and information from powers there. The powers reply in a language the caster understands, but they resent such contact and give only brief answers to questions. All questions are answered with “yes,” “no,” “maybe,” “never,” “irrelevant,” or some other one-word answer. The caster must concentrate on maintaining the spell in order to ask questions at the rate of one per round. A question is answered by the power during the same round. The caster must choose how many questions to ask before the spell is cast. The number of questions to be asked determines the power and proximity of the contacted being. The more questions asked, the further away the contacted plane is and the more powerful the being is.



tl;dr

Augury is good for a single, immediate good/bad call

Divination is appropriate for getting a nebulous rhyming or allegorical answer to a vague question

Commune is good for three concrete yes-or-no answers. It is particularly powerful on festival days.

Contact Other Plane is like calling up a demon and asking stuff. All questions are answered with “yes,” “no,” “maybe,” “never,” “irrelevant,” or some other one-word answer.