Author Topic: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling  (Read 23388 times)

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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #20 on: February 02, 2010, 10:58:44 AM »
Session 35: Into the Mausoleum or Tabby Keeps DyingBuffs[spoiler]Bolded are Persisted
Rance has: Mindblank (I burn all my 8th level slots to cover everyone), Glibness, Elemental Body[air], Mage armor, Telepathic bond, See Invis, Nondetection, Prot. from Good, Greater Arcane Sight, Freedom of Movement, and Divine Power.  From Sebban he has:  Lesser Vigor, Recitation, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, and Energy Resist 20 (acid/elec)

Sebban: Lesser Vigor Recitation, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, and Energy Resist 20 (acid/elec), Lore of the Gods, Death Ward, Footsteps of the Gods (perfect fly 40), Divine PowerBlood KightsCommentary and Observations on Play
[spoiler]Okay, at this point my Beguiler is probably playing less and less like beguilers most commonly do or will.  The nature of the party and the campaign and encouraged me to make feat (extra spell) and spell choices (Divine power, Wraithstrike, Draconic Polymorph) that will likely have me playing more like a Gish.  Well, it at least gives me the option to Gish along with all the standard Beguiler awesomeness.  I'd been holding off on bringing out the Beguiler Draconic Polymorph smackdown to pleasantly surprise the DM but being one ally down prompted me to bring out the big sticks.  

Some things to consider, if I had more standard Advanced Learning choices like Shadow Evocation or Conjuration the Freezing Fog could have been easily dealt with by creating as Shadow Gust of wind.  Of course scrolls/wands or a Rod of Shadowblending (like I used to have) would have dealt as well.

Having Greater Arcane Sight up is VERY nice, particularly since so many of our foes are casters or minions of casters.  So we find ourselves fighting very powerful and often highly buffed opponents.  Holy crap, just realized that Greater Stoneskin is a custom spell (not in the books).  It was granting them DR20/adamantine.

Though I have the option to be Gishy all the Beguiling spells continue to be great buffs and trouble shooting options.  The toughness of our opponents however make it tough sometimes to choose the right spells or to know which ones will work.  There is a lot of nice spells that I simply have not seen as viable due to the power (and often high saves) of our foes and so have not used.  

The need to maximize all our actions leads me to often take more time on my turn than either me or the other players (and DM) would prefer.  But as our groups running joke "you have played Velmont right?" hints, such min/maxing of actions are kinda necessary given the power of our foes.  Basically min/max or die, or at least have less chance of dying hehe.

I have a feeling that Rance is likely to be acting more and more the Gish depending on our foes.  Most charm/illusion spells are likely to give diminishing returns when used offensively.  DO NOT underestimate the usefulness of Nondetection and at higher levels Mind Blank.  Those spells will be what keeps many of your illusion buffs viable.[/spoiler]

Bonus Feature:  The Aura of Suckage is Discovered (A humorous realization)[spoiler]
Carthus' player and I were discussing things the other day and we come to a realization.  The badguys always seem to be rocking pretty hard.  They seen to be well informed, prepared and powerful making good choices to see their plots succeed.  We have always experienced the "Mushroom Factor" (feed crap and kept in the dark) but though we have seen it time and time again we have only just realized that we have some sort of magical affect on those who are our allies.   The difference is even noticed when the same person/thing is an ally or enemy at different points in time.

I now believe we radiate some sort of Aura that only affects those allied or friendly to us.  This magical effect causes allies to be dumbasses.  They become generally uninformed dipshits that make bad/inefficient choices.  Carthus prefers to call it the Aura of Fucktardness and it has been with us at least from our days of guarding the Caravan.  

A couple examples, back then Cain (a now avowed enemy) who was much higher level prepared and cast retarded spells or took retarded actions that allowed for the death of many companions.  As our adventures with him continued there was a pattern of poor choices so much so that I have in previous posting commented on the ineptness of our allies.  At the time I wrote it off as the DM just not wanting the powerful NPCs to overshadow us but now I am not so sure.  Since the party of our ways Cain has become a powerful, smart, and prepared Wizard with spell choices and defenses that have saved him several times.  Perhaps this diabolical effect has been the cause of those woes.

Even Peril Prolient, a 20th level Wizard seems to have fallen victim to our Aura.  He sought our help unsuspecting that doing so might be his demise.  Alas when he decided to work with us he become our ally and was thus affected by the Aura.  This once well informed, prepared, and powerful caster had his brains turn to mush.  Saddly, or perhaps mercifully, he probably never even realized his loss.  In the end he was another victim of our Aura, taken out by 4  beatsticks with his only attempt at defense being Greater Mirror Image.  The Aura must of caused the True Seeing to slip his mind along with all other wizardly sorts of defenses.

Our powerful Aura does a great deal to explain a lot that has happened throughout the game.  If only we had joined Velmont and his Conclave those many sessions back as we were considering we would have inadvertently brought them to ruin.  
[/spoiler]


Session 36: Darkmoon Kisses, Balor Deals, and Cain Runs AwayCommentary and Observations on Play
[spoiler]Really don't have a lot to comment on from this session that has not been said in previous sessions.  Sorry :)[/spoiler]

Session 37 & 38: Plans set and I've Trained Carthus WellCommentary and Observations on PlayOriginal Post
[spoiler]Right now I am intending to stay pure beguiler but I have to admit that the Mindbender dip for telepathy is very tempting thematically for the character.

I do not need to delay Advanced Learning though as the DM is letting me hold off on choosing until a later leveling.[/spoiler]
« Last Edit: January 13, 2011, 06:49:35 PM by Hallack »
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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #21 on: February 12, 2010, 11:59:47 AM »
Session 39: Velmont's Doom, or We're All Babies in the EndCommentary and Observations on Play
[spoiler]In the scheme of this big battle my Beguiler contributed probably most by being a target for some of Velmont's spells and by coordinating the combat amongst my allies.  I did have a lot of buffs up similar to other recent big fights but mostly I tried to enhance the survivability of my allies.[/spoiler]

Final thoughts on Beguiler Play
[spoiler]The Beguiler is a VERY versatile class that was a load of fun to play.  As with many things, just how great it is will largely depend on foes as well as your groups play style. 

If you are going to be facing a lot of Mindless or otherwise immune foes you will probably find the Beguiler less satisfying. 

Other huge factors on Beguiler fun is how your group plays with illusions and charms.  Over the years I've played with groups of various styles.  If you are with a DM that is going to work around or shut down functionality of your spells (like making mindless act intelligent regarding illusions) or trying to constrain what you can do with charmed foes overmuch then the Beguiler may not be the best choice for play.  Happily this was not an issue for me in this campaign except perhaps a few rare exceptions that in truth I can not name off the top of my head. 

Another big factor in the effectiveness of the Beguiler is encounter balance.  This goes to group play style again.  This was actually a more significant issue for my Beguiler than mindless foes or even otherwise immune foes.  If your DM tends to use encounters/foes that are on the top end of the CR spectrum you will find that you will never cast a very significant portion of your magics, particularly in combat.  This is exacerbated or lessened depending on the level of optimized tactics used by foes. 

This will be even worse if you tend to fight heavily buffed (particularly Save buffs like Superior Resistance).  As mentioned above in such cases you will find yourself tending to shy away from a great deal of your spell list where you will stick to things not as easily countered by high saves such as Haste and various other buffs. 

Of course the opposite is also true.  If your groups play style tends to be more Encounter CR equaling (or often less) than party ECL then you will find much more use for Save or Suck spells or even cool ones like Legion of Sentinels, Phantom Battle, or even Rainbow Pattern.   In such an environment a Beguiler can really shine in controlling the battlefield and even off the battlefield.

It is I think testament to the good balance of the Beguiler class that no matter what the group play style a Beguiler can continually contribute in most all situations. 

All in all I this class is my favorite at this time.  I can honestly say that I'd be comfortable running a Beguiler in a party of four along side a Wizard, Druid, and Cleric.  Even amongst such august power the Beguiler will shine a great deal of the time.[/spoiler]

Update Log
[spoiler]Updated House Rules 1-18-10
Added Creature HP/XP house rule 1-19-10
Added Session 2 and modified party composition
Added Play Commentary section
Session Three  2-1-10
Session Four 3-10-10
Updated Character Five 2-18-10
Session Six 2-26-10
Session Seven 3-3-10
Session Eight 3-10-10
Session Nine 3-16-10
Session Ten 3-23-10
Session Eleven 3-25-10
Session Twelve 4-1-10
Session Thirteen 4-7-10
Session Fourteen 4-13-10
Session Fifteen 4-20-10
Session Sixteen 4-27-10
Session Seventeen 5-5-10
Session Eighteen 5-12-10
Session Nineteen 5-27-10
Session Twenty 6-7-10
Session Twenty-one 6-11-10
Session Twenty-two 6-18-10
Session Twenty-three 6-26-10
Session Twenty-four 6-30-10
Session Twenty-five 7-7-10
Session Twenty-six 7-14-10
Session Twenty-seven 8-3-10
Session Twenty-eight 8-10-10
Session Twenty-nine 8-12-10
Session Thirty 8-25-10
Session Thirty-one 9-2-10
Session Thirty-two 9-7-10
Session Thirty-three 9-13-10
Session Thirty-four 9-16-10
Session Thirty-five 10-4-10
Session Thirty-six 10-20-10 finished commentary
Session Thirty-seven and Thrity-eight 10-20-10
Session Thirty-Nine 1-26-11[/spoiler]

Original Post
[spoiler]Session 4:  Mayor and the Fat Man has been added.

Looks like this game may get played a lot more frequently than I had originally hoped!!!!  Yay.[/spoiler]
« Last Edit: January 26, 2011, 02:21:43 PM by Hallack »
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Black Knight

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #22 on: February 12, 2010, 01:34:43 PM »
Quote
I still think the DM had to fudge this to get me captured for plot reasons and I am pointing this out to pick on him.  I had a 27 of my Hide Check!!

DM fudging for plot reasons is why DMs all use DM Screens in the first place.   :P

That said... it didn't happen on the Spot check....   it was on how much damage was done.  Just enough to knock you out  :lmao 

BTW, good job capturing Rance's viewpoint of the game.  I really enjoy reading these summaries after our game sessions. 
If you are an ethical person, you do the right thing even when no one is watching...

Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #23 on: February 12, 2010, 01:47:27 PM »
Then I want extra XP!!!  :D  That was a high level high wisdom rogue npc, okay way higher than me to be able to spot me.  :P


Okay, it is possible that he did as 1st level as well. 
Maxed Spot +4
Wisdom 16 +3

That on a 20 would get me but you said not a 20 so had more.

I know, he had that +2 spot feat or even skill focus(spot).

Fine, no extra XP for me.
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Black Knight

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #24 on: February 12, 2010, 01:52:21 PM »
Hey... you know what, you're right.  How about double XP?  Sound fair?  Good...

Now since you lost the encounter, double of zero is what, again?   :D
If you are an ethical person, you do the right thing even when no one is watching...

Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #25 on: February 17, 2010, 05:01:26 PM »
I am training BlackKnight well.  He is going to be nice and let me use Precocious Apprentice.

This will cover the early use of Detect thoughts error as well as help me get over the my even slower Spell Progression due to +1 LA (until it is bought off).  In time I will retrain it to Versatile Spellcasting.
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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #26 on: February 18, 2010, 01:15:42 PM »
Played last night.  We had some game changes that are significant such as DM allowing us to go ahead and use Flaws.

Was a fun but rough stretch for my Beguiler.  Drow, Spiders, and Undead all in the same day with the drow and spiders together of course.  BlackKnight did not design this encounter to shut me down but he couldn't have done much better if he had done it delibertately hehe.

Anyways... will be trying to do updates today to include Character sheet changes and leveling.

I now have Versatile Spellcaster, Precocious Apprentice, and Darkstalker.  Any opinions on what future feats I should consider taking?
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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #27 on: February 18, 2010, 06:07:44 PM »
Added Session 5 and updated comments and character info section.
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NiteCyper

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #28 on: February 19, 2010, 10:23:34 PM »
http://yfrog.com/eucityscape61featsinvispep
Faerie Mysteries Initiate (INT to HP), Keen Intellect (INT to Will and some WIS-based skill checks), Rapscallion (INT to Bluff, combine with "Distracting Taunt" skill trick from D357), Carmendine Monk/Kung Fu Genius + Monk's Belt (INT to AC), Mindsight (telepathically pinpoint creatures and learn some other attributes), Deceptive Spell (MM+1?, change point of origin of spell), Magic in the Blood (1/day SLA -> 3), (Greater) Spell Focus, Practical Metamagic (requires spontaneous spellcasting and Dragonblood subtype which can be gotten via the Dragontouched feat or a one-level dip into the Dragonfire Adept base class (DM), then nab the Darkness invocation and Blend into Shadow feat (DotU)), but it's better to get Easy Metamagic (DrM), Arcane Mastery?, (Greater) Spell Penetration?, Rapid Metamagic/Spell?, Shadow Weave Magic, Insidious & Pernicious & Tenacious Magic, Eldritch Corruption?, Shape Soulmeld (Illusion Veil), Song of the Dead (DR312 p37), Spellcasting Prodigy, Cloudy Conjuration (CM), Dazzling Illusion (CM), Extra Spell/Slot (too early?),
If you need links to these, ask. I'm too lazy to grab them now.

I forgot to add descriptions to each one several times. rarj Pi-niss-soo.

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« Last Edit: February 19, 2010, 11:37:19 PM by NiteCyper »
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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #29 on: February 26, 2010, 02:01:15 PM »
Added session 6 and reformatted my Commentary Sections.  Will try to have commentary for each Session when appropriate instead of one big commentary section.
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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #30 on: March 03, 2010, 03:44:59 PM »
Session 7 and commentary added.  Was a fun game last night.  Guess we are going to have to play more when the DM is tired  :smirk
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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #31 on: March 10, 2010, 02:53:55 PM »
Starting to work on new diary entry.  Not up yet though.

Also It is likely I have failed my Will save to avoid taking a PRC, Shadow Adept.

Just seems not a big return on waiting 20 levels to get to bypass SR when there are tons of ways to overcome it already.
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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #32 on: March 10, 2010, 05:23:49 PM »
Session eight and commentary has been added.

Hope some find it enjoyable and useful.
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NiteCyper

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #33 on: March 11, 2010, 07:15:42 AM »
[spoiler]You have conceded! You must take Mindbender + Mindsight!
Consider: offense vs. defense/survival: the GM has an infinite amount of baddies, you don't have an infinite amount of lives.
Consider: you scout.
Consider it the alternate class feature that is available to those who qualify for it...and sets all other class-feature progression back a step...and takes a feat slot.


Bah, I already regret making this post which is why I spoilerized. [/spoiler]
« Last Edit: March 11, 2010, 07:31:28 AM by NiteCyper »
Caveat: I edit my posts, ever and anon after.

Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #34 on: March 11, 2010, 10:27:18 AM »
[spoiler]You have conceded! You must take Mindbender + Mindsight!
Consider: offense vs. defense/survival: the GM has an infinite amount of baddies, you don't have an infinite amount of lives.
Consider: you scout.
Consider it the alternate class feature that is available to those who qualify for it...and sets all other class-feature progression back a step...and takes a feat slot.


Bah, I already regret making this post which is why I spoilerized. [/spoiler]

Hehe, yes, I have conceded... well 99.9% probability of happening now anyways.  That does indead make it much much more likely that I will take the Mindbender + Mindsight combo.
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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #35 on: March 17, 2010, 03:09:38 PM »
Session 9: Cuddly Lizards and Vampire Hordes added to the Diary.

Was a good fun game last night with tons of plot development and info gained.

Enjoy.
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Phaenix

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #36 on: March 17, 2010, 08:45:34 PM »
Just wanted to say I really enjoy reading these. Sounds like a fun campaign. Keep 'em coming!

Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #37 on: March 18, 2010, 12:13:36 PM »
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback and encouragement. 

Seems Carthus has something to say about my recollection of events hehe.

Carthus commentary on session 9 of my Diary
I did some minor gramatical cleanup though as you can tell by the text... not much.

Quote
HEH HEH, I did notice the one sneaking up on me since it tried to pounce on me and I JAUNTED MY HAPPY ASS AWAY FROM IT :P and then I color sprayed both raprors stunning both of them...so there.

But I forgive you seeing how you were being mauled to death it is understandable that you situational awareness was more like OH GODS IT HUUURRRTS....then damn that was a neat trick Mighty Carthus ..I need an anklet of translocation..oh wait that IS what happened :p

And oh yeh, I fraking sculpted color sprayed both beasts before she got to attack again and STUNNED THEM ya jerk then she sneaked them...don't make Carthus look less awesome than he is..I mean really he's awesome..but hey if you gotta downplay it so you look better :p

Hope you don't mind that I shared this Carthus hehe.
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Rebel7284

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #38 on: March 18, 2010, 01:15:07 PM »
I enjoy reading this.  Keep posting.
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Hallack

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Re: CO Diary: The life and art of Beguiling
« Reply #39 on: March 24, 2010, 02:48:01 PM »
Session 10 has been added.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2010, 07:19:43 PM by Hallack »
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